, of which a
view could be obtained through the pass ahead, and told them that there
they would find rest and friends, wealth and glory. The soldiers as
usual responded to the words of their beloved general with shouts of
acclamation, and with renewed spirits prepared to meet the difficulties
which still lay before them.

The next morning the march was renewed. The snow lay deep on the track,
and the soldiers found that, great as had been the difficulties of the
ascent, those of the descent were vastly greater, for the slopes of the
Alps on the Italian side are far steeper and more abrupt than are those
on the French. Every step had to be made with care; those who strayed in
the slightest from the path found the snow gave way beneath their feet
and fell down the precipice beside them.

Many of the baggage animals thus perished; but at last the head of the
column found itself at the foot of the steep descent in a ravine with
almost perpendicular walls, amid whose foot was in summer occupied by a
mountain stream. Into the depth of this ravine the rays of the sun never
penetrated, and in it lay a mass of the previous year's snow which had
never entirely melted, but which formed with the water of the torrent a
sheet of slippery ice.

The newly formed snow prevented the troops from seeing the nature of the
ground, and as they stepped upon it they fell headlong, sliding in
their armour down the rapidly sloping bed of ice, many dashing out
their brains or breaking their limbs against the great boulders which
projected through it. The cavalry next attempted the passage, but with
even less success, for the hoofs of the horses broke through the hard
upper crust of the old snow and the animals sank in to their bellies.
Seeing that it was impossible to pass this obstacle, Hannibal turned
back the head of the column until they reached the top of the ascent
down which they had just come. There he cleared away the snow and
erected a camp; all the infantry were then brought down into the pass
and set to work to build up a road along the side of the ravine.

The engineers with fire and explosives blasted away the foot of the
cliffs; the infantry broke up the rocks and formed a level track. All
night the work continued, the troops relieving each other at frequent
intervals, and by the morning a path which could be traversed by men
on foot, horses, and baggage animals was constructed for a distance of
three hundred yards, beyond which