CLIMBING BELUKHA 207 



about an. hour. At times I was compelled to sit 



down absolutely exhausted, with a feeling that I could 



not move another yard. I had been tumbling from 



ice -glazed boulders and sinking up to the hips in 



soft snow between them so often that I began to 



think one of my legs was broken. Still I struggled 



on. When I reached the tent I found my hunter 



resting quite contentedly with his back to the tent 



and with my overcoat over him to protect him from 



the cold wind. He was very pleased when I told 



him to pack up, and was not long in taking down 



the tent and packing the remaining thing's together. 



He explained that he had managed to get so far 



alone, but that the other hunter had been afraid 



to pome . He spoke as though he thought iie was very 



brave, and, as he had never been on a mountain 



moraine or glacier before, no doubt he was right. 



He pointed to a hole in the glacier which he had 



narrowly escaped tumbling into. He also expressed 



his opinion that he was sure that if he had tried 



to follow me he would have been killed. He showed 



me nasty bruises on both legs, the result of his 



tumbling on the ice-glazed boulders. From inquiries 



I made, I found that he had been four and a half 



hours in covering the two and a half miles between 



the main camp and the tent, but his interest had been 



attracted by a huge bear whom he had encountered 



by the trees at the bottom of the moraine, and whom 



he tried to kill with his large knife. He had spent 



quite an hour and a half of his time in stalking him. 



He explained that the hear ran when he got near 



to him, and that he vanished in the mountain pass. 



I was not inclined to believe his story, ais it sounded 



too much like an excuse, but he showed me what 



appeared to be the track of a bear in the snow, 



together with his own, and I was constrained to 



accept his explanation. Curiously enough, the hunter 



