Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus.djvu/368

Rh Prophet and basking through eternity in the delights awarded the faithful.

Zurfluh, I am bound to say, made nothing of the diflSculties; with a huge piled-up load on his back he descended in the most brilliant and finished style. Doubtless the wish to point a moral had something to do with the easy grace of his movements. Any way, on his arrival at our ledge, he enlarged in glowing terms on the facility and convenience of the highway by which we had come down.

Beaching the edge of the glacier, we were met by a tangled labyrinth of crevasses. Whilst Zurfluh was studying their peculiarities, I made a short détour to see if the sack was anywhere visible. Greatly to my delight, I soon espied it, high seated on an isolated sérac. My companion, ignorant of the vision that had blessed my eyes, and ever pessimistic in his thoughts, urged me to waste no time in a useless search, "for," said he, the sack is not merely knocked to atoms, but it is of necessity buried in the depths of a crevasse." Needless to say I persisted, and, after some strenuous effort, succeeded in reaching our stored-up treasures. I bore it back in triumph, to the confusion of pessimism and the utter rout of all prophetic lamentations. A halt was unanimously decreed to welcome the return of the prodigal; the treasured store of tobacco was extracted from its recesses, and, soothed by the sacred fire, we