bottom of the valley, and the fresh fallen snow disappeared so fast from
the snowy range that I was afraid it would raise the river--which,
indeed, rose in the afternoon and became slightly discoloured, but it
cannot have been more than three or four inches deeper, for it never
reached the bottom of my saddle-bags. I believe Doctor knew exactly
where I was going, for he wanted no guidance. I halted again at midday,
got two more ducks, crossed and recrossed the river, or some of its
streams, several times, and at about six, caught sight, after a bend in
the valley, of the glacier descending on to the river-bed. This I knew
to be close to the point at which I was to camp for the night, and from
which I was to ascend the mountain. After another hour's slow progress
over the increasing roughness of the river-bed, I saw the triangular
delta of which my father had told me, and the stream that had formed it,
bounding down the mountain side. Doctor went right up to the place where
my father's fire had been, and I again found many pieces of charred wood
and ashes.

As soon as I had unloaded Doctor and hobbled him, I went to a tree hard
by, on which I could see the mark of a blaze, and towards which I thought
I could see a line of wood ashes running. There I found a hole in which
some bird had evidently been wont to build, and surmised correctly that
it must be the one in which my father had hidden his box of sovereigns.
There was no box in the hole now, and I began to feel that I was at last
within measureable distance of Erewhon and the Erewhonians.

I camped for the night here, and again found my single blanket
insufficient. The next day, i.e. Tuesday, December 8, I had to pass as I
best could, and it occurred to me that as I should find the gold a great
weight, I had better take it some three hours up the mountain side and
leave it there, so as to make the following day less fatiguing, and this
I did, returning to my camp for dinner; but I was panic-stricken all the
rest of the day lest I should not have hidden it safely, or lest I should
be unable to find it next day--conjuring up a hundred absurd fancies as
to what might befall it. And after all, heavy though it was, I could
have carried it all the way. In the afternoon I saddled Doctor and rode
him up to the glaciers, which were indeed magnificent, and then I made
the few notes of my journey from which this chapter has been taken. I
made excuses for turning in