But the
night was cold, and my blanket was not enough to keep me comfortably
warm.
The following day was delightfully warm as soon as the sun got to the
bottom of the valley, and the fresh fallen snow disappeared so fast from
the snowy range that I was afraid it would raise the river--which,
indeed, rose in the afternoon and became slightly discoloured, but it
cannot have been more than three or four inches deeper, for it never
reached the bottom of my saddle-bags. I believe Doctor knew exactly
where I was going, for he wanted no guidance. I halted again at midday,
got two more ducks, crossed and recrossed the river, or some of its
streams, several times, and at about six, caught sight, after a bend in
the valley, of the glacier descending on to the river-bed. This I knew
to be close to the point at which I was to camp for the night, and from
which I was to ascend the mountain. After another hour's slow progress
over the increasing roughness of the river-bed, I saw the triangular
delta of which my father had told me, and the stream that had formed it,
bounding down the mountain side. Doctor went right up to the place where
my father's fire had been, and I again found many pieces of charred wood
and ashes.
As soon as I had unloaded Doctor and hobbled him, I went to a tree hard
by, on which I could see the mark of a blaze, and towards which I thought
I could see a line of wood ashes running.
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