Turning back was out of the question, as their tracks were obliterated by the wind, which would then be in their faces.

Though benumbed and feeble, the courage of Dr.Grant did not fail.

He could not tell how deliverance would come, but had a sweet assurance that God would send it, and encouraged his companions to new effort.

Just then four mountaineers came tramping over the snow before them, and one of them consenting to turn back, they passed safely on foot, the man breaking down the drifts for the horses, and exploring the path by thrusting his long staff deep into the snow.

He reached Erzroom on the seventeenth, and rested with his kind friend Dr.Riach, who had retired from Teheran, because of impending war between England and Persia.