Third Man on the Mountain Page #6

A guide who did not shake in his boots.

I know all about that, Emil. You weren't

afraid and I appreciate the fact...

Then, please, let me climb

the Citadel with you alone.

For the honor of my village.

Alone with you,

not with some coward of a Kurtaler.

But why worry? He won't come, anyway.

All right, Rudi.

Get your breakfast and be on your way.

Please don't send me back, sir.

Herr Saxo was right. My uncle

wouldn't come, and when he sees me...

Don't argue, Rudi. Just tell your uncle

if he lets you come, he can come himself.

We'll meet here around noon tomorrow.

Yes, sir.

My father's route!

- I wonder if we'll find them here yet.

- We'll find no boy and no uncle.

It seems you were wrong, Emil.

Two men didn't carry all this.

- Franz, I'm so pleased...

- Where's the boy?

- Isn't he with you?

- How could he be with us?

Why do you pretend

when we know he's here?

Of course he was here.

He left yesterday for Kurtal.

Why would he go to Kurtal when

three nights ago he ran away to join you?

Surely he had your permission?

- Is that what he told you?

- Yes.

He had nobody's permission.

- Have you searched for him?

- Yes, since we got here yesterday.

Up and down the rock face

as far as the ice fall.

Franz, we'd better start all over again.

Search every crevasse.

- You're the one to answer for this.

- I? What have I to do with it?

Everything. Only a guide from Broli

would stand by and let a boy be lost.

- That's enough. Franz! Saxo!

- Mother of God!

I've found it.

- I've found it.

- Found what, Rudi?

The way past the Fortress.

My father's route to the top.

All alone, you got as far as the Fortress?

I've been up there all night.

Teo, it's a chimney. It leads to the top.

- You climbed it?

- No. There was a storm.

So, we weren't crazy after all, were we?

No. We knew.

- Uncle, are you angry?

- What would be the use?

- And my mother?

- So you remembered you had a mother?

- Every minute I remembered.

- That I doubt.

But if you don't think of her, I do.

I told her that if you were still alive,

I'd find you.

All right, I found you.

Now I'll take you home.

Come along, it'll be dark

before we reach the trail.

The boy isn't going.

You stay out of this, Teo.

It's none of your business.

It is my business.

I climbed with Josef Matt on the Citadel

and with his son on the Felsberg.

I know what he can do.

Give the boy a chance and he might be

even a greater guide than his father was.

He's right, Franz.

The boy deserves his chance.

And from me of all people he deserves it.

You know why.

Franz, why did you come up here today?

You know why I came.

I came to take back my nephew.

No, you didn't.

You came because Saxo and I were here.

And you knew

we were going to climb the Citadel.

It is true. It was also because of Saxo.

He has no right here.

Not even to step inside this hut.

This hut belongs to us.

And so does the Citadel.

The whole world knows it

as the mountain of Kurtal.

- That will soon be changed.

- By whom is it to be changed?

You listen to me.

I have listened to you talking and talking.

Now you listen to me.

For ten years I have circled the Citadel

and explored the routes to it.

Did I ever see you, or any other Kurtaler?

How many years has it been

since you slept in your hut?

Stood on your mountain?

And why did you stir up your stomachs

to come today?

I'll tell you why. Because you are

jealous, because you are cowards.

Because you do not want to see

Emil Saxo of Broli

do what you are afraid to do yourselves.

Wait! You think I am a coward?

You think I am afraid of a mountain?

- Well, aren't you?

- No, I am not.

I've come here to climb the Citadel.

I knew you'd join us, Franz.

I never doubted it.

- In that case, you go without me.

- No, Emil.

I need you, too. We need the strongest

team that ever climbed the Alps.

The weather is clearing.

We leave in the morning. The four of us.

That's right, isn't it? Four to go.

Now, listen. This is how it'll be.

Somebody must go down to Kurtal.

I think you, Teo.

- Do you? Then you think again.

- You have a job.

I'm also 65 years. I don't intend

to miss this. Besides, you'll need a cook.

How about Paul? He's got to go back

anyhow. His wife's expecting a child.

But I've six children already.

Believe me, it's nothing.

All right, Paul, you go.

My sister, before anybody, go to her.

Tell her only that we've found the boy,

he's here at the hut and all right.

Don't, on any account, tell her

that he'll be on the mountain.

For you, Captain,

I'm doing strange things.

God grant I shan't live to regret them.

No, wait, Emil.

Let Rudi take the lead.

He's the one who knows the way.

Shall I go?

- Is that the place, Rudi?

- Yes, sir.

How do you know it goes all the way, boy?

You didn't climb it.

- I told you. There was a storm.

- Then what do you really know about it?

What do any of us know

until we've examined it?

- I'll take a look at it.

- If you don't mind, I'm still first guide.

Or am I?

Yes, Emil, you're still first guide.

I could have told you. It tapers off.

It goes nowhere, and even if it did go

anywhere, it's too small for a man to climb.

- Are you sure?

- You come and try it.

All right, Emil, we'll go back

and try your way.

Oh, it's nothing.

Let us go.

May I try? I still know it's the way.

Remember that first day?

Not what happened, what we talked about.

That day you believed.

There's some things you just know.

All right, Rudi. I'll give you a hand.

Rudi? Are you all right?

I'll tell you what it is. He's stuck.

He could be stuck there

till the end of his days.

I've done it again.

Rudi, if you can hear me, answer.

I've done it!

- Hello.

- Well done, Rudi. Send down a rope.

Well, there it is.

And also, the way between,

we don't know what we'll find.

Difficulties, yes, but no major obstacles.

Two hours will do it.

Is your head hurting again, sir?

- No, it's nothing. Let's go on.

- No, Captain. This is no good.

At the end of the snow,

we'll stop for the night.

In the morning, when you're rested,

we'll go on to the top.

But the weather might change.

We may lose our chance.

He's right, Franz.

The weather could change.

A risk we will take.

- Franz Lerner.

- Mm?

Franz Lerner!

What is it?

Come out here a minute.

I want to talk to you.

What's the matter?

- Is he worse?

- He is not worse, but he is not better.

He won't be able to go tomorrow.

It's the end of it for him.

- But it needn't be for us.

- What do you mean?

Tomorrow the weather will be good.

After that, who knows?

If we leave at first dawn,

we could be there by eight.

The boy will stay with him.

He won't be left alone.

- And it's what he would want us to do.

- It's not a question of what he would want.

A guide, at any rate a guide of Kurtal,

does not leave his client on a mountain

and go on alone.

- Do you think he will go on alone?

- Even of Saxo I wouldn't believe it.

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