ellent
foot-hold; but a slip might be unpleasant. Every one who has done even a
small amount of climbing has met with an abundance of places where 'a
slip would be certain death,' as people are so fond of saying; but
equally he has discovered that a slip is the last thing he thinks of
making in such situations. Christian had told me that if I had the
slightest tendency to _Schwindelkopf_, I must not go by the improvised
route; but it proved that there were really no precipices at all, much
less any of sufficient magnitude to turn an ordinary head dizzy. He
chose these rocks as the text for a long sermon on the necessity for
great caution when we should arrive at the cave, telling of an
Englishman who had tried to visit it two years before, and had cut his
knee so badly with his guide's axe that he had to be carried down the
mountain to Gonten, and thence to the steamer for Thun, in which town he
lay for many weeks in the hands of the German doctor; this last
assertion being by no means incredible. Also, of a native who attempted
the cave alone, and, making one false step near the top of a fall of
ice, slipped down and down almost for ever, and finally landed with
broken limbs on a floor of ice, where he was found, two days after,
frozen stiff, but still alive.

It was not necessary to mount much, for we were almost as high as the
mouth of the cave, according to Christian's belief, and our work
consisted chiefly in passing along the face of the rock, round
projecting buttresses and re-entering angles, till we reached that part
of the mountain where we might expect to find our glaciere. While we
were thus engaged, two hoarse and ominous ravens took us under their
charge, and accompanied us with unpleasant screams, which argued the
proximity of food or nest. We soon found that we had disturbed their
meal, for we came to marks of blood, and saw that some animal had
slipped on the rocks above, and landed on the ledge on which we were
walking, bounding off again on to a shelf below, where the ravens had
already torn the body to pieces. I must confess to a very considerable
shudder when we discovered the reason of their screams, and neither of
us seemed to enjoy the circling and croaking of the unclean birds.

Very soon after this, Christian announced that we had reached the cave,
and a steep little climb of six feet or so brought us to the entrance.
Here we were haunted still by the presence of pieces of the fallen goat,
wh