(Boing ^o t^t Cop 



blame for this deviltry matters not; the guide 

 had to suffer for it. 



Early in guiding I conceived it to be my duty 

 to start for the top with any one who cared to 

 try it, and I felt bound also to get the climber 

 to the top if possible. This was poor theory and 

 bad practice. After a few exasperating and 

 exhausting experiences I learned the folly of 

 dragging people to the top who were likely to 

 be too weak to come back. One day a party 

 of four went up. Not one of them was accus- 

 tomed to walking, and all had apparently lived 

 to eat. After eight hard hours we reached the 

 summit, where all four collapsed. A storm came 

 on, and we were just leaving the top when day- 

 light faded. It rained at intervals all night long, 

 with the temperature a trifle below freezing. 

 We would climb down a short distance, then 

 huddle shivering together for a while. At times 

 every one was suffering from nausea. We got 

 down to timber-line at one o'clock in the morn- 

 ing. Here a rest by a rousing camp-fire enabled 

 all to go on down. We arrived at the starting- 

 place just twenty-four hours after we had left it! 



9 



