N---- and his party, safe
and sound.

After resting a little while, we continued our journey.

As we were approaching the Petit-Plateau, Edward Ravanel suddenly
stopped, and, turning towards us, said,--

"See what an avalanche! It has covered our tracks."

An immense avalanche of ice had indeed fallen from the Gouter,
and entirely buried the path we had followed in the morning
across the Petit-Plateau.

I estimated that the mass of this avalanche could not comprise
less than five hundred cubic yards. If it had fallen while we
were passing, one more catastrophe would no doubt have been added
to the list, already too long, of the necrology of Mont Blanc.

This fresh obstacle forced us to seek a new road, or to pass
around the foot of the avalanche. As we were much fatigued, the
latter course was assuredly the simplest; but it involved a
serious danger. A wall of ice more than sixty feet high, already
partly detached from the Gouter, to which it only clung by one of
its angles, overhung the path which we should follow. This great
mass seemed to hold itself in equilibrium. What if our passing,
by disturbing the air, should hasten its fall? Our guides held a
consultation. Each of them examined with a spy-glass the fissure
which had been formed between the mountain and this alarming ice-mass.
The sharp and clear edges of the cleft betrayed a recent breaking off,
evidently caused by the fall of the avalanche.

After a brief discussion, our guides, recognizing the
impossibility of finding another road, decided to attempt this
dangerous passage.

"We must walk very fast,--even run, if possible," said they, "and
we shall be in safety in five minutes. Come, messieurs, a last
effort!"

A run of five minutes is a small matter for people who are only
tired; but for us, who were absolutely exhausted, to run even for
so short a time on soft snow, in which we sank up to the knees,
seemed an impossibility. Nevertheless, we made an urgent appeal
to our energies, and after two or three tumbles, drawn forward by
one, pushed by another, we finally reached a snow hillock, on
which we fell breathless. We were out of danger.

It required some time to recover ourselves. We stretched out on
the snow with a feeling of comfort which every one will
understand. The greatest difficulties had been surmounted, and
though there were still dangers to brave, we could confront them
with comparatively little apprehension.

We prolonged our h