lost no time in unloading, claimed their bonus, promised to return
in ten days, and almost before we knew it had disappeared down the
side of the mountain.

We spent the afternoon establishing our Base Camp. We had three tents,
the "Mummery," a very light and diminutive wall tent about four feet
high, made by Edgington of London; an ordinary wall tent, 7 by 7, of
fairly heavy material, with floor sewed in; and an improved pyramidal
tent, made by David Abercrombie, but designed by Mr. Tucker after
one used on Mt. McKinley by Professor Parker. Tucker's tent had two
openings--a small vent in the top of the pyramid, capable of being
closed by an adjustable cap in case of storm, and an oval entrance
through which one had to crawl. This opening could be closed to any
desired extent with a pucker string. A fairly heavy, waterproof floor,
measuring 7 by 7, was sewed to the base of the pyramid so that a single
pole, without guy ropes, was all that was necessary to keep the tent
upright after the floor had been securely pegged to the ground, or
snow. Tucker's tent offered the advantages of being carried without
difficulty, easily erected by one man, readily ventilated and yet
giving shelter to four men in any weather. We proposed to leave the
wall tent at the Base, but to take the pyramidal tent with us on the
climb. We determined to carry the "Mummery" to the top of the mountain
to use while taking observations.

The elevation of the Base Camp was 17,300 feet. We were surprised
and pleased to find that at first we had good appetites and no
soroche. Less than a hundred yards from the wall tent was a small
diurnal stream, fed by melting snow. Whenever I went to get water for
cooking or washing purposes I noticed a startling and rapid rise in
pulse and increasing shortness of breath. My normal pulse is 70. After