17 A Sportswoman in India 



element was divided by our clever little Ghoorka 

 servant, and we had a good man last. The chief thing 

 to recollect, when roped, is to keep it taut between 

 each person ; they should be at intervals of about 

 fifteen feet apart. 



t( We had each brought into Kashmir with us an ice- 

 axe and an alpenstock, or more. Our climb began 

 now, and we followed each other in a straight line up 

 the centre of the glacier. We did no talking, keeping 

 our mouths shut to stave off thirst. Suddenly I heard 

 an exclamation, and saw, to my horror, the last of G. 

 disappearing through a little rotten place in the ice, 

 headlong into a hidden crevasse. 



" The strain came upon H. and Chowry, and they 

 met it as one man. G. was soon hauled out. Our 

 efforts to peer into the gloomy cleft were baffled by 

 the curvature of the smooth, polished ice-walls of the 

 fissure, which sank into the bowels of the glacier. 

 Thank Heaven, we had been roped ! the crust of ice 

 over which H. and G. had walked was indeed thin. 



" By-and-by we turned on to a steep bank of snow, 

 frozen hard on the top, up which we slowly zig- 

 zagged very slowly, for H. had to cut steps in it the 

 whole way, and it was not the sort of place to be 

 careless on. As we rose higher and higher and turned 

 some corners, a slip on that glassy slope from one of 

 us would probably have dragged the whole party to 

 destruction. I often think it is unwise to be roped in 

 places of this description. 



" We were by this time a great height up, and could 



