Now was our
chance to try some Swiss mountain climbing. Bill took the lead, with an
old hatchet in his hand, to hack out any necessary footholds in the ice
wall, and the rest of us strung out behind him tied to a long rope, each
boy about 10 or 12 feet from the one ahead. Bill cautioned us to keep our
distance, holding the rope taut in one hand, so that if a fellow stumbled
he could be kept from falling either by the one in front or by the one
behind.
"Besides," he said, "if the rope drags on the ice, it is liable to be cut
or worn so that it will break when any strain was put on it."
Now, one would think from all these precautions that we were launched on a
perilous expedition. That was the impression we were trying to make on
ourselves, though, as a matter of fact, anyone of us could have climbed
the cliff unaided and without any ice implements if he had used ordinary
care not to slip on the ice-clad ladder rounds or the snow-covered
ledges.
[Illustration: Fig. 199. Winter Expedition to the Goblins' Platform.]
A Poor Shelter.
The climb was without mishap and we reached our tree house, only to find
it so badly racked by storm and weather that it was clearly out of the
question to attempt to spend the night there.
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