Page:The autobiography of a Pennsylvanian.djvu/236

 was, as may well be imagined, not a very enticing or comfortable route. It was a narrow and irregular ledge running across the face of an almost perpendicular mountain. It hung over the Mer de Glace, far below and was perhaps three hundred yards in length. It would have been impassible but for the fact that an iron rod had been fastened in the face of the rock about shoulder high which could be grasped with the hand, but, sad to relate, there was a gap in the middle where the rod had been broken away. There were places where the water trickled across the path and made it slippery. At such places Asbury E. Irwin, who was with us, got down on his hands and knees, regardless of trousers. I told the Frenchman he would have to help me and to take Mrs. Pennypacker to the other end and come back. Presently he returned, but on getting around an edge of the rock there I found her clinging to the rod and looking down upon the sea of ice. I had had a wrong conception of the length of the Mauvais Pas. Since that arrangement would not work, I sent him ahead to her and took care of myself. We presently reached safely Le Chapeau, a hut at the other end of this path, and with no further adventure save that a cow came sliding down the mountain and nearly fell on us, we got to the hotel after dark and tired enough. From Chamounix we crossed the Tete Noir to Martigny in a barouche. The road zigzags over the great mountain and is just about wide enough for a single team. In fact, the carriage was at times so near the edge that I preferred walking behind it to riding in it. At a hotel on the top a yard had been made large enough for the teams meeting there to pass each other and the drivers had to time their movements accordingly. By some mischance on this particular day there was a misfit and they met on the road. The teamsters swore at each other for an hour, but that failed to solve the difficulty. Finally they joined together and held some of the wagons up on the mountain side until the others passed. 222