cond time I saw blue lines of heaving
downs, growing gradually fainter, and retiring into a far space of plain.
It was substantial; there had been no mistake whatsoever. I had hardly
made myself perfectly sure of this, ere the rent in the clouds joined up
again and I could see nothing more.

What, then, should I do? The night would be upon me shortly, and I was
already chilled with standing still after the exertion of climbing. To
stay where I was would be impossible; I must either go backwards or
forwards. I found a rock which gave me shelter from the evening wind,
and took a good pull at the brandy flask, which immediately warmed and
encouraged me.

I asked myself, Could I descend upon the river-bed beneath me? It was
impossible to say what precipices might prevent my doing so. If I were
on the river-bed, dare I cross the river? I am an excellent swimmer,
yet, once in that frightful rush of waters, I should be hurled
whithersoever it willed, absolutely powerless. Moreover, there was my
swag; I should perish of cold and hunger if I left it, but I should
certainly be drowned if I attempted to carry it across the river. These
were serious considerations, but the hope of finding an immense tract of
available sheep country (which I was determined that I would monopolise
as far as I possibly could) sufficed to outweigh them; and, in a few
minutes, I felt resolved that, having made so important a discovery as a
pass into a country which was probably as valuable as that on our own
side of the ranges, I would follow it up and ascertain its value, even
though I should pay the penalty of failure with life itself. The more I
thought, the more determined I became either to win fame and perhaps
fortune, by entering upon this unknown world, or give up life in the
attempt. In fact, I felt that life would be no longer valuable if I were
to have seen so great a prize and refused to grasp at the possible
profits therefrom.

I had still an hour of good daylight during which I might begin my
descent on to some suitable camping-ground, but there was not a moment to
be lost. At first I got along rapidly, for I was on the snow, and sank
into it enough to save me from falling, though I went forward straight
down the mountain side as fast as I could; but there was less snow on
this side than on the other, and I had soon done with it, getting on to a
coomb of dangerous and very stony ground, where a slip might have given
me a dis