elephants and the baggage separated from him and
apparently at the mercy of the enemy.

During the night he made vigorous preparations for attacking the
mountaineers the next day. As soon as the morning light appeared, he
made the attack, and he succeeded in driving the enemy away, so far,
at least, as to allow him to get his army together again. He then
began once more to move on. The mountaineers, however, hovered about
his way, and did all they could to molest and embarrass his march.
They concealed themselves in ambuscades, and attacked the
Carthaginians as they passed. They rolled stones down upon them, or
discharged spears and arrows from eminences above; and if any of
Hannibal's army became, from any reason, detached from the rest, they
would cut off their retreat, and then take them prisoners or destroy
them. Thus they gave Hannibal a great deal of trouble. They harassed
his march continually, without presenting at any point a force which
he could meet and encounter in battle. Of course, Hannibal could no
longer trust to his guides, and he was obliged to make his way as he
best could, sometimes right, but often wrong, and exposed to a
thousand difficulties and dangers, which those acquainted with the
country might have easily avoided. All this time the mountaineers were
continually attacking him, in bands like those of robbers, sometimes
in the van, and sometimes in the rear, wherever the nature of the
ground or the circumstances of the marching army afforded them an
opportunity.

Hannibal persevered, however, through all these discouragements,
protecting his men as far as it was in his power, but pressing
earnestly on, until in nine days he reached the summit. By the summit,
however, is not meant the summit of the mountains, but the summit of
the _pass_, that is, the highest point which it was necessary for him
to attain in going over. In all mountain ranges there are depressions,
which are in Switzerland called _necks_,[A] and the pathways and roads
over the ranges lie always in these. In America, such a depression in
a ridge of land, if well marked and decided, is called a _notch_.
Hannibal attained the highest point of the _col_, by which he was to
pass over, in nine days after the great battle. There were, however,
of course, lofty peaks and summits towering still far above him.

[Footnote A: The French word is _col_. Thus, there is the Col de
Balme, the Col de Geant, &c.]

He encamped here two days t