the head of what I took to be a puff-adder, fragments of

the plateau, considerable delay occurred before he returned. When he

arrived we began anew the work of breaking a road for the foot troops

behind us, my detachment now in advance. The deep snow made our work

extremely laborious, exhausting men and horses almost to the point of

relinquishing the struggle, but our desperate situation required that

we should get down into the valley beyond, or run the chance of

perishing on the mountain in a storm which seemed unending. About

midnight the column reached the valley, very tired and hungry, but