CHAPTER XIX. 



The Start Unsatisfactory Travelling The Camping ground A wakeful 

 Night Fagged-out and short Commons The Mosca Pass in sight An 

 Ocean of Air The Gap Danger A cold Camp The Fuel lost. 



MY comrade's report of his late trip was given, as nearly 

 as can be remembered, in the following words : 



" When I parted from you my calculation was to make a 

 long day's march, and so, if possible, get more than two 

 thirds of the way to the summit before camping my object 

 being to be able to get well down on the other side by the 

 following night, and so avoid the necessity of having to camp 

 near the top of the range, where I knew that it would be 

 intensely cold, the snow very deep, ho pickings for the 

 animals, and probably a total absence of the fuel necessary 

 to keep us from freezing. 



" As we travelled along I studied carefully the sky-line 

 of the mountains, seeking to determine which was the gap 

 through which the pass might be sought with the greatest 

 probability of finding it. Having at length, after many 

 changes of opinion, decided, my next difficulty was to form 

 some mental map of the country between the distant gap 



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