32

THE ASCENT OF THE MATTETUIORN.

CHAP. II.

inquired of Semiond if lie knew whether that peak had beenascended. As for him, he knew nothing, except that the peakbefore us was called the pyramid, from the cairn he had, etc.etc., and that it had not been ascended since. “All right then—face about,” and we immediately turned at right angles for the cone,the porter making faint struggles for his beloved pyramid. Ourprogress was stopped, in the sixth of a mile, by the edge of theridge connecting the two peaks, and we perceived that it curledover in a lovely volute. We involuntarily retreated. Semiond,who was last in the line, took the opportunity to untie himself, andrefused to come on; said we were running dangerous risks, andtalked vaguely of crevasses. We tied him up again, and jiroceeded.The snow was very soft; we were always knee-deep, and sometimesfloundered in up to the waist; but a simultaneous jerk before andbehind always released one. By this time we had arrived at thefoot of the final peak. The left-hand ridge seemed easier than thatupon which we stood, so we curved round to get to it. Some rockspeeped out 150 feet below T the summit, and up these we crawled,leaving our porter behind, as he said he was afraid. I could notresist the temptation, as we went off', to turn round and beckon himonwards, saying, “ Don’t be afraid—follow me,” but he did notanswer to the appeal, and never went to the top. The rocks led toa short ridge of ice—our plateau on one side, and a nearly verticalprecipice on the other. Macdonald cut up it, and at a quarterto two we stood shaking hands on the loftiest summit of theconquered Pelvoux.

The day still continued everything that could be desired, and,far and near, countless peaks burst into sight, without a cloud tohide them. The mighty Mont Blanc, full seventy miles away, firstcaught our eyes, and then, still farther off, the Monte Eosa group;while, rolling away to the east, one unknown range after anothersucceeded in unveiled splendour; fainter and fainter in tone, butstill perfectly defined, till at last the eye was unable to distinguishsky from mountain, and they died away in the far-off horizon.