t of a terrible hurricane of snow; we have lost our
way, and are in a hole scooped in the snow at an altitude of fifteen
thousand feet. I have no longer any hope of descending. Perhaps this
notebook will be found and sent to you. We have nothing to eat, my feet
are already frozen, and I am exhausted. I have strength to write only a
few words more. I have left means for C.'s education; I know you will
employ them wisely. I die with faith in God and with loving thoughts of
you. Farewell to all. We shall meet again in heaven--I think of you
always."

The bodies of five of these victims were found but a few feet aside from
the proper route which in clear weather would have led to safety; the
other six had disappeared.

While such cheerful recollections were running through my mind I noticed
that we were no longer ascending, and that Couttet, whom I had not
troubled with questions as long as he showed no hesitation, was bearing
now this way and now that, and occasionally stopping and peering about
with spread nostrils, like a dog seeking a trail. Clearly we were on the
top of the highest elevation in our neighborhood, for the wind now came
point blank in our faces out of the white abyss of the atmosphere, and
almost blew me off my feet.

"Have you lost the way?" I asked.

"I'll find it," Couttet replied.

"Where are we?"

"Near the Bosses."

"Isn't there a refuge hut on the Bosses?"

"Yes."

"Can we reach it?"

Couttet did not immediately reply, but looked up and about, as if trying
to pierce the driving snow with his gaze. "If I could catch sight of the
rocks," at length he said.

Suddenly the gale seemed to split the clouds, and for an instant a
vision opened of blue sky over our heads, and endless slopes of snow,
falling one below another, under our feet. I saw that we were standing
on the rounded back of a snowy ridge. Just in front the white surface
dipped and disappeared in a vast gulf of air, where flying clouds were
torn against the black jagged points of lower mountains. Above our
level, to the left, rocks appeared projecting through the covering of
snow. I knew that these must belong to the Bosses du Dromadaire, and
that the hut we sought was perched on one of them.

All this the eye caught in a twinkling, for the storm curtain was lifted
only to be as quickly dropped again, shutting out both the upper and the
lower world, and leaving us isolated on the slippery roof ridge of
Europe. At the same ti