IM'AKS AND I'ASSES 381 



aftei-jiooii. Ii wa.i inaiiifest, tiiat ii rido-c so loiiu ami I'oi- 

 liiddiiiL;- fuiiM iiul l>r passcil ill the daAliiilil lliat j't'iuaiiUMl, 

 while, to 1)L' uvortakou by nightfall in that situation, and in 

 siicli a wind, would Ix' to l)o cau^lit in a tra]» fi'om \\liicli 

 there was no escape. Un tlu' other hand, to return hy the 

 wav we had niounlftl was out ot'tlie question. To descend the 

 ice-wall l)y the staircase we had constructed, would hf. now 

 that the steps were hidden under snow, to court disaster. 



But out viam inveniam, aut faciam. There was no 

 alternative but to iind, or make, a- wa}' down the elill on 

 our right. It was impossible to see from al)ove what this 

 miiiht lead us \\\\o. or bow lonir it would take. But we 

 had a tolerable confidence in being able to extricate 

 ourselves by one or other of the couloirs with which it was 

 scored. It was not extraordinarily stec}), but the rocks 

 were slip[)ery with iVesli snow, and intensely rotten. 

 However, with caution it could be done, 'i'liere was 

 always some solid point or shell Dn wlueli one or nioie of 

 the links of our human chain could steady tlnMuselves, while 

 the others tenderly let tlu'mselves down the ticklish ]»laces. 

 The pioneer had a bad time of i(. for he could not be sure 

 of the stability of anything, till he tried it with his weight, 

 and he repeatedly lost his footing, and started with great 

 suddenness down the slope, to be pulled up again b\ the 

 ro['e, which we kept as taut as possible. In the course of 

 one of these involuntary <jlis.S(((/(S lie lore the seal of his 

 trousers com]>letel\' out. More than once, we came u])on 

 uncxpectedy'/"//N in the elill". wlndi coni]ielled us to retrace 

 our steps and traverse its face in seaivh of practicable ways. 

 We were troubled by (juantitics of falling rocks and stones, 

 loosened b\- the wind and the nudtinix snow, whi(di shot 



