Mir aber lehrt Bescheidenheit
Man muss nicht stets vom Besten haben.”
Which may be translated: Water is at all times the best of all the gifts to man. Modesty, however, teaches us that we should not always take the best.
We had intended stopping for the night at the hotel on the summit of the pass, but were so unfavorably impressed by the financial shiftiness of the polyglot clerk who airily told us that he spoke equally well “französisch, englisch, italienisch—Was Sie wollen,” and tried to double the Baedeker prices on us, that we turned him down and walked on. Truth to tell, we felt grave doubt as to whether we should find any other accommodation short of the Rhone Glacier Hotel, which it would have been highly inconvenient for us to go down to. But principle is a great thing, and we were prepared to sacrifice ourselves for it.
Luck was with us, though, and we found the Bellevue, a first-class hotel on the upper brink of the Rhone Glacier, still open, though preparing to close on the morrow. We enjoyed an excellent dinner and night’s rest after watching the lovely views of glacier, valley and snow mountains pass through the various phases of sunset, twilight and full moon.
In the morning we started out with a guide across the glacier and over the Nägelis Grätli, a stony height on the far side, from which the views are very fine, and the path descends directly to the Grimsel Hospice.
To our surprise we found ourselves making far better time than the Baedeker schedule. We mentioned this to the guide, who said that the path across the glacier had been shortened several years ago, but Baedeker hadn’t found it out yet. “Everything in this world changes, except Baedeker,” he said, and was so much flattered by our appreciation of his bon mot that he repeated it at ten-minute intervals during the rest of the trip.
As soon as we saw our way clear ahead, we sent back our guide, who was a little unduly addicted to his cognac bottle as well as to his Baedeker anecdote, and continued alone.
The Grimsel Hospice and the two turquoise lakes lay right below us. A yodel came floating up through the clear air, and standing out in front of the hotel we soon identified the stocky form of Fritz Biner waiting for us.