After that the climbing- was hard, but 

 safer. The distances travelled between 

 rests shorter, and rest, for the less expe- 

 rienced members, meant to fling- themselves 

 flat on their backs on the snow in the 

 gusts of wind, and lie there until they 

 could move again. Evans was all rig-ht 

 and Walden was always for speeding the 

 trip. At the last, the rests were a hundred 

 feet apart. Nearly to the ton, I.udwig and 

 another were caught in a g-ust so strong 

 that they had to throw themselves down 

 to keep from being blown over the wall. 

 But Ludwlg always clung to the hand 

 camera. /' 



It was 1.25 P. M. when they reached the 

 Summit House. Mohn . And . Dodge had 

 started the Are in the Boston & Maine 

 hut. They had hot soup ready and tea and 

 baked beans. The party crowded in and 

 the dogs came, too. Joe Dodge had frozen 

 one arm from the elbow down. Evans had 

 had his nose frozen. Joe's thermometer 

 recorded ten below zero. Walden had not 

 a white mark of frost on his ruddy face. 

 Walden and his team had made the trip. 

 He had wanted to make it for years and 

 had believed it could be made. But you 

 wouldn't_have known that he was pleased 

 to look at him. Only that he was humming 

 a little, softly. 



j Walden's Paaans 



"Make ,it a song of the old Alaska, Ar- 

 thur," someone said, and the humming 

 turned into words. Mohn, as he caught 

 the tune, picked it up wjth a hamionica 

 and to the accompaniment the huslcy 

 baritone went on. 

 To you dog hunchers aiU 

 Wltli your 5-lp,and 3'our yawl. 



By the crack ot a whip In the morning; 

 £ drive from the West, 

 Where the klootch men are beat. 



And the booch Is as strong as my longing. 



When he had done with that he sang 

 several verses of a were-wolf song that be- 

 gan: 



This, Is the etory the sages tell 

 Ot lovely lake o'er hill and dell. 

 But where no man la known to dwell 

 Because it lies next to the gates of liell. 

 , /• 



Chinook Sits on the World 



So Walden was pleased and he had a 

 rig'ht to be. The party was f£5 and warm 

 and readj- to start back. But before they 



left, Chinook walked In the wind to the 

 very top of the mountain ajid sat dovm in 

 all his g-reat dignity alone with the frost 

 covered Tip Top house for a background. 

 He will never do stunt work or hard worit 

 again. Walden has said it. 



The party left the top of Mt. Wa.slhlngtoii 

 at 4 P. M. They went down over the, roush 

 road of the telephone line, avoiding the 

 dangerous slope of Chandler Ridge. It 

 wa.s hard travelling and men held back tha 

 sled with ropes. But it was quick, only 

 an hour and a half back to the Halt Way 

 House. They stopped there to remov* 

 creepers and gather up snowehoes, and 

 went on downward on the last four miles. 

 It was seven o'clock when they got ther» 

 to the comfort of the warmth and the ex- 

 cellence of Mrs. Pike's cooking. Wald^ti 

 sat, after dinner, among a group in a room 

 that looks toward Ml. Washington, Tha 

 nioonlight was in the mountains but not yet 

 in the valley. The great g-hostly dome of 

 the mountain was clearly outlined against 

 the sky. Walden lit a cigarette, snapping 

 the match to flame. -with a flick of his 

 lliumbnail. . The room was still. Outstd* 

 there was not a sigh of wind In all the 

 trees of all the forest. The great dog. 

 Chinook, lay sleeping at his partner's 

 ijjoooasined feet.. 



