What an eyrie in which to sleep! Below us was a
sheer descent, of a thousand or two feet, to the glacier. Above us
towered the crest of the mountain, seemingly higher than ever. The
sharp shadow of the lofty pyramid lengthened toward Monte Rosa. Italy
lifted up its mountains tipped with sunshine to cheer us. The Obernese
Alps, beyond the Rhone, answered with numerous torches to light us to
our sleep. According to prearrangement, at eight o'clock we kindled a
light on our crag to tell our friends in Zermatt that we had
accomplished the first stage of our journey. They answered instantly
with a cheery blaze, and we lay down to sleep.
When four of us lay together I was so crowded against the wall that I
thought if it should give way I could fall two thousand feet out of bed
without possibility of stopping on the way. The ice was two feet thick
on the floor, and by reason of the scarcity of bedding I was reminded
of the damp, chilly sheets of some unaired guest-chambers. I do not
think I slept a moment, but I passed the night in a most happy,
thoughtful, and exultant frame of mind.
At half past three in the morning we were roped together--fifteen feet
of rope between each two men--for the final three or four hours' work.
It is everywhere steep; it is every minute hands and feet on the rocks;
sometimes you cling with fingers, elbows, knees, and feet, and are
tempted to add the nose and chin.
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