“As I stood watching this strange scene, Peter plucked me by the sleeve and pointed westward.  I looked, and all the wonders I had yet viewed became as nothing.  For there, disregarded by the crowd, but plain and manifest, rose another Peak, graven in shadow upon the western sky.  Bold and confronting, it soared into heaven and, whilst I gazed in silent awe, came striding nearer through the void air, until it seemed to sweep down upon me—­and was gone!  For many a day had the shadow of this mighty cone lain upon my soul; here, on the very summit, that shadow took visible form and shape, then paled into the clear blue.  Has its invisible horror left me now at last?  I doubt it.

“But by this time the sun was high, and the last pilgrim with a lingering cry of ‘Saadoo!’ was leaving the summit.  So, although my ankle was now beginning to give me exquisite pain, I gave the order to return.  Before leaving, however, I looked for a moment at the sacred footprint, to my mind the least of the wonders of the Peak, and resembling no foot that ever I saw.  We had gone but a few steps when I plainly guessed from the state of my ankle that our descent would be full of danger, but the guides assured me of their carefulness; so once more we attacked the chains.

“How we got down I shall never fully know; but at last and after infinite pain we stood at the foot of the cliff and entered the forest of rhododendrons.  And here, to the wild astonishment of my guides who plainly thought me mad, I bade them leave me and proceed ahead, remaining within call.  They were full of protestations and dismay, but I was firm.  Trusty they might be, but it was well in this matter to distrust everything and everybody.  Finally, therefore, they obeyed, and I sat watching until their white-clad forms disappeared in the thicket.

“As soon as I judged them to have gone a sufficient distance, I arose and followed, cautiously counting my footsteps.  But this was needless; my father had described the tree as ’noticeable and not to be missed,’ nor was he wrong.  Barely had I counted five hundred paces when it rose into view, uncouth and monstrous.  All around it spread the crimson blossoms of huge rhododendrons; but this strange tree was at once unlike any of its fellows and of a kind altogether unknown to me.  Its roots were partly bare, and writhed in fantastic coils across the track.  Above these rose and spread its seven trunks matted with creepers, and then united about four feet below the point where the branches began.  Its foliage was of a dark, glossy green, particularly dense, and its height, as I should judge, some sixty feet.

“Taking out my compass, I started from the left-hand side of the narrow track, and at a right angle to it.  The undergrowth gave me much trouble, and once I had to make a circuit round a huge rhododendron; but I fought my way through, and after going, as I reckoned, thirty-two paces, pulled up full in front of—­another rhododendron.