e to do?" I asked. "In front of us death. Behind us death,
for how can we recross those mountains without food or guns to shoot
it with? Here death, for we must sit and starve. We have striven and
failed. Leo, our end is at hand. Only a miracle can save us."

"A miracle," he answered. "Well, what was it that led us to the top of
the mount so that we were able to escape the avalanche? And what was it
which put that rock in your way as you sank into the bed of dust, and
gave me wit and strength to dig you out of your grave of snow? And what
is it that has preserved us through seventeen years of dangers such as
few men have known and lived? Some directing Power. Some Destiny that
will accomplish itself in us. Why should the Power cease to guide? Why
should the Destiny be baulked at last?"

He paused, then added fiercely, "I tell you, Horace, that even if we had
guns, food, and yaks, I would not turn back upon our spoor, since to do
so would prove me a coward and unworthy of her. I will go on."

"How?" I asked.

"By that road," and he pointed to the glacier.

"It is a road to death!"

"Well, if so, Horace, it would seem that in this land men find life in
death, or so they believe. If we die now, we shall die travelling our
path, and in the country where we perish we may be born again. At least
I am determined, so you must choose."

"I have chosen long ago. Leo, we began this journey together and we will
end it together. Perhaps Ayesha knows and will help us," and I laughed
drearily. "If not--come, we are wasting time."

Then we took counsel, and the end of it was that we cut a skin rug and
the yak's tough hide into strips and knotted these together into two
serviceable ropes, which we fastened about our middles, leaving one end
loose, for we thought that they might help us in our descent.

Next we bound fragments of another skin rug about our legs and knees
to protect them from the chafing of the ice and rocks, and for the same
reason put on our thick leather gloves. This done, we took the remainder
of our gear and heavy robes and, having placed stones in them, threw
them over the brink of the precipice, trusting to find them again,
should we ever reach its foot. Now our preparations were complete,
and it was time for us to start upon perhaps one of the most desperate
journeys ever undertaken by men of their own will.

Yet we stayed a little, looking at each other in piteous fashion, for
we could not speak. Only