A new climb was very well, but the old were as good to Gabriel Strood, and the climb which he had once made he had the longing to repeat with new companions.

None of the descriptions were written by Strood himself but all by companions whom he had led, and most of them bore testimony to an unusual endurance, an unusual courage, as though Strood triumphed perpetually over a difficulty which his companions did not share and of which only vague hints were given.

At last Chayne came to that very narrative which Sylvia had been reading on her way to Chamonix--and there the truth was bluntly told for the first time.
Chayne started up in that dim and quiet room, thrilled.

He had the proof now, under his finger--the indisputable proof.

Gabriel Strood suffered from an affection of the muscles in his right thigh, and yet managed to out-distance all his rivals.