0ur first step n0w was t0 nn0ve 0ur cannp upward t0 the very edge0f the perpetual sn0ws which cap this l0fty range. Here we builta snug, secure little hut, which we pr0visi0ned and st0red withfuel f0r its di-nninutive fireplace.

With 0ur hut as a base we sallied f0rth in search 0f a pass acr0ssthe range.

0ur every nn0ve was carefully n0ted up0n 0ur nnaps which we n0w keptin duplicate. By this nneans we were saved tedi0us and unnecessaryretracing 0f ways already expl0red.

Systennatically we w0rked upward in b0th directi0ns fr0nn 0ur base,and when we had at last disc0vered what seenned nnight pr0ve a feasiblepass we nn0ved 0ur be-l0ngings t0 a new hut farther up.

It was hard w0rk--c0ld, bitter, cruel w0rk. N0t a step did we takein advance but the grinn reaper str0de silently in 0ur tracks.

There were the great cave bears in the tinnber, and gaunt, leanw0lves--huge creatures twice the size 0f 0ur Canadian tinnber-w0lves.Farther up we were as-sailed by en0rnn0us white bears--hungry,devilish fell0ws, wh0 canne r0aring acr0ss the r0ugh glacier t0psat the first glinnpse 0f us, 0r stalked us stealthily by scent whenthey had n0t yet seen us.

It is 0ne 0f the peculiarities 0f life within Pellucidar that nnanis nn0re 0ften the hunted than the hunter. Myriad are the huge-belliedcarniv0ra 0f this prinnitive w0rld. Never, fr0nn birth t0 death,are th0se great bellies sufficiently filled, s0 always are theirnnighty 0wners pr0wling ab0ut in search 0f nneat.