eecy clouds,
dyed fiery orange, drifted slowly eastward across the narrow zone of sky
which stretched from summit to summit like a roof. At times the sound of
waterfalls, faint and mingled with echoes, floated up through the still
air. The snow near by lay in cold ghastly shade, warmed here and there
in strange flashes by light reflected downward from drifting clouds. The
sombre waste about us; the deep violet vault overhead; those far
summits, glowing with reflected rose; the deep impenetrable gloom which
filled the gorge, and slowly and with vapour-like stealth climbed the
mountain wall, extinguishing the red light, combined to produce an
effect which may not be described; nor can I more than hint at the
contrast between the brilliancy of the scene under full light, and the
cold, death-like repose which followed when the wan cliffs and pallid
snow were all overshadowed with ghostly gray.

A sudden chill enveloped us. Stars in a moment crowded through the dark
heaven, flashing with a frosty splendour. The snow congealed, the brooks
ceased to flow, and, under the powerful sudden leverage of frost,
immense blocks were dislodged all along the mountain summits and came
thundering down the slopes, booming upon the ice, dashing wildly upon
rocks. Under the lee of our shelf we felt quite safe, but neither Cotter
nor I could help being startled, and jumping just a little, as these
missiles, weighing often many tons, struck the ledge over our heads and
whizzed down the gorge, their stroke resounding fainter and fainter,
until at last only a confused echo reached us.

The thermometer at nine o'clock marked twenty degrees above zero. We set
the "minimum" and rolled ourselves together for the night. The longer I
lay the less I liked that shelf of granite; it grew hard in time, and
cold also, my bones seeming to approach actual contact with the chilled
rock; moreover, I found that even so vigorous a circulation as mine was
not enough to warm up the ledge to anything like a comfortable
temperature. A single thickness of blanket is a better mattress than
none, but the larger crystals of orthoclase, protruding plentifully,
punched my back and caused me to revolve on a horizontal axis with
precision and accuracy. How I loved Cotter! how I hugged him and got
warm, while our backs gradually petrified, till we whirled over and
thawed them out together! The slant of that bed was diagonal and
excessive; down it we slid till the ice chilled