AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



From this point a great snow-bank rose gradu- 

 ally for several hundred yards and then formed 

 a high, steep bank dangerous to climb for fear of 

 starting a snowslide. For half a mile the drift 

 extended eastward and away from the moun- 

 tain peak. I saw that by crossing it to the far 

 end and then turning back I could reach the 

 north side of the peak on top of the steep, dan- 

 gerous bank. 



"The glare from the sun on the drift was very 

 intense, but it seemed no more dazzling than I 

 had found it under similar circumstances in 

 America. For most of the way the snow was 

 soft and I sank to my shoe tops, but after I had 

 turned back toward the 'mountain I found a 

 tract about a hundred yards wide where, for some 

 unaccountable reason, the snow was packed hard. 

 Even when I jumped on it my feet left no im- 

 pression. 



"I proceeded until I had passed two thirds 

 of the way around the mountain peak. The mass 

 of cliffs and jagged rocks rose to a total height 

 of seventeen thousand two hundred feet above 

 sea-level; now they were not more than seven 

 hundred feet above me, therefore I must have 

 ascended to an altitude of sixteen thousand five 



