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 long and tedious descent, and perilous enough even in good day-light. The oldest guides expressed the opinion that they could not succeed; that all the chances were that they would lose their lives.

Yet those brave men did succeed. They reached the Grands Mulets in safety. Even the fearful shock which their nerves had sustained was not sufficient to overcome their coolness and courage. It would appear from the official account that



they were threading their way down through those dangers from the closing in of twilight until 2 o'clock in the morning, or later, because the rescuing party from Chamonix reached the Grands Mulets about 3 in the morning and moved thence toward the scene of the disaster under the leadership of Sir George Young, "who had only just arrived."