Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus (1908).djvu/174

168 and left an ice-axe, with a fluttering scarf attached, as a challenge to the habitués of the Montenvers. A few days later, Hastings, Collie, Pasteur, and myself made up our minds to recover the derelict property. We intended to ascend from the Charmoz-Grépon Col and descend by the south ridge, and as the step known as C. P. was reported to be absolutely inaccessible from the Grépon side—previous parties having always left a rope, on their way to the peak, hanging down the precipitous step so as to help them on their return—we chartered two porters to go up to C. P. and fix the rope; we also provided such provision and refreshment for them to carry as would, we thought, add to our comfort and happiness.

At 2 a.m. on the 18th of August, Simond gave me the unpleasant intelligence that the very name of Grépon had so frightened the porters that they had surreptitiously left their beds and fled to Chamonix. The difficulty appeared very serious. Two a.m. is usually an inconvenient hour to charter porters, and Simond was quite sure that C. P. was impassable from the Grépon side without a rope previously fixed. It appeared, then, likely, that if we reached the gap leading to it we should have to retrace our steps all the way along the ridge. After much talk, Simond offered to lend us the herd-boy