“No it wouldn’t,” said Griggs. “It would be so cold you couldn’t bear it.”
“What, up there in the blazing sunshine?”
“Yes, up there in the blazing sunshine. That only lasts till sundown; after that ice would be forming in the water-bottles, while the wind would be so cold that you couldn’t bear it. We should want bearskin coats,” added Griggs meaningly, as he sheltered his eyes from the sun’s glare.
He and the boys had climbed, after helping with the camping arrangements, some three or four hundred feet above the shelf, armed with the doctor’s glass.
“We could keep ourselves warm enough, I dare say,” said Ned surlily, for the ponies had been walked up the final portion of that day’s journey so as to relieve them of their loads.
“Strikes me,” said Griggs, “that this place will about do for a couple of weeks, and then we can get right round to the other side for a day or two to see what we can make out there.”
“I should say we had better start right off there to-morrow,” said Chris, after taking a comprehensive glance round. “How far can I see, do you think?”
“From here? Why, big things a hundred miles off, I dare say.”
“Then it’s all a failure, so far,” said Chris; “there’s no sign of the mountains on the map. This is not the right part.”
“I didn’t expect it would be,” said the American coolly.