The next day we crossed the divide, 

 and not a day too soon. The snow was 

 so deep that the trail breaker in front 

 was in danger of going over a precipice 

 or into a rock crevice at any time. 

 After him came the pack animals, so 

 that they could make a path for us. 

 The path was just the width of the 

 horse, and in some places the walls of it 

 rose above my head. In such places I 

 had to keep my feet high up in the 

 saddle to prevent them from being 

 crushed. For a half day we struggled 

 upwards with danger stalking by our 

 sides, then on the very ridge of the 

 divide itself, 11,500 feet in the air, with 

 the icy wind blowing a hurricane of 

 blinding snow, we skirted along a preci- 

 pice the edge of which the snow cov- 

 ered so that we could not be sure when 

 a misstep might send us over into 



