of 



started down the steep slope. It was a danger- 

 ous descent, for the rock was steep and smooth 

 as a wall, and was overladen with snow which 

 might slip at any moment. I descended slowly 

 and with great caution, so as not to start the 

 snow, as well as to guard against slipping and 

 losing control of myself. It was like descending 

 a mile of steep, snow-covered barn roof, 

 nothing to lay hold of and omnipresent oppor- 

 tunity for slipping. A short distance below the 

 summit the clouds again were around me and I 

 could see only a short distance. I went sideways, 

 with my long skees, which I had now regained, 

 at right angles to the slope ; slowly, a few inches 

 at a time, I eased myself down, planting one 

 skee firmly before I moved the other. 



At last I reached a point where the wall was 

 sufficiently tilted to be called a slope, though it 

 was still too steep for safe coasting. The clouds 

 lifted and were floating away, while the sun 

 made the mountains of snow still whiter. I 

 paused to look back and up, to where the wall 

 ended in the blue sky, and could not under- 

 stand how I had come safely down, even with 



6 



