44 SAVAGE SVANETIA. 



field. The palms of my hands, hard as they 

 were, were torn and bleeding ; and though I 

 was willing in spirit I had to come to a crawl 

 at last utterly done, faint and trembling like 

 a girl. Simon turned and saw me, and I 

 never saw a man's face so lighted up by ex- 

 citement as his was in my life. He dared not 

 speak ; all he could do, though beside himself 

 with the desire to get me on, was to wave his 

 arms about, frantically kissing his hand to me, 

 and with eyes and gestures imploring me to 

 make another effort. 



How I got another run out of myself I 

 don't know. If I had stumbled in that last 

 hundred yards I must have gone altogether, I 

 felt too weak to cling to anything for a 

 moment. Dropping beside Simon I lay still 

 for a few seconds, and then creeping a foot or 

 two higher, peered over the edge of the little 

 snow slope on which we lay. 



About eighty yards from me was a rock 



