the entire "outfit" was pretty thoroughly demoralized by the time the 

 advance movement was again taken up. We bade an affectionate good- 

 bye to the dear old mules, as they started back with the mountaineer to 

 await our return to the "Half-way House/' providing we lived to get 

 back. The Sergeant gathered together our equipments and gave in- 

 structions as to how the pikes and snowshoes were to be used and what 

 precautions were to be observed regarding the presence and possible 

 attack from wild animals. We cast another look after the mule?, 

 which were now almost lost from view, and then turned our gaze up- 

 ward and marched onward. 



Snow in front of us, snow to the right of us, snow to the left of us 

 gathered and deepened. We pressed forward, the Sergeant taking the 

 lead, but progress was made with the utmost difficulty. Occasionally 

 the crusted snow would possess sufficient strength to support our 

 weight, but more often we were floundering in it up to our arm-pits. 

 The wind howled through the tall pines, with a noise that fairly 

 deafened us. We might have been pounced upon by wild animals, with- 

 out the least warning, for the raging storm completely overwhelmed 

 every other disturbance, and, moreover, we were nearly buried out of 

 sight in the tremendous depth of snow. We could see, from where it 

 encircled the bodies of the trees, that it was over thirty feet deep. 

 When we left the timber we came out upon a perfect sea of snow. 

 Its surface appeared as smooth as glass and, owing to the very pre- 

 cipitous inclination of the mountain at this point, the chances of 

 crossing with safety looked very small. Looking upward we could 

 not discern the limit of this white and treacherous waste of congealed 

 moisture, and, casting our eyes downward, it appeared as though the 

 bottom had fallen out of the earth below, and that we stood on a 

 slender arch supported in some mysterious manner, the efficiency of 

 which might terminate at any moment. The Sergeant explained that 

 this part of the Peak was called Windy Point, because the air always 

 moved with great velocity over the smoothly curved ridge which 

 forms a perfect turtle back, with the major axis enormously length- 

 ened. It had the appearance of a huge cigar and we were compelled 

 to cross at the greatest diameter. 



The Sergeant said that along this turtle back occurred some of the 

 most destructive snowslides on the Peak. In fact, the ground had been 

 swept perfectly smooth by them, the largest boulders being gouged 

 out of their beds and all trees, of whatever size, uprooted or broken 

 off, the whole mass being carried down the mountain side with a 

 rush and a roar that was awful to witness and quite impossible to de- 



