place what it was going to do!” and as a snowstorm would make the pass well-nigh impossible and would probably delay us so long that we could not go all the way to Milford, we unanimously voted for progress, intending to go only as far as the next huts, close to the Sutherland Falls, and put up there for the night.
It was still raining, though it had dwindled to a drizzle, when we started, and the track was very wet underfoot, while the bush dripped so that it was like a needle-bath. But we soon left the valley and the tall bush behind us, and commenced the ascent of the pass, the track winding to and fro along the side of the steep mountain. It was so narrow that we had to walk in single file; Mr. Inspector led, I followed, then came Colonel Deane, Mrs Greendays, and Captain Greendays bringing up the rear. It was bitterly cold, with a biting wind that penetrated through our mackintoshes and buttoned-up serges, and as we climbed higher the snow on the track became deeper and deeper so that we sank into it almost up to our knees. And when we turned the corner of the hill on to the saddle we found that we had walked straight into the snowstorm, the snow was falling thick and fast, a perfect gale of wind was blowing, and we were almost taken off our feet.
We dared not, indeed could not, pause, even for a moment, but struggled on, keeping close behind each other, for the whole country was enveloped in mist, we could not see a single peak of the mountains and the cutting snow made it difficult to see anything at all. The worst bit of all was the flat on the summit, for the wind was so strong that it was really hard to keep from being blown over, and it howled like fury. Speech had long been impossible; even if we could have made ourselves heard breath was far too precious to waste in talking.
But happily it was soon over; a few hundred yards and we were over the Saddle. Here the snow had melted as it fell, or been thawed immediately by the myriad streams from the peaks, and so much water was pouring down the precipitous downward track that the descent was simply a tortuous waterway. It went careering madly over the side of the narrow track, or coyly paused in little pools, or followed its nose just as it listed, and unfortunately for us we were obliged to stumble along in its wake, even to going over the side occasionally, for in many places it had washed away the slight pathway altogether. Every few yards there were pools to go through, and the stones were very slippery, so that on that ribbon of steeply slanting track, winding and very rough now that the rain had tossed boulders big and small down from the mountain above it, we were in momentary peril of being pitched headlong down the stony cliffs into the valley thousands of feet below. That descent was more adventurous than elegant, more rapid than was compatible with strict decorum, and the only scrap of comfort we had we were not able to stop and enjoy. The wind was blowing the clouds away, the snow had ceased, and every now and then we had glimpses of gigantic peaks and mountain masses, glimpses that were
