BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 



fold in it. In the bitter cold and the hideous day- 

 light we shawled ourselves again in our blankets 

 and slept miserably till seven o'clock, when, after 

 such gruesome toilet as circumstances and a small 

 jug of ice-cold water permitted, we emerged from 

 our cabin, objects that our nearest relations would 

 have been justified in cutting. The gentleman 

 from Brixton had gone, and the sun had arrived 

 too late to arrange a sunrise, but still anxious to 

 oblige. There was also a kettle of boiling water, 

 a loaf of bread, and a clear fire in the stove. All 

 these things disposed us to realise with a new 

 benevolence what an achievement of labour and 

 perseverance was embodied in the Summit Hotel. 

 The ponies on whose backs each plank and each 

 lump of coal has been carried up are alone able 

 to estimate that achievement perfectly, but they 

 are not likely to expatiate on it, and the fleshless 

 mountain-track repudiates the hoof - prints that 

 could tell of scramble and struggle. 



Outside the shanty, when we stepped into the 

 open air, we found most of Wales, clad in the 



