f the baggage which
they had brought with them, and drew from it a number of llama skins.
These they spread out flat on the crest of the snow slope, with the hair
side upward, and then the entire party carefully seated themselves upon
them--two men to each skin, one behind the other--when, with a little
assistance from the hands of the occupants, the skins started to glide
smoothly over the surface of the snow, slowly at first, but with swiftly
increasing velocity, until the descent of the party became a sweeping,
breathless, exhilarating flight, speedy as that of a falcon swooping
upon its prey. The riders sat cross-legged upon the skins, and to
Escombe--who was piloted by Tiahuana--it seemed that the slightest
inclination, right or left as the case might be, throwing a trifle more
weight on one knee than the other, and thus causing one part of the skin
to press more hardly than another upon the snow, was all that was needed
for steering purposes; for the toboggan-like skins swept downward
straight as the flight of an arrow, save when some black fang of rock
protruded through the snow fair in the track, when a slight slope of the
body sufficed to cause a swerve that carried the adventurous riders
safely clear of the obstacle. To Escombe this headlong, breathless
swoop down the slope seemed to last but a few seconds, yet during those
few seconds the party had travelled nearly three miles and descended
some three thousand feet. The slide terminated at last upon the very
edge of the snow-line, where it met a mile-wide meadow thickly clothed
with lush grass and bountifully spangled with lovely flowers, many of
which were quite new to the young Englishman.

For some minutes the entire party, as with one consent, remained sitting
motionless just where their impromptu toboggans had come to a halt; for
they felt that they needed a certain amount of time in which to become
accustomed to the glorious change that had been wrought by that three-
mile glissade. Above and behind them were furious tempest, deadly cold,
and never-ceasing danger; while here was perfect safety, cloudless
sunshine, grateful warmth, and surroundings of surpassing beauty. The
meadow upon which they rested sloped gently away before them for about a
mile, where it appeared to plunge abruptly down into a thickly wooded
ravine, beyond which shot up a long, rocky ridge, the slopes of which
appeared to be absolutely inaccessible; for, search as Escombe might