174 A Sportswoman in India 



top of the next crag, which would evidently sway 

 horribly. There was no shame in allowing we were 

 beaten. We went back, and eventually managed to 

 creep round beneath both rocks ; but it was the hardest 

 bit of climbing that day. 



" At last the rocks were left behind ; we all stood, 

 panting, at the top ; then almost a run up an easy 

 slope of snow to the summit of all things, and the 

 Silver Throne was ours ! Around us and beneath us 

 and on every side were sombre, solemn mountain- 

 peaks, glittering walls, turrets, pinnacles, pyramids, 

 domes, cones and spires of ice and snow, ' every com- 

 bination that the world can give, and every contrast 

 that the heart can desire.' We could not linger long, 

 hard though it was to leave. Having eaten some 

 kola biscuits and chocolate, we began to descend by 

 a different route. It proved to be more difficult than 

 the other way, and, worse still, we had no time to 

 spare to come very slowly. 



" The rocky arete gave place to an ice-slope fully 

 a thousand feet long, across which we moved, as 

 quickly as H., who was once more in front, could 

 cut steps. To save time we managed with as few 

 as possible, and I, for one, fully expected an accident. 

 It came ! The nails in H.'s boots had grown rounded 

 and smooth ; he suddenly slipped and went flying 

 forwards. I wildly embraced a handy little knob, and 

 the rest clung somehow somewhere with axes and 

 finger-nails. Taut came the rope with an awful 

 strain it was an unpleasant moment. We were heading 



