CLIMBING ADVENTURES 181 



And I was under the illusion that I was acting on 

 my own account, that I was overcoming the difficulties 

 with my own energy alone, and I was proud of the 

 thought. Men are wont in the difficult situations of 

 their lives to think they are acting on their own initia- 

 tive, and conquering by their own unaided valour, 

 whereas invisible threads are really supporting and 

 moving them. 



The wire-puller's box is hidden above. My wire- 

 puller, the trusty Aime", made me perform feats that 

 day whose like was never attempted by the most dis- 

 jointed harlequin on the little stage of the Lupi Theatre. 

 But the feeling of loneliness weighed upon me ; at 

 times I instinctively turned to look for some com- 

 panion behind me, and I saw nothing but the sheer 

 precipice, full of emptiness. I marvelled to find myself 

 thus alone and in the rear ; I thought it monstrous to 

 advanice thus at such a distance from one another^ 

 not to be able to exchange a word, not to see each 

 other's faces, not to look into each other's eyes. I was 

 aware of my companion's presence only by means of 

 the vibrating rope which squeezed my chest ; but it 

 was not the rope only which vibrated and united us : 

 the hearts of our little party beat strongly and in 

 unison with those of the invisible men who had been 

 stationed up aloft for so many hours at the mysterious 

 head of the thread on which our lives depended. 



Daniel told me some days afterwards that at that 

 part of our climb a large stone had moved at his feet 

 on a little platform where the rope was tied to an iron 

 stanchion ; the mass was about to fall, and would have 

 come down sheer upon us, when Daniel, whose hands 

 were guiding the rope, called out to his companions 



