This lake filled up the whole
breadth of the gallery, here perhaps 4 or 5 feet, and rapidly passed to
the depth of a yard; but for a little distance there were unstable
stones at one edge, and steps in the rock-wall, by which I could pass
on still into the darkness, supported by an alpenstock planted in the
water. The current of cold air blew along the surface of the water from
the farther extremity of the gallery, wherever that might be. As far as
our eyes could reach, we saw nothing but the black channel of water,
with its precipitous sides passing up beyond our sight. It might have
been possible to progress in a spread-eagle fashion, with one hand and
one foot on each side; but a fall would have been so bitterly
unpleasant, that I made a show of condescension in acceding to Rosset's
request that I would not attempt such a thing. In the course of my
return to the rocks where he stood, I involuntarily fathomed the
depth of the lake, luckily in a shallower part, and was so much struck
by the coldness of the water, that I left Rosset with the candle, and
struggled up without a light to the place where we had left the maire,
or rather to the bottom of the drop from the entrance-cave, to get the
thermometer.
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