AN ASCENT OF THE MATTERHORN. 253 
: Our invalid was better in the morning, but cold, 
disgusted, and impatient. His swollen eyelids each 
looked like a ripe plum. He said that he could 
not open his eyes. I told him to lie still and keep 
them shut then,—a remark which he thought 
peculiarly unfeeling. We decided to send this 
Knight of the Sorrowful Figure with John and Vic- 
tor down to Zermatt, while Spangler and I would 
wait and play “ mumble-the-peg ” until their return, 
which might be next day and might be — never! 
Not a cheerful prospect; but, as the jester said 
in the woods of Arden, “Travellers must be 
contented.” 
Before they had fairly started, however, we 
heard shouting from below; and soon the two 
guides Bic reached us from the lower cabin, in 
which they had spent the night. We therefore 
again moved on, but very slowly. The new-fallen 
snow made the walking very difficult, and much 
sitting down in slippery places reduced our cloth- 
ing to-a total wreck, concerning which the less 
said the better. There were many “ auvais pas,” 
but we passed them all at last, and towards noon 
we reached the lower cabin, The doctor from 
Zermatt was there, and also four able-bodied ruf- 
fians bearing a sedan-chair. We were now safe 
at last; and after another drink around of choco- 
late, —there was nothing else left, — we started 
for Zermatt. 
Our welcome in the village was most enthusi- 
astic. Everybody — English, German, French — 
was delighted to see us, and the “ Matterhorn- 
besteiger” were the heroes of the hour. In the 
