The Sky-Line of the Tatoosh Range. 



19 



stocks; it was necessary to begin the dolorous task of 

 cutting steps. What mountaineers term ice-steps are gen- 

 erally gashes about the size of an ordinary blaze on a 

 tree; but in this case we had roomy landings that two 

 mountain boots could occupy at once. The first man 

 chopped the gashes with an ice-ax, the second man 

 amused himself by enlarging them with a hatchet, while 

 the third scratched away the snow with both hands, like 

 a dog after a squirrel. This excavating process was an 

 agreeable pastime for those in front, but we poor creatures 

 back in the line stood for two mortal hours with a blazing 

 sun beating on our heads, but with our feet gradually 

 freezing, and mounted upward one slow step at a time. 

 Part of the way our rate of progress was measured o& 

 by the chanting of a doleful chorus, since become en- 

 deared by association to the heart of many a Sierran, 

 whose final word, " Change ! " invariably was the signal 

 for a one-step advance. And all the while the slope grew 

 steeper and the rocks at the foot of it looked the more 

 ominous, while the speed of the chunks of ice and snow 

 that came hissing down past us from the choppers gave 

 an unpleasant indication of the momentum that might 

 be gained by a large body in the act of falling. 



From the crest of the saddle the snow fell away on 

 the southern side to meet a high rock wall, broken down in 

 one place to form a perfect window, through which one 

 looked out straight into the distance, — a wide blue forest 

 country stretching to meet Mt. Adams, whose snows were 

 already touched to gold by the afternoon sun. The 

 pastelle-like softness of the distant picture, so unexpected 

 amid the rough-hewn grandeur of the setting, thrilled 

 the fancy as with a glimpse into the world of dreams 

 that lies beyond the horizon, — " a turn, and you stood 

 in the heart of things." 



But the step-cutting had taken so long that we could 

 not afiford to linger. Stacking our alpenstocks at the 

 edge of the snow, we began the final rock climb to the sum- 

 mit. There was nothing difficult about this until the 



