Love on the Snow-capped Mountains and Glaciers chapter 3

### The Eternal Eagle

Suddenly, Jake shouted, “Ah—” Tom looked up, and to his horror, Jake was gone. The rope tightened suddenly—Jake had fallen into a crevasse. Tom told Mike to stand firm behind him, then he quickly walked a dozen steps to the edge of the crevasse and looked down. He took a deep breath in shock: the crevasse was less than a meter wide but seemed bottomless. Jake was hanging in the air, waving his hands desperately. Tom and Mike pulled the safety rope bit by bit, trying to pull Jake up. However, on the sloping ice surface, every time they pulled the rope, they would slide down. Mike said, “Tom, we have to fix ourselves first and stand firm, or we’ll all fall.”

Tom immediately used his ice axe to make footholds and shouted down, “Jake, hold on to the rope and climb up by yourself!”

A weak voice came from below the crevasse: “Tom, I… don’t have the strength…”

Tom was shaken. A wave of guilt washed over him: if it weren’t for the pill, Jake would definitely be able to climb up…

Tom hit his head hard and shouted, “Jake, hold on!” Then, he waved his ice axe vigorously. He was determined to save Jake. He would rather not get Lily’s love than watch a living life disappear.

At this time, Jake shouted, “Brother Tom, don’t waste your energy on me. It’s too dangerous. I want to tell you something: Sister Lily loves you. You should confess your love to her. An eagle doesn’t wait when it hunts… For the success of the whole team, goodbye, Brother Tom!” As Jake’s voice faded, Tom felt the rope go slack… Jake had cut the life – saving rope himself and disappeared into the deep glacier.

The other team members caught up and witnessed everything. Lily cried like a child, but her tears froze as soon as they left her eyes.

There was no time to stay here. The assault on the summit continued. Tom took off his oxygen tank and gave it to Lily.

Lily was puzzled: “What are you doing?”

Tom shook his head and said, “Lily, you go to the summit. I… I’m not worthy!”

Finally, the team members successfully reached the summit of Denali. Tom was the last one to reach. Standing on the top of the world, he suddenly thought: tomorrow’s newspapers will report our successful summit, but what about decades or a century later? Who will still remember us? But no matter how many years pass, as long as the glacier doesn’t melt, Brother Jake will always keep his young smile…

Tom whistled again, but this time it was the tune that Jake had hummed. An eagle circled in the sky. Was it Jake’s soul?