g to Mr. B. Moorehouse. The route lay partly along the
mountain slopes overhanging the river, and then diverged across a pass
as I had been carefully instructed, but there was no roadway, only a
bridle path now pretty sure to be covered with snow, and there was no
shelter of any kind over the whole distance. Although I had never made
the journey, my former experiences gave me every confidence that I would
be able to find my way without much trouble, and taking with me only a
scrap of bread and meat and a blanket I started as soon as it was light
enough to see, certain in my mind that I would reach Moorehouse's early
in the afternoon. The first few miles through the run I knew so well I
got along without trouble, but further on the difficulties began. It was
impossible, owing to the slushy and slippery as well as uneven nature of
the ground, to get out of a slow walk, and frequently I had to double on
my tracks to negotiate a swampy nullah, and often to dismount and lead
my animal over nasty places which he funked as much as I did.

By midday I had got over about half the distance, when I made the
serious mistake of continuing down the gorge instead of turning over the
saddle or pass to which I had been specially directed; but I was misled
by sheep walks leading on towards the gorge, while the footpath over the
pass was entirely obliterated by snow. I did not discover my mistake
until I could go no further; the sheep walks led only to the shelter of
some huge precipices, which here approached close to the river on either
side, narrowing the stream to a fourth of its usual volume, and
confining it in a rocky channel through which it thundered furiously.

The noise was deafening, and the position one of the grandest and
wildest I had ever beheld, but I could not afford the time just then for
sentiment. It was already getting dark, and I had scarcely a foot to
stand on. It seemed indeed, for a moment, that I would not be able to
turn my horse, which I was leading, on the narrow path we had now got on
to, and if I succeeded in doing that I would have a considerable
distance to retrace before reaching safe ground, a false step would send
us headlong a couple of hundred feet into a rushing torrent, if we
escaped being smashed on the rocks before we got there. I do not think I
ever felt so lonely or alarmed, but I had to act, and that quickly.
Fortunately my horse was a steady one, well accustomed to climbing over
bad places, a