Page:Canadian Alpine Journal I, 1.djvu/134

Rh trail was better; the two miles to Mr. Whymper's former camping ground was quickly negotiated, and free of their packs, the tired animals were soon quietly feeding in the abundant grasses at the foot of the slide opposite the camp.

It was now four o'clock; eight hours had been required to cover the ten or twelve miles that lay between us and the railroad.

The trail over which we came had an especial interest, as we realized that we were following the footsteps of Sir James Hector, then Dr. Hector, who had given to Mt. Ball its name, when in 1858, with the Palliser expedition, he had crossed the Vermilion pass on his way to the Kootenay.

Reluctantly enough, we turned out of our blankets at two o'clock on the morning of June 4th, and at three precisely, in the uncertain light, we commenced our climb. The way led through timber, thick at first, but gradually becoming more open as we made our way upwards. This forest had apparently never been burned over, and everywhere the ground, the fallen trees and the rocks were deeply covered with thick mosses.

The guides, yesterday so cheerful and talkative, were now as silent almost as the trees about us. Earnest work was ahead, and it was delightful to observe their keen eyes noting every fragment of the mountains appearing through the open spaces. No one had ever gone that way. Landmarks might be valuable before the day was done.

An hour or more had gone, when at timber-line a low rock wall, easily surmounted, brought us well upon the buttress at the west flank of Mt. Ball. The ledge upon which we landed was wide, but covered with scree to an extent that made the going slow, and when the slope was at all pronounced, somewhat uncomfortable.