PRELIMINARIES 13 



ing now, but it was evident that the risk 

 being run was great ; no one spoke, all our 

 eyes were fastened on the white masses of 

 the overhanging hill-side as we plodded 

 through the softening snow, which hung 

 about our feet like clogs, and precluded 

 all idea of haste, even should haste be 

 necessary to life. Occasionally the whole 

 column would stop simultaneously and turn 

 towards a distant spot where an ominous 

 growl and track of smoke marked the long 

 course of an avalanche somewhere up one 

 of the adjacent valleys. The huge masses 

 of snow on both sides of us looked as if 

 they might at any moment slip and engulf 

 us all, and no hope of escape. 



It was the ist of April, and the words 

 " April fool ! April fool ! " kept ringing in 

 my ears, as I remembered how the pluck 

 of ignorance had made me laugh yester- 

 day at the fears of my far wiser hillmen. 



However, the worst part of the road 

 was traversed in an hour or so, and we 

 emerged into a wider, and consequently 



