A HARD day's WORK. 155 



drive any tur along the top of the ridge, so as 

 to pass me when I should have attained my 

 position in the centre. 



We left the cave at 3.30, and it was not 

 really broad daylight when we got on to the 

 snow. I never had a harder day than that 

 was. The snow was so soft and so deep, that 

 it was almost impossible to force one's way 

 upward. At every stride you sank over your 

 knees mto the drift, and no step seemed to 

 take you further. Besides, the position was 

 not free from danger, for every now and then 

 we sank almost out of sight ; and it seemed 

 that it required very little to bring down the 

 cliffs of soft feathery snow that frequently 

 hung right over us in a sudden avalanche, 

 from which there could be no escape. 



When at length we gained the top, we 

 all lay down in the snow, too spent to do 

 anything for some time to come ; but the 

 biting wind soon took out of us the glow 



