138
[1861
next to urge himself, not fairly upward, for rightabove us the top was entirely out of reach, butobliquely along the face of the cliff. He suc-ceeded, anchored himself, and called upon me toadvance.
The rope was tight, it is true, but it was notvertical, so that a slip would cause me to swing likea pendulum over the cliffs face. With considerableeffort I managed to hand Bennen his axe, and whiledoing so my own staff escaped me and was irre-coverably lost. I ascended Andermatten’s shouldersas Bennen did, but my body was not long enough tobridge the way to the guide’s arm ; so I had to riskthe possibility of becoming a pendulum. A littleprotrusion gave my left foot some support. I sud-denly raised myself a yard, and here was met bythe iron grip of my guide. In a second I was safelystowed away in a neighbouring fissure. Ander-matten now remained. He first detached himselffrom the rope, tied it round his coat and knapsack,which were drawn up. The rope was again letdown, and the porter tied it firmly round his waist.It was not made in England, and was perhaps lighterthan it ought to be; so to help it hands and feetwere scraped with spasmodic energy over the rock.He struggled too much, and Bennen cried sharply,‘ Langsam! langsam ! Keine Furcht! ’ The poorfellow looked very pale and bewildered as his bare