The Ascent of Chief Mountain 



Again, when near the top of that first wall, 

 and when the halfway ledge seemed almost 

 within our grasp, the shallow cleft — up which 

 we were scrambling — ended in a deep pocket 

 in the cliff's face, with no outlet above. The 

 Doctor tried it at one corner, but the treach- 

 erous crumbling rock warned him back. I 

 tried it at another, but was stopped by an 

 overhang in the cliff. No help for it but to 

 go back and try to find a way around. 



Fifty feet below we landed on a small shelf 

 running horizontally along the mountain's face, 

 and, after following it northward a few mo- 

 ments, we found another channel leading up. 

 The Doctor started to investigate it, while 

 Billy and I continued on slowly looking for 

 a better. Almost immediately, however, we 

 heard the Doctor shout " All right," and, fol- 

 lowing him, came out at last upon the great 

 halfway shelf of the mountain. 



This was a steep slope of shale, which 

 seemed in places quite ready to slide in an 

 avalanche of loose rock over the edge of the 

 cliff below; but the relief of being out upon it, 

 and able once more to stand upright without 

 the sensation of a wall against your face, 

 apparently trying to shove you outward 



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