534 Notes on Sport and Travel x 



terrible risk to look into the immensity that lay 

 stretched out below me like another world. 



However, everything in this world must have at 

 least one end, even an Alpine cliff. And at last, as 

 I drew myself up, I found myself face to face with 

 the snow. The last step was by no means the 

 easiest or safest ; but in a few moments all three of 

 us, Joseph, the chamois, and myself, were lying on 

 the snow-bed, one hardly more alive than the other. 



As soon as we had recovered a little, we stumbled 

 back among the sloppy snow and the half- hidden 

 rocks, one of which had doubtless caused the un- 

 timely emptying of our spirit-bottle, till we arrived 

 at the chcniinee up which we had scrambled in the 

 morning. Now, scrambling up is one thing, and 

 scrambling down is another, decidedly more difficult, 

 particularly with the addition of a * beastie ' twice as 

 large as a well -grown fawn. So we decided to 

 return over the small glacier which had so nearly 

 knocked our brains out in our ascent, not without a 

 lurking hope of finding some water in its delicate 

 green chalices. 



The small ice-stream on which we pursued our 

 thirsty search flowed down from the upper snow-beds 

 through a chasm in the cliffs, and lay right across 

 our path. The crevasses were small and easy to 

 traverse, though, had they been ten times the breadth, 

 we should have welcomed them for the prospect of 

 water they held out. We soon discovered what we 

 wanted, and throwing ourselves on the ice, from 



