and an Indian boy, who came up as high as was safe without ropes or
crampons, and relieved us of some weight. The Base Camp was reached
at half-past twelve. One of the first things Tucker did on returning
was to weigh all the packs. To my surprise and disgust I learned that
on the way down Tucker, afraid that some of us would collapse, had
carried sixty-one pounds, and Gamarra sixty-four, while he had given
me only thirty-one pounds, and the same to Coello. This, of course,
does not include the weight of our ice-creepers, axes, or rope.

The next day all of us felt very tired and drowsy. In fact, I was
almost overcome with inertia. It was a fearful task even to lift one's
hand. The sun had burned our faces terribly. Our lips were painfully
swollen. We coughed and whooped. It seemed best to make every effort
to get back to a still lower altitude for the mules. So we broke camp,
got the loads ready without waiting, put our sleeping-bags and blankets
on our backs, and went rapidly down to the Indians' huts. Immediately
our malaise left us. We felt physically stronger. We took deep breaths
as though we had gotten back to sea level. There was no sensation
of oppression on the chest. Yet we were still actually higher than
the top of Pike's Peak. We could move rapidly about without getting
out of breath; the aggravating "whooping cough" left us; and our
appetites returned. To be sure, we still suffered from the effects
of snow and sun. On the ascent I had been very thirsty and foolishly
had allowed myself to eat a considerable amount of snow. As a result
my tongue was now so extremely sensitive that pieces of soda biscuit
tasted like broken glass. Corporal Gamarra, who had been unwilling
to keep his snow-glasses always in place and thought to relieve his
eyes by frequently dispensing with them, now suffered from partial
snow-blindness. The rest of us were spared any inflammation of the
eyes. There followed two days of resting and waiting. Then the smiling