AN ASCENT OF THE MATTERHORN. 239 



rocks, on the other by blue ice, from the edge of 

 which often hang long icicles. We walked on in 

 silence above this Bergschrund % thinking that our 

 way would be easier by-and-by, when suddenly 

 our path ceased. At this point John the Baptist 

 left us, and climbing fly-like up the side of the 

 rock, he showed us our path about ten feet higher 

 up on another shelf formed by a projecting stra- 

 tum. He threw the end of his rope to the guide 

 Victor, who put it around his waist. Then John 

 stood in the attitude of the Colossus on the edge 

 of the precipice, and hauled him up. Next came 

 my turn, and I dangled serenely over the edge of 

 the mountain, while John and Victor pulled on the 

 rope. This mode of mountain climbing gives a 

 view that you can get in no other way of the 

 mountains on the other side. And so one by one 

 came up the rest. 



But our path did not improve as we went on. 

 From this point to the top, about six hours' climb, 

 there was not a single yard of level walking or, 

 indeed, of any walking at all. One could not any- 

 where take three steps without watching each step 

 and making a mental calculation as to whether his 

 feet would hold. There was hardly a place where 

 a stumble or a slip of the foot would not, except 

 for the help of others, send the person who slipped 

 to the foot of the mountain. Every step was on 

 the edge of a precipice, and every step made the 

 precipice higher, though there is little real 

 choice between falling a hundred feet and falling a 

 mile. The boys appreciated this, and fell not at 

 all. They clung with fingers and toes to every 



