CHAPTER X 



"The lonely summits flame and die: 

 The giant valleys gulp the night; 

 The Monster Mountains scrape the sky, 

 Where eager stars are diamond bright." 



September 12. To those who are destined to ar- 

 rive the gods give propitious signs of their favor, 

 and the brilliant sun with unclouded sky that greeted 

 us as we came from our tents seemed to us partic- 

 ularly favorable omens for a successful crossing of 

 the range. Nor could the crossing be considered 

 without those same favorable weather conditions, 

 for the reason that after we should start we would 

 be obliged to cross over in one day in order to reach 

 horse feed, without which it is impossible to take 

 pack animals over mountain crests that tower thou- 

 sands of feet, where those same pack animals are 

 loaded with two hundred and fifty pounds each, and 

 the entire range is covered deep with snow, from the 

 bottom of the lowest canyon to the furtherest sky 

 piercing peak. 



It took some time to pack the horses, as sheep, 

 caribou, and moose horns are difficult items to ar- 

 range into packs in such a manner that the horns 

 are pointed away from the sides of the pack animals, 



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