BY
MRS AUBREY LE BLOND
(Mrs MAIN)
AUTHOR OF
“MY HOME IN THE ALPS,” “TRUE TALES OF MOUNTAIN ADVENTURE,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1904
(All rights reserved.)
TO
J O S E P H I M B O D E N
MY GUIDE AND FRIEND FOR TWENTY YEARS,
I dedicate
THESE RECORDS OF A PASTIME IN WHICH I OWE
MY SHARE TO HIS SKILL, COURAGE, AND
HELPFUL COMPANIONSHIP.
PREFACE
“DEAR HEART,” said Tommy, when Mr Barlow had finished his narrative, “what a number of accidents people are subject to in this world!”
“It is very true,” answered Mr Barlow, “but as that is the case, it is necessary to improve ourselves in every possible manner, so that we may be able to struggle against them.”
Thus quoted, from Sandford and Merton, a president of the Alpine Club. The following True Tales from the Hills, if they serve to emphasise not only the perils of mountaineering but the means by which they can be lessened, will have accomplished the aim of their editor.
This book is not intended for the climber. To him most of the tales will be familiar in the volumes on the shelves of his library or on the lips of his companions during restful hours in the Alps. But the non-climber rarely sees The Alpine Journal and the less popular books on mountaineering, nor would he probably care to search in their pages for narratives likely to interest him.