ting bridge which stretched obliquely across.
I saw that it was necessary to move round or across a number of these
wide open chasms to reach the undulations which we knew from our ice
experience must terminate this broken up part of the glacier. In vain I
told myself that these undulations could not be so far away.

To cross by the connecting bridge which I have just spoken about was, to
say the least of it, a precarious proceeding. But it would save us a mile
or two, and in our tired state this was worth considering. After a
minutes rest we placed the sledge on this ice bridge, and, as Crean
described it afterwards, "We went along the crossbar to the H of Hell."
It was not all misnamed either, for Lashly, who went ahead, dared not
walk upright. He actually sat astride the bridge and was paid out at the
end of our Alpine rope. He shuffled his way across, fearful to look down
into the inky blue chasm below, but he fixed his eyes on the opposite
wall of ice and hoped the rope would be long enough to allow him to reach
it and climb up, for he never would have dared to come back. The cord
_was_ sufficient in length, and he contrived finally to make his way on
to the top of the ridge before him. He then turned round and looked
scaredly at Crean and myself. I think all of us felt the tension of the
moment, but we wasted no time in commencing the passage. The method of
procedure was this. The sledge rested on the narrow bridge which was
indeed so shaped that the crest only admitted of the runners resting one
on each side of it; the slope away was like an inverted "V" and while
Lashly sat gingerly on the opposite ridge, hauling carefully but not too
strongly on the rope, Crean and I, facing one another, held on to the
sledge sides, balancing the whole concern. It was one of the most
exciting moments of our lives. We launched the sled across foot by foot
as I shouted "One, Two, Three--Heave." Each time the signal was obeyed we
got nearer to the opposite ice slope. The balance was preserved, of
course, by Crean and myself, and we had to exercise a most careful
judgment. Neither of us spoke, except for the launching signal, but each
looked steadfastly into the other's eyes--nor did we two look down. A
false movement might have precipitated the whole gang and the sledge
itself into the blue-black space of awful depth beneath. The danger was
very real, but this crossing was necessary to our final safety. As in
other cases of peril,