Still, I would that the leader of that party could have stood with us at that moment, for our victorious shouts conveyed to him the disappointment of the ambition of a lifetime. He was _the_ man, of all those who attempted the ascent of the Matterhorn, who most deserved to be the first upon its summit. He was the first to doubt its inaccessibility, and he was the only man who persisted in believing that its ascent would be accomplished. It was the aim of his life to make the ascent from the side of Italy, for the honour of his native valley. For a time he had the game in his hands: he played it as he thought best; but he made a false move, and he lost it. Times have changed with Carrel. His supremacy is questioned in the Val Tournanche; new men have arisen; and he is no longer recognised as _the_ chasseur above all others: though so long as he remains the man that he is to-day, it will not be easy to find his superior. The others had arrived, so we went back to the northern end of the ridge. Croz now took the tent-pole,(229) and planted it in the highest snow. “Yes,” we said, “there is the flag-staff, but where is the flag?” “Here it is,” he answered, pulling off his blouse and fixing it to the stick. It made a poor flag, and there was no wind to float it out, yet it was seen all around. They saw it at Zermatt—at the Riffel—in the Val Tournanche. At Breil, the watchers cried, “Victory is ours!” They raised “bravos” for Carrel, and “vivas” for Italy, and hastened to put themselves _en fête_. On the morrow they were undeceived. “All was changed; the explorers returned sad—cast down—disheartened—confounded—gloomy.” “It is true,” said the men. “We saw them ourselves—they hurled stones at us! The old traditions _are_ true,—there are spirits on the top of the Matterhorn!”(230) [Illustration: THE SUMMIT OF THE MATTERHORN IN 1865 (NORTHERN END).]