continue their ascent. Finally it
narrowed almost to a point, that terminated in an immense field of snow
sloping down, smooth and spotless, for a thousand feet below them, to a
tiny blue-black lake. Beyond the snow-field the ascent seemed possible;
and, by cutting footholes in it with their hatchets, they managed to
cross it in safety.

For two hours longer they struggled upward; and then, within a few
hundred feet of the summit, they could get no farther. In vain did they
try every point that offered the faintest hope of success, and at last
were forced to give it up. They noted the reading of the barometer, and
with a few shavings and slivers cut from its outside case they made a
tiny blaze, and, as Glen expressed it, boiled a thermometer in a tin
cup.

They were now as impatient to descend as they had been to climb upward,
and even more so; for the brightness of the day had departed, and
ominous clouds were gathering about them. The air was bitterly cold;
and, with their few minutes' cessation from violent exercise, they were
chilled to the bone. So they hastened to retrace their rugged way,
sliding, leaping, hanging by their hands, and dropping from ledge to
ledge, taking frightful risks in their eagerness to escape the
threatened storm, or at any rate to meet it in some more sheltered spot.
If they could only reach the shelf-like ledge, at the farther end of
which Binney Gibbs awaited them, they would feel safe. They had nearly
done so, but not quite, when the storm burst upon them in a fierce,
blinding, whirling rush of snow, that took away their breath and stung
like needles. It seemed to penetrate their clothing. It bewildered them.
It was so dense that they could not see a yard ahead of them. They had
already started to cross that long, sloping snow-field, beyond which lay
the rocky shelf. To go back would be as dangerous as to proceed. They
could not stay where they were. The deadly chill of the air would
speedily render them incapable of maintaining their foothold.

The assistant engineer was leading the way, with his companion a full
rod behind him. The former dared not turn his head; but he shouted
encouragingly that they were almost across, and with a few more steps
would reach a place of safety.

Then came a swirling, shrieking blast, before which he bowed his head.
He thought he heard a cry; but could not tell. It might only have been
the howl of the fierce wind. He reached the shelf of rock in safe