ON THE SUMMIT. 329 



above them, they were separated from it by a 

 sharp and seemingly inaccessible ridge. Even 

 Agassiz, who was not easily discouraged, said, 

 as he looked up at this highest point of the 

 fortress they had scaled : " We can never 

 reach it." For all answer, Jacob Leuthold, 

 their intrepid guide, flinging down every- 

 thing which could embarrass his movements, 

 stretched his alpenstock over the ridge as a 

 grappling pole, and, trampling the snow as he 

 went, so as to flatten his giddy path for those 

 who were to follow, was in a moment on the 

 top. To so steep an apex does this famous 

 peak narrow, that but one person can stand 

 on the summit at a time, nor was even this 

 possible till the snow was beaten down. Re- 

 turning on his steps, Leuthold, whose quiet, 

 unflinching audacity of success was conta- 

 gious, assisted each one to stand for a few 

 moments where he had stood. The fog, the 

 effect of which they had so much feared, now 

 lent something to the beauty of the view from 

 this sublime foothold. Masses of vapor rolled 

 up from the Roththal on the southwest, but, 

 instead of advancing to envelop them, paused 

 at a little distance arrested by some current 

 from the plain. The temperature being be- 

 low freezing point, the drops of moisture in 



