He was a cripple, and his clothes were something worse than rags.

He offered us a portion of the water he had in a detestable-looking skin; but he assured us it was quite warm, and had not been good to begin with, so we did not try it, though we were thirsty enough to have hailed a muddy pool with delight.

Our new acquaintance knew nothing of the glaciere, but he belonged himself to the Chalet of Fondeurle, and as that was the only house on the whole plain, he told us to make for it.

The surface of the plain seemed to have fallen through in many places, forming larger and smaller pits with steep sides of limestone.

These were often of the size of a large field, and, as the deeper of them required circumvention, the shepherd told us that we must follow the line of little cairns which we should find here and there on our way, the only guide across the plain.