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SOME ALPINE ASCENTS 135
After a few minutes” rest, we slowly con-
tinued our ascént, cutting steps as we went
and, with shouts of triumph, reached the
Gnifetti Col at 2 p.m. All at once, we saw, at
a short distance, two black specks on the ice.
We stared at them and were about to see for
ourselves what they might be, when some
climbers, who were already at the hut—among
whom were the Messrs. Sella—made signs to
us not to proceed. What we had descried,
| in fact, were the corpses of two unfortunate
| men who had met with their death there,
unknown to us all, 'a few days before; as
the bodies had been found on Swiss territory,
they were taken down to Zermatt the next
day and there buried, nor did we ever find
out the names of these ill-fated mountaineers.
The next day, we made the descent. Bur-
gener and I went to Alagna and thence to
Macugnaga. Here we found Professor Carlo
Rastelli of Bologna, who had several times
expressed a wish to make an expedition to
the Nord-End. Burgener and I were to
act as his guides, and our departure was
already arranged when it came on to rain.
The weather cleared, however, in two days’
| time, so we set out at 5 a.m., and by 3.30
| p.m. reached the Marinelli Hut. After par-