CHAPTER XIII
TWO VIRGIN PEAKS
So try man's foot, if it will creep or climb,
'Mid obstacles in seeming, points that prove
Advantage, for who vaults from low to high
Makes of the stumbling-block a stepping-stone.
Browning.
The 1912 season opened most inauspiciously for me. I was booked to reach the Hermitage early in January, but the night before my boat sailed from Sydney my father met with a serious accident. For some time I was unable to procure the services of a trained nurse, and by the time I eventually did so and my father was convalescent I was on the edge of a nervous breakdown. The doctor packed me off at once for my delayed holiday, with strict instructions to leave serious climbing alone until I was thoroughly fit once more.
I reached the Hermitage the second week in February, too tired to have the faintest desire to do anything strenuous. Mr. Chambers was already there with a private guide, and was anxious I should join in with him for some big ascents. When people have never known you except in the pink of condition, it is somewhat difficult to convince them all at once that you are physically unfit for violent exertion. At last I made the point unmistakably clear, and reluctantly refusing some very tempting propositions joined in with two friends who were going up to the Malte Brun hut,
