256 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



a bundle of quill toothpicks was being thrust 

 into them. I rubbed them with snow and closed 

 my lids, but when I opened them again the 

 agony was excruciating. A thick smoke seemed 

 to obscure the view; then, for the first time, I 

 realised that I was becoming snow-blind. 



"How foolish I had been not to blacken my 

 face with a piece of burnt wood before leaving 

 camp, but when I started I had no intention of 

 climbing high, and, as I have said, after the 

 snow was reached the glare from the drifts 

 seemed no more intense than I had found it 

 many times before. 



"What if I should become totally blind! 

 Here I was, marooned four miles from camp 

 and on the opposite side of the mountain. 

 Brown would never think of looking for me here. 



"One thing was sure: I must get away and 

 try to work out on the big drift to the east of the 

 peak before I completely lost my sight. This 

 drift was visible from a long distance to any one 

 approaching from the south, so if Brown should 

 come he could easily see me on the snow a mile 

 away. 



"Of course there was some danger of stum- 

 bling into one of the many crevasses I had 



