rotted. It does not matter. We must find another path, that is all," I
answered as cheerfully as I could.

"Yes, and soon," he said, "if we do not wish to stop here for ever."

So we turned to the right and marched along the edge of the precipice
till, a mile or so away, we came to a small glacier, of which the
surface was sprinkled with large stones frozen into its substance. This
glacier hung down the face of the cliff like a petrified waterfall, but
whether or no it reached the foot we could not discover. At any rate,
to think of attempting its descent seemed out of the question. From this
point onwards we could see that the precipice increased in depth and far
as the eye could reach was absolutely sheer.

So we went back again and searched to the left of our road. Here the
mountains receded, so that above us rose a mighty, dazzling slope of
snow and below us lay that same pitiless, unclimbable gulf. As the light
began to fade we perceived, half a mile or more in front a bare-topped
hillock of rock, which stood on the verge of the precipice, and hurried
to it, thinking that from its crest we might be able to discover a way
of descent.

When at length we had struggled to the top, it was about a hundred and
fifty feet high; what we did discover was that, here also, as beyond the
glacier, the gulf was infinitely deeper than at the spot where the road
ended, so deep indeed that we could not see its bottom, although from it
came the sound of roaring water. Moreover, it was quite half a mile in
width.

Whilst we stared round us the sinking sun vanished behind a mountain
and, the sky being heavy, the light went out like that of a candle. Now
the ascent of this hillock had proved so steep, especially at one place,
where we were obliged to climb a sort of rock ladder, that we scarcely
cared to attempt to struggle down it again in that gloom. Therefore,
remembering that there was little to choose between the top of this
knoll and the snow plain at its foot in the matter of temperature or
other conveniences, and being quite exhausted, we determined to spend
the night upon it, thereby, as we were to learn, saving our lives.

Unloading the yak, we pitched our tent under the lee of the topmost knob
of rock and ate a couple of handfuls of dried fish and corn-cake. This
was the last of the food that we had brought with us from the Lamasery,
and we reflected with dismay that unless we could shoot something, our
commissariat w