f the course,
towards Mont Blanc, before I discovered my mistake. I hurried back into
the right path again, and soon overtook another boy ascending the
mountain, who asked me if he might accompany me as he was alone, to
which I of course answered, yes; but when we began to enter the thick
clouds that covered the mountains, he became alarmed, and said he would
go no farther. I tried to encourage him by saying we had only five miles
more to climb, but, turning quickly, he ran down the path and was soon
out of sight.

"After a long and most toilsome ascent, spurred on as I was by the storm
and the approach of night, I saw at last through the clouds a little
house, which I supposed might be a part of the monastery, but it turned
out to be only a house of refuge, erected by the monks to take in
travelers in extreme cases or extraordinary danger. The man who was
staying there, told me the monastery was a mile and a half further, and
thinking therefore that I could soon reach it, I started out again,
although darkness was approaching. In a short time the storm began in
good earnest, and the cold winds blew with the greatest fury. It grew
dark very suddenly and I lost sight of the poles which are placed along
the path to guide the traveler. I then ran on still higher, hoping to
find them again, but without success. The rain and snow fell thick, and
although I think I am tolerably courageous, I began to be alarmed, for
it was impossible to know in what direction I was going. I could hear
the waterfalls dashing and roaring down the mountain hollows on each
side of me; in the gloom, the foam and leaping waters resembled
streaming fires. I thought of turning back to find the little house of
refuge again, but it seemed quite as dangerous and uncertain as to go
forward. After the fatigue I had undergone since noon, it would have
been dangerous to be obliged to stay, out all night in the driving
storm, which was every minute increasing in coldness and intensity.

"I stopped and shouted aloud, hoping I might be somewhere near the
monastery, but no answer came--no noise except the storm and the roar of
the waterfalls. I climbed up the rocks nearly a quarter of a mile
higher, and shouted again. I listened with anxiety for two or three
minutes, but hearing no response, I concluded to find a shelter for the
night under a ledge of rocks. While looking around me, I fancied I heard
in the distance a noise like the trampling of hoofs over the