But here and there they worked with nervous haste, and the stark corpses by the trail-side attested dumbly to their labor.

A few hundred yards beyond, the work of the rush went on uninterrupted.

Men rested their packs on jutting stones, swapped escapes whilst they regained their breath, then stumbled on to their toil again.
The mid-day sun beat down upon the stone "Scales." The forest had given up the struggle, and the dizzying heat recoiled from the unclothed rock.

On either hand rose the ice-marred ribs of earth, naked and strenuous in their nakedness.

Above towered storm-beaten Chilcoot.