aces after them, become at last very expert in
climbing, and sometimes they become ambitious of surpassing each other,
and each one wishes to see how high he can get. So one time, about
twenty-five years ago, a party of six of these hunters undertook to get
to the top of the Jungfrau, and at last they succeeded. But it was a
dreadfully difficult and dangerous operation. It was fifteen miles'
steep climbing."

"Not steep climbing all the way," said Rollo.

"No," said Mr. George, "I suppose not all the way. There must have been
some up-and-down work, and some perhaps tolerably level, for the first
ten miles; but the last five must have been a perpetual scramble among
rocks and ice and over vast drifts of snow, with immense avalanches
thundering down the mountain sides all around them."

"I wish I could go and see them," said Rollo.

"You can go," replied Mr. George. "There is a most excellent chance to
see the face of the Jungfrau very near; for there is another mountain
this side of it, with a narrow valley between. This other mountain is
called the Wengern Alp. It is about two thirds the height of the
Jungfrau, and is so near it that from the top of it, or near the top,
you can see the whole side of the Jungfrau rising right before you and
filling half the sky, and you can see and hear the avalanches thundering
down the sides of it all day long."

Rollo was quite excited at this account, and was very eager to set off
as soon as possible to go up the Wengern Alp.

"How do we get there?" asked he.

"You see this great gap in the near mountains," said Mr. George,
pointing.

"Yes," said Rollo.

"That gap," continued Mr. George, "is the mouth of a valley. I have been
studying it out this morning in my guide book. There is a good carriage
road leading up this valley. It is called the valley of the Luetschine,
because that is the name of the river which comes down through it. In
going up this valley for the first two or three miles we are going
directly towards the Jungfrau."

"Yes," said Rollo. "That I can see very plainly."

This was indeed very obvious; for the Jungfrau, from the windows of the
hotel, was seen through the great gap in the near mountains which Mr.
George had pointed out as the mouth of the valley of the Luetschine. In
fact, had it not been for that gap in the near mountains, the great
snow-covered summit could not have been seen from the hotels at all.

"We go up that valley," continued Mr. Ge