57.Not far from the peak，a section of ice block stood in the way.With a sharp stone，Kama ranged below the ice block and hammered at the ice wall occasionally，seeking for the road upward.Pierre，however，just sat back gulping in air.Gongbu，left behind for 1000 meters more，was then striving for his way up discreetly.After finding no way upwards with efforts，Kama returned to Pierre helplessly and sat down beside him."Coach，you are not bad！In our dialect，you are only too excellent！" admired Kama."Not too bad，thanks！But I can now hardly take my breath！I am no match for you！" panted Pierre."No，no，no，it's not like that.I am local，and I've grown up right here，well adjusted to the climate and altitude.It's no less than dozen of times I've climbed up the mountain，which is now quite to my intimate knowledge.But still，I've been followed tightly by you all the way here，what does it say？It says that you are really excellent！" "Not…" Pierre was interrupted by Kama who continued in sepulchral tones，"Coach，I have to talk to you！And I hope you stay cool.Actually，we both bore evil minds when arranging with you to climb the Snow Treasure Mountain.I meant to impose upon your unfavorable physical condition at altitude，since you were hard on us in the training courses.As for Gongbu，he's been carrying the torch for Haichu for years，you know.We three grew up together.Still he didn't go further and stopped in the period of silent love.If in terms of our traditional rules，unconditionally，Haichu should be marrying Gongbu as long as Gongbu propose to her.When he found the other day that you've been in love with Haichu，he was rather anxious and eager to win Haichu's heart again via the climbing which he thought was the only contest he could get the best of you，given that he was inferior to you in any other contest.But it never occurred to him that you are so comprehensive a man，leaving him a total failure once more.Ech！Now in retrospect，we were quite narrow-minded and we shouldn't…"
58."You two guys are straightforward，I know it.Besides，your purpose didn't escape me at the very beginning.Still I take your challenge since I make no strangers of you.Instead，I see you as my friends！All the colleagues in our club shall be taken friends！" Pierre cut in and panted slowly，"In the scaring place quite close to the heaven，facing the Qinghai Lake as a huge mirror of life and getting on much with friends like you with pure heart，I have in these days comprehended and understood many things.One is the actual meaning of friends.True friends，including the foreign friends，would do to each other whole-heartedly without giving a damn about purposes，properties，victory or defeat，the right or wrong，the rich or poor，the young or old，as well as the racial differences.So，sincere as we are to each other，we can make good and true friends，is that right？" Kama kept nodding in agreement.
59.Just at the moment，the alarm on Pierre's car key went off，and instinctively Pierre looked down the mountain.With the eye-catching burning words—— come down now—— coming into view，he spotted also that the ambulance was parked right beside the coach vehicle."Kama！Look！An emergency！Haichu has driven her ambulance there." yelled out Pierre.Amid the cries，Kama knew at once what had happened.Very carefully，Kama observed the sky and gabbled out，"It's blowing a blizzard here.Haichu must come for that.I know she is bound to come in this case.Coach，we shall leave now！Please pattern yourself on me and slide down the mountain covering your head.My experience says we will in this way be reaching the mountain foot in less than half an hour."
11
60.Just then，the gales were heard from all around and the snowflakes were falling apart： The blizzard was coming."Gongbu，go down！Blizzard！Go down the...！" shouted Kama at Gongbu who's still climbing upward.While at the same time，followed closely by Pierre，Kama slid down with the head covered perfectly by his hands.
61.Sliding down as wind，with now a lift high into the air，then a heavy fall，Pierre had his mind gone totally blank.All the same，he kept uttering out loud，"Haichu！Haichu ！Haichu！..." Pom！Pierre darted into a clump of bushes and screamed out，"Kama！The bush！We are right below the snowline！We are relieved..." he was not yet finished when more impact sounds—— Pom！Pom！Pom！—— were heard on top of that.Within seconds，the consecutive collisions had him sunk into unconsciousness.
62.Not knowing how long had passed，Pierre awaked out of a fitful pains finding that he was all right except the dislocation of his left arm.Trying to rise to his feet but simply followed by a turn of dizziness with the sore all over，thus，instinctively，he kept still resting.A sudden terror，however，came over him at this moment.Stuck in the snow-buried area，Pierre was，all by himself，scared of being frozen to death and thus managed to rise to his feet and kept shouting the name of Kama，Gongbu and Haichu.Except the echo of his own words，he went totally unanswered.To his terror and disappointment，Pierre blundered out of the bush following the direction he slid down，with the displaced left arm held on his chest by the right hand，when he spotted three trails left by people sliding deeply engraved in the hillside.