midday
`` Not too fast , or we shall leave the baggage behind . '' Warnings like this had to be given again and again ; for , though the track was as bad as ever , it was for the most part downhill , and the patches of snow lying in the jagged hollows on either side of the pass were less frequent , while the sheltered slopes and hollows were greener with groves of stunted fir and grass , and , far below , glimpses were obtained of deep valleys branching off from the lower part of the pass , whose sides were glorious in the sunshine with what seemed to be tiny shrubs . For the men required checking . They were growing weary , in spite of their midday halt , and longing to get to the ground below the snow-line , where they were to camp for the night . Colonel Graves was no less eager ; for , though his little force was safe enough on the right , where the side of the pass sloped precipitately down , the track lay along a continuation of the shelf which ran upon the steep mountain-side , the slope being impossible of ascent , save here and there where a stream tumbled foaming down a crack-like gully and the rocks above them rose like battlements continued with wonderful regularity , forming a dangerous set of strongholds ready to conceal an enemy who could destroy them by setting loose stones in motion , or , perfectly safe themselves , pick the men off at their leisure . `` I shall be heartily glad to get on to open ground again , Graham , '' said the Colonel . `` My heart has been in my mouth for the last two hours , '' was the reply .