Page:My Climbs in the Alps and Caucasus (1908).djvu/85

Rh sought to beg, borrow, or buy a rope from one or other of the Zermatt guides. Though we succeeded in bringing various nightcapped and indignant heads to various windows, no rope could we obtain; indeed, it was scarcely likely that a Zermatt guide would come to the aid of a Saas Thal trespasser. We returned disconsolately to the hotel, and the porter, horrified at the strength of our language and our furious mien, produced a rope which, he told us, some confiding monsieur had left in his charge for the night. Our consciences were fully equal to the occasion, no single qualm or quiver affected their serenity: we seized the rope and started.

By this time it was nearly one o'clock, and we walked up the valley as fast as we could. The night was very dark, and as we tramped along the moraine-covered glacier it was a matter of some difficulty to see the crevasses. Every now and then a larger crack in the ice would necessitate the lighting of a lucifer match, and on the rare occasions when the wind did not blow it out we crossed the obstruction triumphantly. At other times, when the waste of lucifer matches was becoming excessive, we exercised the Christian virtue of faith and jumped, trusting that we should land on something. Getting through the moraine on to the clear ice, we were able to see a little better, and made relatively good progress till we reached the small glacier coming from the direction of the snow ridge of the