Back we went, and after a detour we reached the top of another ridge in the fading light.

After a glance over the top I turned to the anxious faces of the two men behind me and said, "Come on, boys." Within a minute they stood beside me on the ice-ridge.

The surface fell away at a sharp incline in front of us, but it merged into a snow- slope.

We could not see the bottom clearly owing to mist and bad light, and the possibility of the slope ending in a sheer fall occurred to us; but the fog that was creeping up behind allowed no time for hesitation.

We descended slowly at first, cutting steps in the snow; then the surface became softer, indicating that the gradient was less severe.