" said
Michel, chipping steps so that he and Chayne might round the corner
of a wide crevasse.

"Yes, but it does not follow that he slipped," said Chayne, hotly, for
he was beginning to resent that explanation as an imputation against
his friend.

Slowly the party moved upward over the great slope of ice into the
recess, looking for steps abruptly ending above a crevasse or for signs
of an avalanche. They came level with the lower end of a long rib of
rock which crops out from the ice and lengthwise bisects the glacier.
Here the search ended for a while. The rib of rocks is the natural path,
and the guides climbed it quickly. They came to the upper glacier and
spread out once more, roped in couples. They were now well within the
great amphitheater. On their left the cliffs of the Charmoz overlapped
them, on the right the rocks of the Blaitiere. For an hour they
advanced, cutting steps since the glacier was steep, and then from the
center of the glacier a cry rang out. Chayne at the end of the line upon
the right looked across. A little way in front of the two men who had
shouted something dark lay upon the ice. Chayne, who was with Michel
Revailloud, called to him and began hurriedly to scratch steps
diagonally toward the object.

"Take care, monsieur," cried Michel.

Chayne paid no heed. Coming up from behind on the left-hand side, he
passed his guide and took the lead. He could tell now what the dark
object was, for every now and then a breath of wind caught it and whirled
it about the ice. It was a hat. He raised his ax to slice a step and a
gust of wind, stronger than the others, lifted the hat, sent it rolling
and skipping down the glacier, lifted it again and gently dropped it at
his feet. He stooped down and picked it up. It was a soft broad-brimmed
hat of dark gray felt. In the crown there was the name of an English
maker. There was something more too. There were two initials--J.L.

Chayne turned to Michel Revailloud.

"You were right, Michel," he said, solemnly. "My friend has made the
first passage of the Col des Nantillons from the East."

The party moved forward again, watching with redoubled vigilance for some
spot in the glacier, some spot above a crevasse, to which ice-steps
descended and from which they did not lead down. And three hundred yards
beyond a second cry rang out. A guide was standing on the lower edge of a
great crevasse with a hand upheld above his head. The searchers converged
qui