﻿THE ASCENT OF MOUNT HALCON. 197 



our arrival at the Mangyan house they were not to lie found, having 

 apparently lost the trail, nor did they appear that night. 



On the following day, with the Mangyan house as headquarters, search 

 was made on the back trail for the missing men and messengers were 

 sent down to the Alag Eiver to see if they had arrived at the base camp. 

 No trace of them was found on this day and on the 28th the search was 

 continued. In the morning word was received that they had not ap- 

 peared at the base camp and accordingly a party was detailed to make 

 a more thorough search on the back trail. However, in the afternoon 

 the lost men appeared in the Mangyan clearing. It seems that on com- 

 ing down the ridge from Camp Number Six they had missed the trail 

 crossing the headwaters of the Cuming Eiver, and had proceeded for 

 some distance down the main ridge leading toward the Halcon before 

 discovering their mistake. Thinking it possible that they could easily 

 reach the Alag at the point where the suspension bridge crossed the 

 canon, they continued on down the ridge, but where unable to reach the 

 stream because of the steep cliffs. Accordingly, they retraced their steps 

 for some distance and found an old Mangyan trail which they followed 

 for some time, crossing the Halcon by a second suspension bridge and 

 again attempting to reach the Alag and follow it to the junction of the 

 Bolton River, but once more, because of the dense thickets and high 

 cliffs, they were obliged to give up the attempt. Finally, they retraced 

 their steps by the main ridge, located the trail crossing the headwaters 

 of the Cuming River, and arrived at the Mangyan house after having 

 been out nearly three days without other food than a few acorns which 

 they found in the forest. While we were searching for this party on 

 the ridges, they were in the canons attempting to reach the streams and 

 accordingly did not hear our shouts or shots. 



Because of the weak condition of the men who had been lost, no further 

 progress was made until December 1, except to concentrate our supplies 

 and equipment at Camp Number Nine, at the point where the Bolton 

 River joints the Alag. The Alag was still high and unfordable, although 

 the water was about six feet below the point at which it had been a few 

 days before. All members of the party had been on short rations for 

 several days and there seemed to be no immediate prospect of further 

 supplies reaching us from the coast. On the afternoon of November 

 30 a rude bridge was built across the Alag at Camp Number Nine 

 by felling trees and floating the trunks down stream so that they lodged 

 against bowlders in the bed of the river, the ends of the trunks being- 

 lashed in place with rattan and a hand-rail was added. A brisk rain 

 in the night caused the river to rise considerably and one-half of the 

 bridge was carried away, so that we had to replace it on the following- 

 morning. On December 1, the first clear day after' thirteen days and 

 nights of nearly constant rain, we broke Camp Number Nine and moved 



