An Ascent of the Matterhorn. 



85 



relatively easy. The sun became our greatest enemy now. 

 Rocks pried loose by frost, and insecurely imbedded in 

 ice and snow during the storm, left their moorings and 

 went careening down the mountain-side. The danger 

 from them was most imminent in the Great Couloir, for 

 the rocks from a large area on the east face precipitate 

 themselves through this gully. It takes ten minutes or 

 m.ore to traverse it. We had no sooner entered it than 

 Burgener and David became terror-stricken. Each 

 thought the other was going too slowly. Yet too great 

 haste was to court danger of another kind. The character 

 of the climbing left some things to be desired, and the 

 bergschrund of the Furggen Glacier yawned through a 

 blue haze far beneath. I was in the act of working 

 around a sharp corner when a faint but ominous sound 

 from above told us that a cannonade was coming. We all 

 heard it about the same time, and instantly sought shelter 

 by snuggling under the nearest projection on the face 

 of the cliff. I was in an exposed position and tried to 

 get back as quickly as I could. I managed to get out of 

 harm's way in the nick of time; just as I let go my last 

 handhold the dread messengers arrived, 



" Rattling with hollow roar down death's decline." 



One fragment of rock struck my hand in midair, and 

 with such force that for a time I feared one of my fingers 

 had received serious injury. It turned out to be only a 

 severe contusion. The remainder of the descent was 

 completed without any noteworthy incident. By 4 

 o'clock we had reached the Alpine cabin, where we stopped 

 long enough to brew a cup of tea and to allow Burgener 

 and David to tidy the part of the cabin which we had 

 occupied. This shelter among the clouds has been erected 

 by the Swiss Alpine Club, and may be used freely by all 

 Matterhorn climbers, on the sole condition that the guides 

 employed leave it in good order. 



Zermatt was aglow with lights as we passed the little 

 churchyard where the remains of Hadow, Hudson, and 



