i 9 u] RESCUE WORK 181 
seized the lashing off Mcares 5 sleeping-bag, passed the 
tent poles across the crevasse, and with Mcares managed 
to get a few inches on the leading line ; this freed Osman, 
whose harness was immediately cut. 
Then securing the Alpine rope to the main trace we tried 
to haul up together. One dog came up and was unlashed, 
but by this time the rope had cut so far back at the edge 
that it was useless to attempt to get more of it. But we 
could now unbend the sledge and do that for which we 
should have aimed from the first, namely, run the sledge 
across the gap and work from it. We managed to do this, 
our fingers constantly numbed. Wilson held on to the 
anchored trace whilst the rest of us laboured at the leader 
end. The leading rope was very small and I was fearful 
of its breaking, so Mcares was lowered down a foot or 
two to secure the Alpine rope to the leading end of the 
trace ; this done, the work of rescue proceeded in better 
order. Two by two we hauled the animals up to the 
sledge and one by one cut them out of their harness. 
Strangely the last dogs were the most difficult, as they 
were close under the lip of the gap, bound in by the snow- 
covered rope. Finally, with a gasp we got the last poor 
creature on to firm snow. We had recovered eleven of 
the thirteen. 
Then I wondered if the last two could not be got, 
and we paid down the Alpine rope to see if it was long 
enough to reach the snow bridge on which they were 
coiled. The rope is 90 feet, and the amount remaining 
showed that the depth of the bridge was about 65 feet. 
I made a bowline and the others lowered me down. The 
