Although one does get accustomed to high altitudes, we felt very doubtful.  No one in the Western Hemisphere had ever made night camps at 20,000 feet or pitched a tent as high as the summit of Coropuna.  The severity of mountain-sickness differs greatly in different localities, apparently not depending entirely on the altitude.  I do not know how long we could have stood it.  It is difficult to believe that with strength enough to achieve the climb we should have felt as weak and ill as we did.

That night, although we were very weary, none of us slept much.  The violent whooping cough continued and all of us were nauseated again in the morning.  We felt so badly and were able to take so little nourishment that it was determined to get to a lower altitude as fast as possible.  To lighten our loads we left behind some of our supplies.  We broke camp at 9:20.  Eighteen minutes later, without having to rest, the cache was reached and the few remnants were picked up.  Although many things had been abandoned, our loads seemed heavier than ever.  We had some difficulty in negotiating the crevasses, but Gamarra was the only one actually to fall in, and he was easily pulled out again.  About noon we heard a faint halloo, and finally made out two animated specks far down the mountain side.  The effect of again seeing somebody from the outside world was rather curious.  I had a choking sensation.  Tucker, who led the way, told me long afterward that he could not keep the tears from running down his cheeks, although we did not see it at the time.  The “specks” turned out to be Watkins and an Indian boy, who came up as high as was safe without ropes or crampons, and relieved us of some weight.  The Base Camp was reached at half-past twelve.  One of the first things Tucker did on returning was to weigh all the packs.  To my surprise and disgust I learned that on the way down Tucker, afraid that some of us would collapse, had carried sixty-one pounds, and Gamarra sixty-four, while he had given me only thirty-one pounds, and the same to Coello.  This, of course, does not include the weight of our ice-creepers, axes, or rope.

The next day all of us felt very tired and drowsy.  In fact, I was almost overcome with inertia.  It was a fearful task even to lift one’s hand.  The sun had burned our faces terribly.  Our lips were painfully swollen.  We coughed and whooped.  It seemed best to make every effort to get back to a still lower altitude for the mules.  So we broke camp, got the loads ready without waiting, put our sleeping-bags and blankets on our backs, and went rapidly down to the Indians’ huts.  Immediately our malaise left us.  We felt physically stronger.  We took deep breaths as though we had gotten back to sea level.  There was no sensation of oppression on the chest.  Yet we were still actually higher than the top of Pike’s Peak.  We could move rapidly about without getting out of breath; the aggravating “whooping cough” left us; and our appetites