I'I':.\KS AND I 'ASSIES 383 



ai'iTslrtl llir railial mn IVmih our Ixxlics. 'I'liui'i' was not 

 iiuicli t(» fiMf IVoiii I lie caiitioiiadc (•fstoiK's. foi' tliat (|uirkl\- 

 st(»[»[)L'(l atlcr siiiiilnwii. I had soiiir fi'asoii [n dread 

 gcttiug frost i>ittcii.' I)iit llioU!j,li our sutrcriiiL;s wci-c ^rcal 

 froiii tlir cnld, no roult (if thai kind followed. Altmiately 

 we crouclu'd with our knees up to our chins, or stanipnl 

 awa\' the stillness. With ufiin Nullooiierv wc warde(l o|]' 

 any tendency to a dangerous drowsiness. At h'ast we had 

 the sense of victor}' to warm us, and Macdoualds spirits — 

 which were in inverse pi'opoi'tioii to the dejiression of 

 others — were contagious. Alas! tliat his clieeix- \ uice 

 has loni!,- lieeii still ! 



The weary night passed at last. As soon as the light 

 permitted, we continued — though rather still) \' ami with a 

 certain treniljlinsj; of the knees— our downward proo-ress to 

 the Miaii'c Glacier: and i)etore nud-da\-, reached the 

 hathino- estahlishment of St. (Jervais. One of us had to 

 hold his two h;inds in a nn'sterious manner to the seat of 

 his trousers; the rest were stained and di>lie\cned. ami to 



' A season or two before tliis, I li;ul Ijeeii .severely I'rost-liitleu ini Monte 

 Kosa, without being conscious, at tlie time, of any unusual inconvenience. 

 The night was intensely cold, but whether my foot lost its vitality iluring 

 the a.scent, or on the top where I went to sleej) for an Imur in the sunshine, 

 I il'i nut kniiw. Although conscious of something wrong with my foot, it was 

 not till i readied the little tarn by the Kilfel Iloin, that I realised the cause. 

 There I stripped for a bathe, and, when I tried to 2>ut on my boots again, it 

 was impossible to do so, for the toes of one foot had suddenly swollen to 

 :i portentous size. It was not without dilliculty tliat 1 hopped down to 

 the lliffel-berg Inn, and thence rode to Ztrmatt to consult tlie vill;ige prac- 

 titioner. Ill' toM me that I ought at once to have returned to the glacier 

 and immersed the frozen part in an ice-pool until it was frozen again. As 

 it was too late for that remedy, he applied hot glue, but the toes were so 

 l)adly injured, as to di.sable me for some weeks, and 1 fancy I li.id a narrow- 

 escape of losing them altogether. 



