heir feet. Straight ahead the
ledge ceased to exist. To our left was a hundred-foot drop to the talus
that sloped down to the canon. The canon did not look so very far away,
and we desired mightily to reach it. The only alternative to getting
straight down was to climb back the weary way we had come; and that
meant all night without food, warm clothing, or shelter on a
snow-and-ice mountain.

Therefore, we scouted that hundred-foot drop to our left very
carefully. It seemed hopeless; but at last I found a place where a point
of the talus ran up to a level not much below our own. The only
difficulty was that between ourselves and that point of talus extended a
piece of sheer wall. I slung my rifle over my back, and gave myself to a
serious consideration of that wall. Then I began to work out across its
face.

The principle of safe climbing is to maintain always three points of
suspension: that it to say, one should keep either both footholds and
one handhold, or both handholds and one foothold. Failing that, one is
taking long chances. With this firmly in mind, I spidered out across the
wall, testing every projection and cranny before I trusted any weight to
it. One apparently solid projection as big as my head came away at the
first touch, and went bouncing off into space. Finally I stood, or
rather sprawled, almost within arm's length of a tiny scrub pine growing
solidly in a crevice just over the talus. Once there, our troubles were
over; but there seemed no way of crossing. For the moment it actually
looked as though four feet only would be sufficient to turn us back.

At last, however, I found a toehold half way across. It was a very
slight crevice, and not more than two inches deep. The toe of a boot
would just hold there without slipping. Unfortunately, there were no
handholds above it. After thinking the matter over, however, I made up
my mind to violate, for this occasion only, the rules for climbing. I
inserted the toe, gathered myself, and with one smooth swoop swung
myself across and grabbed that tiny pine!

Fisher now worked his way out and crossed in the same manner. But Frank
was too heavy for such gymnastics. Fisher therefore took a firm grip on
the pine, inserted his toe in the crevice, and hung on with all his
strength while Frank crossed on his shoulders!

CHAPTER III

THE SECOND AND THIRD CLIMBS

Once more, lured by the promise of the tracks we had seen, we climbed
this same mountain,