Page:Whymper - Scrambles amongst the Alps.djvu/298

intolerable except as a labour of love—and which, for a single individual, may well-nigh be termed Herculean.

We separated upon the level part of the Glacier d'Argentière, Reilly going with Payot and Charlet via the chalets of Lognan and de la Pendant, whilst I, with Croz, followed the right bank of the glacier to the village of Argentière.^[1] At 7 p.m. we entered the humble inn, and ten minutes afterwards heard the echoes of the cannon which were fired upon the arrival of our comrades at Chamounix.^[2]

1. One cannot do worse than follow that path.
2. The lower chalet de Lognan is 2½ hours' walking from Chamounix. From thence to the summit of the Aiguille d'Argentière, and down to the village of the same name, occupied 12½ hours.