ng for a time, came up later.

We remained on the summit nearly two hours, looking about us at the vast
maplike views, comprehending hundreds of miles of the Cascade Range,
with their black interminable forests and white volcanic cones in
glorious array reaching far into Oregon; the Sound region also, and
the great plains of eastern Washington, hazy and vague in the distance.
Clouds began to gather. Soon of all the land only the summits of the
mountains, St. Helen's, Adams, and Hood, were left in sight, forming
islands in the sky. We found two well-formed and well-preserved craters
on the summit, lying close together like two plates on a table with
their rims touching. The highest point of the mountain is located
between the craters, where their edges come in contact. Sulphurous fumes
and steam issue from several vents, giving out a sickening smell that
can be detected at a considerable distance. The unwasted condition of
these craters, and, indeed, to a great extent, of the entire mountain,
would tend to show that Rainier is still a comparatively young mountain.
With the exception of the projecting lips of the craters and the top of
a subordinate summit a short distance to the northward, the mountains is
solidly capped with ice all around; and it is this ice cap which forms
the grand central fountain whence all the twenty glaciers of Rainier
flow, radiating in every direction.

The descent was accomplished without disaster, though several of the
party had narrow escapes. One slipped and fell, and as he shot past me
seemed to be going to certain death. So steep was the ice slope no one
could move to help him, but fortunately, keeping his presence of mind,
he threw himself on his face and digging his alpenstock into the ice,
gradually retarded his motion until he came to rest. Another broke
through a slim bridge over a crevasse, but his momentum at the time
carried him against the lower edge and only his alpenstock was lost in
the abyss. Thus crippled by the loss of his staff, we had to lower
him the rest of the way down the dome by means of the rope we carried.
Falling rocks from the upper precipitous part of the ridge were also a
source of danger, as they came whizzing past in successive volleys; but
none told on us, and when we at length gained the gentle slopes of the
lower ice fields, we ran and slid at our ease, making fast, glad time,
all care and danger past, and arrived at our beloved Cloud Camp before
sundown.