Page:Whymper - Scrambles amongst the Alps.djvu/452

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392
SCRAMBLES AMONGST THE ALPS.
chap. xxi.

fixing it to the stick. It made a poor flag, and there was no wind to float it out, yet it was seen all around. They saw it at Zermatt—at the Riffel—in the Val Tournanche. At Breil, the watchers cried, "Victory is ours!" They raised 'bravos' for Carrel, and ' vivas' for Italy, and hastened to put themselves en fete. On the

THE SUMMIT OF THE MATTERHORN IN 1865 (NORTHERN END).

morrow they were undeceived. "All was changed; the explorers returned sad—cast down—disheartened—confounded—gloomy." "It is true," said the men. "We saw them ourselves—they hurled stones at us! The old traditions are true,—there are spirits on the top of the Matterhorn!"[1]

  1. Signor Giordano was naturally disappointed at the result, and wished the men to start again. They all refused to do so, with the exception of Jean-Antoine. Upon the 16th of July he set out again with three others, and upon the 17th gained the