THE DUKE OF ABRUZZI 357 



Once more he gazed upward at the peak, which seemed to be eluding him 

 as it lay in his very grasp. Then he took counsel with the three guides. 



To climb any higher was impossible, they maintained. A few steps away 

 not a thing was visible. The entire mountain seemed enveloped in gray, cold 

 air. Man was obliged to yield before the invincible hostility, the insurmount- 

 able veto of nature. 



For the last time the duke looked toward the peak. 



"Let us descend," he then said, in a quiet voice. 



A single march brought the four men to the camp established over 3,000 

 feet below. They were still four days' march distant from Footstool, at the 

 base of Bride Peak, where the other Italians were encamped. 



There, ten days after he had departed, the latter saw the duke unexpectedly 

 reappear with his three guides. 



"Well, your Highness?" they asked eagerly. 



"Three hundred and eight, by the barometer," he replied. 



That was equivalent, according to the calculations made with the instru- 

 ments which he had taken with him, to 7,500 meters, or about 24,565 feet. 



Luigil Amedo of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi^ had broken the world's 

 record for mountain climbing. 



PREPARATIONS FOR RETURN. 



At once preparations were made for the return of the expedition. On 

 August 12 it was already back at Shrinagar, having taken from Askoue a route 

 different from that chosen before. It led the duke and his companions over the 

 Skoro, where, after so many^miles of grim snow-covered rocks, they saw again 

 a beautiful flowery valley which seemed to them the abode of eternal spring. 



It was like a return to life. As they descended this valley, headed once 

 more toward Skardo, not only De Filippi, the botanist of the party, but all of 

 its other members were soon' carrying, in their buttonholes and in their hands, 

 great bouquets of myosotis, gentians, edelweiss, and other flowers. 



From Skardo, instead of again traversing the Zoji-la, by which he had 

 traveled previously, the duke headed for the valley of the Geosai, through 

 which the expedition made its way back to Shrinagar. There they were met by 

 Sir Francis Younghusband once more, and De Filippi found his wife, who had 

 awaited him through all the weeks that he had been lost in the snowy fastnesses 

 of the Himalayas. For two days the British Resident entertained Abruzzi and 

 his companions at his summer home of Gulmarg. Then, after short visits to 



