AN ASCENT OF THE MATTEKHORN 223 



*' did not know how to shiver," would certainly 

 have found the coveted experience there. We did 

 little else all night long. Moreover, the floor was 

 very uneven, and the tin wine-flask which did duty 

 as a pillow was far from being '' soft as downy 

 pillows are." There was not much encouragement 

 for sleeping. All night long our patient kept on 

 ascending mountains, and recalling his experiences 

 of the day. At about the first watch of the night, 

 he shouted out, *' Attention ! Attention toujours ! " 

 At another time he called us all up with this 

 remark, " Here we will stop walking and take 

 wheelbarrows." When everything else was quiet, 

 the snow thawed on the roof and kept little streams 

 of sooty water trickling over our faces. John and 

 Victor lay on the bare ground ; and at intervals, 

 when they could stand it no longer, they would 

 kindle a fire of shavings, and wake us up to take a 

 drink around of chocolate. 



I have seen cold nights elsewhere, but nothing 

 to compare with this. The storm ceased early in 

 the night, the clouds blew over, and a sharp, crys- 

 talline midwinter coldness penetrated everywhere. 

 We could every few minutes hear the mountain 

 snap, as the water froze in the fissures of its rocks. 

 I sometimes spend the night now-a-days waiting 

 for a belated train in the little hotel of some prairie 

 " railroad junction " in Indiana or Illinois, at the 

 time of the January blizzards. The single window 

 in the little bedroom will fit loosely in its place. 

 One pane of glass may be replaced by an old hat, 

 the second by a newspaper, and a third be wanting 

 altogether. The bed may have but one sheet, a 



