When I was assured that the grapple was still securely fastened I
signalled to Hall, and he soon stood at my side, exclaiming, as he
wiped the perspiration from his face:
"I think I'll try wings next time!"
But our difficulties had only begun. As we had foreseen, it was a case
of Alp above Alp, to the very limit of human strength and
patience. However, it would have been impossible to go back. In order
to descend the two precipices we had surmounted it would have been
necessary to leave our life-lines clinging to the rocks, and we had
not rope enough to do that. If we could not reach the top we were
lost.
Having refreshed ourselves with a bite to eat and a little stimulant,
we resumed the climb. After several hours of the most exhausting work
I have ever performed we pulled our weary limbs upon the narrow ridge,
but a few square yards in area, which constitutes the apex of the
Grand Teton. A little below, on the opposite side of a steep-walled
gap which divides the top of the mountain into two parts, we saw the
singular enclosure of stones which the early white explorers found
there, and which they ascribed to the Indians, although nobody has
ever known who built it or what purpose it served.
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