HO! FOR GRAY'S PEAK! 243 



had been able to walk on the top of the snow, but 

 elsewhere it was quite soft, and we could hear the 

 gurgling of water underneath, and sometimes it sounded 

 a little more sepulchral than we liked. Looking far 

 up the acclivity, we saw still larger snow-fields obliter- 

 ating the trail. " We can never cross those snow- 

 fields," one of us declared, a good deal of doubt in his 

 tones. A moment's reflection followed, and then the 

 other exclaimed stoutly, " Let us climb straight up, 

 then ! " To which his companion replied, " All right, 

 little Corporal ! Beyond the Alps lies Italy ! " 



Over rocks and stones and stretches of gravel, some- 

 times loose, sometimes solid, we clambered, half the 

 time on all fours, skirting the snow-fields that lay in 

 our unblazed pathway ; on and up, each cheering the 

 other at frequent intervals by crying lustily, " We can 

 make it ! We can make it ! " ever and anon throwing 

 ourselves on the rocks to recover our breath and rest 

 our aching limbs ; on and up we scrambled and crept, 

 like ants on a wall, until at length, reaching the ridge 

 at the left a little below the top, we again struck the 

 trail, when we stopped a few minutes to catch breath, 

 made one more mighty effort, and, behold! we stood 

 on Gray's summit, looking down triumphantly at the 

 world crouching at our feet. Never before had we felt 

 so much like Jupiter on Olympus. 



In making the ascent, some persons, even among 



