1 88 
RAREFIED AIR. 
several inches the previous night. Their first 
ascent lay over a spur of the range so steep, that 
sympathy for their horses, together with the dif- 
ficulty of remaining on their backs, prompted 
them to walk. The snow made this by no means 
easy task still harder, for as the day advanced it 
grew soft and slushy, penetrating their boots and 
making the half-concealed rocks so slippery that 
their feet were not the only portions of their 
bodies brought in frequent contact with them. 
Climbing a few rods, then pausing to let their 
panting horses get breath and to fill their own 
lungs with the light, cold air, they slowly ad- 
vanced until noon, when they reached a gulch, at 
the bottom of which were a few trees and a little 
stream of water. They were obliged to stop 
here to recover a missing gun, and remained until 
the next morning, when, at dawn, they resumed 
their journey. 
They found the ascent of the main range still 
more difficult than had been that of the spur. I 
shall not assert that their trail — it didn’t pretend 
to be a road, and was not marked by a track, but 
merely by piles of stones put up at intervals — I 
shall not assert it was absolutely steep and bad, 
for I find that adjectives, when applied to high- 
ways, are quite as relative as when used else- 
where. 
I have known farmers in Massachusetts stay at 
