Ascent of Red Peak 



33 



Pneumonia and bronchitis were the enemies that I feared 

 through that cheerless night, and I could easily believe 

 that their germs were seated on the logs and boulders 

 nearby, coldly watching my efforts to keep warm and 

 awaiting the psychological moment to make their ap- 

 pearance. 



Thirty — sixty — one hundred and fifty round trips had 

 been tramped with the corresponding gymnastic exer- 

 cises, and I was in doubt whether it was only midnight or 

 two in the morning, or whether I could keep that sort of 

 thing up much longer, when Venus, the morning star, 

 blazed forth over the top of Clark Mountain like a 

 beacon of good cheer. Having been a Halley comet 

 enthusiast, I knew that the dawn came soon after Venus 

 became so bright and felt encouraged. It was too cold 

 to star-gaze^ however, and I had to keep trudging back 

 and forth till dawn. 



At daylight I found myself about 500 feet from 

 my camp. At 4:50 I rolled out my sleeping bag, from 

 which I had emerged at 4 130 the morning before. Pull- 

 ing on a sweater I was soon in the land of dreams, with 

 my shoes and leggings for a pillow and apparently none 

 the worse for my nine hours in cold storage. I had had 

 twenty-four hours of almost continuous physical exer- 

 tion, had been twenty-four hours without sleep, and, as I 

 did not get anything to eat till noon, twenty-four hours 

 without food. I was strongly reminded of the comment of 

 the editor of the Sacramento Bee the morning after 

 Artemus Ward delivered a $2.50 lecture in the early days. 

 "The audience," the editor said, ''was entirely satisfied 

 with the lecture — so well satisfied, in fact, that they did 

 not want any more at the same price." 



