THE DESCENT. 157 



or descend on the other side of the rano-e, 

 followmg the new track of a herd in the 

 snow, with the chance of coming upon them 

 lower down, and tlie certainty of food and 

 fire in a village at the mountain's foot. The 

 rapidly thickening clouds gave us our answer. 

 If we did not mean to be cut off from Frank 

 and the rest of our party for days, and per- 

 haps weeks, it behoved us at once to return 

 as we had come before the snow made the 

 road back impracticable. It was a disap- 

 pointment to leave the fair land before us 

 unexplored ; but as those below could not 

 come to us, we were bound to go to them, 

 and we went. 



The road down snow-fields is pleasant 

 enough, and the pace at which we were 

 enabled to go without any fear of a slip was 

 exhilarating. Once down there was daylight 

 enough for another essay ; so, tired though 

 we were, we climbed, counting our steps as 



