so of going down. The
most difficult, if not most wearisome, task remained; and then
one quits with regret a summit attained at the price of so much
toil. The energy which urges you to ascend, the need, so natural
and imperious, of overcoming, now fails you. You go forward
listlessly, often looking behind you!

It was necessary, however, to decide, and, after a last
traditional libation of champagne, we put ourselves in motion. We
had remained on the summit an hour. The order of march was now
changed. M. N----'s party led off; and, at the suggestion of his
guide Paccard, we were all tied together with a rope. M. N----'s
fatigue, which his strength, but not his will, betrayed, made us
fear falls on his part which would require the help of the whole
party to arrest. The event justified our foreboding. On
descending the side of the wall, M. N---- made several false
steps. His guides, very vigorous and skilful, were happily able
to check him; but ours, feeling, with reason, that the whole
party might be dragged down, wished to detach us from the rope.
Levesque and I opposed this; and, by taking great precautions, we
safely reached the base of this giddy ledge. There was no room
for illusions. The almost bottomless abyss was before us, and the
pieces of detached ice, which bounded by us with the rapidity of
an arrow, clearly showed us the route which the party would take
if a slip were made.

Once this terrible gap crossed, I began to breathe again. We
descended the gradual slopes which led to the summit of the
Corridor. The snow, softened by the heat, yielded beneath our
feet; we sank in it to the knees, which made our progress very
fatiguing. We steadily followed the path by which we ascended in
the morning, and I was astonished when Gaspard Simon, turning
towards me, said,--

"Monsieur, we cannot take any other road, for the Corridor is
impracticable, and we must descend by the wall which we climbed
up this morning."

I told Levesque this disagreeable news.

"Only," added Gaspard Simon, "I do not think we can all remain
tied together. However, we will see how M. N---- bears it at
first."

We advanced towards this terrible wall! M. N----'s party began to
descend, and we heard Paccard talking rapidly to him. The
inclination became so steep that we perceived neither him nor his
guides, though we were bound together by the same rope.

As soon as Gaspard Simon, who went before me, could comprehend
what was passing