their way through these impediments was a matter not only of
time, but of difficulty, for in some parts the spaces between the
boulders and blocks were hollow, and covered with thin crusts of snow,
which gave way the instant a foot was set on them, plunging up to their
waists the unfortunates who trod there, with a shock which usually
called forth shouts of astonishment not unmingled with consternation.

"Here, then, we draw near to the grand summit," said the Professor,
pointing to the snow-cliffs on the right, "whence originates the
ice-fountain that supplies such mighty ice-rivers as the Glacier des
Bossons and the Mer de Glace."

"Oui, Monsieur," replied Antoine, smiling, "we _draw_ near, but we are
not yet near."

"We are nearer to the summit however, than we are to the plain,"
retorted the Professor.

"Truly, yes," assented the guide.

"I should think no one could doubt that," observed Slingsby, looking
upwards.

"It looks quite near now," said Lewis.

"Not so near, however, as you think, and as you shall find," rejoined
the guide, as they resumed their upward march.

This was indeed true. Nothing is more deceptive to an inexperienced eye
than the apparent distance of a high mountain-top. When you imagine
that the plain below is miles and miles away, and the peak above close
at hand, you find, perhaps, on consulting your watch, that the plain
cannot be very far distant, and that the greater part of your work still
lies before you. It requires no small amount of resolution to bear up
against the depression of spirit caused by frequent mistakes in this
matter.

Owing to the increasing height and power of the sun, the snow beyond the
Petit Plateau soon became soft, and the steepness of the ascent
increasing, their advance became slower, and their work much more
laborious. A pleasant break was, however, at hand, for, on reaching the
Grand Plateau, they were cheered by the sun's rays beaming directly on
them, and by the information that they had at length reached their
breakfast-point.

It may not be a very romantic, but it is an interesting fact, that the
joys connected with intellectual and material food are intimately
blended. Man, without intellectual food, becomes a "lower animal."
What intellectual man is without material food, even for part of a day,
let those testify who have had the misfortune to go on a pic-nic, and
discover that an essential element of diet had been forgotten. It is
not