Before twelve o’clock we had found a good position for the tent, at a height of eleven thousand feet.  Croz and young Peter went on to see what was above, in order to save time on the following morning.  They cut across the heads of the snow-slopes which descended toward the Furggengletscher, and disappeared round a corner, but shortly afterward we saw them high up on the face, moving quickly.  We others made a solid platform for the tent in a well-protected spot, and then watched eagerly for the return of the men.  The stones which they upset told that they were very high, and we supposed that the way must be easy.  At length, just before 3 P.M., we saw them coming down, evidently much excited.  “What are they saying, Peter?” “Gentlemen, they say it is no good.”  But when they came near we heard a different story:  “Nothing but what was good—­not a difficulty, not a single difficulty!  We could have gone to the summit and returned to-day easily!”

We passed the remaining hours of daylight—­some basking in the sunshine, some sketching or collecting—­and when the sun went down, giving, as it departed, a glorious promise for the morrow, we returned to the tent to arrange for the night.  Hudson made tea, I coffee, and we then retired each one to his blanket-bag, the Taugwalders, Lord Francis Douglas and myself occupying the tent, the others remaining, by preference, outside.  Long after dusk the cliffs above echoed with our laughter and with the songs of the guides, for we were happy that night in camp, and feared no evil.

We assembled together outside the tent before dawn on the morning of the 14th, and started directly it was light enough to move.  Young Peter came on with us as a guide, and his brother returned to Zermatt.  We followed the route which had been taken on the previous day, and in a few minutes turned the rib which had intercepted the view of the eastern face from our tent platform.  The whole of this great slope was now revealed, rising for three thousand feet like a huge natural staircase.  Some parts were more and others were less easy, but we were not once brought to a halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front it could always be turned to the right or to the left.

For the greater part of the way there was indeed no occasion for the rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself.  At 6:20 we had attained a height of twelve thousand eight hundred feet, and halted for half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9:55, when we stopt for fifty minutes at a height of fourteen thousand feet.  Twice we struck the northeastern ridge, and followed it for some little distance—­to no advantage, for it was usually more rotten and steep, and always more difficult, than the face.  Still, we kept near to it, lest stones perchance might fall.