ngschef of the locality.

There is a Rettungschef in every mountainous district whose duty it is
to help with accidents when these are reported to him. He arranges to
send out Guides and porters with an ambulance sledge to the assistance
of any party in trouble. If, therefore, your accident be a serious
one, and you are far from home, the wisest plan may be to send one or
two of the best runners down to the nearest village for help, while
the remainder stay with the injured person. For this reason it is
always unwise to go out with fewer than three in a party. Five or six
are a better number on a long day's run.

Remember the people waiting at home, and when you have made
arrangements for help to go to your party ring up your friends and
tell them what has happened and what you have arranged. Having often
seen the anxiety of relations and friends when their party comes home
late, I know how important this is. Even if you are only delayed for
some small reason such as a train being late, it is kind to ring up,
and this is easily done, as there are telephones in almost every
village.

While on this subject I would again like to urge that before going off
on an expedition of any length the Concierge and someone should be
told in writing the destination, the route, and the hour anticipated
for return. Then, if the party does not turn up and no news comes
through, a search party can be sent out with some hope of finding
them within a reasonable time. Time is very important in January
and February, when the weather is cold, as people can be badly
frost-bitten if benighted.

Search parties are expensive luxuries, as it is risky work for the
Guides, who deserve to be well paid for it. I have only once followed
a Rettungschef with his five assistants and their ambulance sledge,
and shall never forget the pace at which their lantern went ahead of
us, dancing like a will-of-the-wisp. A runner had come home at 5 p.m.
with news that one of the party had hurt his knee some four miles from
home. This runner had already wisely rung up the Rettungschef from the
first house he came to, and a party of Guides was being collected. I
decided to go out with some friends in case the accident was a serious
one and we could bring the remainder of the party home, and so save
the Guides that duty. They were all beginners who were benighted.

We followed the lantern and saw it stop and knew the Guides had
reached the people in trouble. When w