CLIMBING ADVENTURES 193 



as usual, in a sitting posture, crying out at the same 

 time to warn the guides. I expected nothing serious, 

 but to my horror I did not remain where I was. 

 Still sitting, I began to slide down that glassy, ghastly 

 incline. As we were all nearly in the same line, I 

 slid at least fifteen feet before coming to a halt, when 

 checked by the rope. Now to get back ! The guides 

 called to me to get up ; but being all in a heap, 

 with the rope tight around my waist, I was unable 

 to move. The guides therefore came together just 

 above and hauled me up the slope. Thankful again 

 to be in the line of the steps, though more alarmed 

 than ever, I went onward, resolved to be more care- 

 ful. But again I slipped, and again slid far below. 

 While from the beginning of the descent I had greatly 

 feared the outcome, after these slips my terror in- 

 creased. Several times I declared that we should never 

 get down alive. I begged Gabriel to stop for the 

 night and make a cave in the snow ; but, saying this 

 was impossible, he continued without a pause. The 

 snow, indeed, was too hard, yet in some cavern or 

 crevasse I thought we could find shelter from the wind. 

 Gabriel afterwards asserted that if we had stopped 

 we should all have frozen to death. 



Again and again I slipped, five or six times 

 altogether, but always Gabriel held his ground firmly. 

 Always, too, I clung to my ice-axe ; so to his shout, 

 ' Have you your axe? ' I could respond in the affirma- 

 tive, and sometimes with it could help myself back 

 again. Once when I had slipped I was astonished to 

 see Rudolf dart by me, wondering how he could help 

 me by running far below. Afterwards I learned that 

 with my pull he, too, had slipped, and Gabriel's strong 



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