CHAPTER IV

THE SKI-RUNNER OF VERMALA 83

Vermala--The mysterious runner--The Plain of the Dead--Popular beliefs--The purification of the grazings--A haunted piece of rock--An awful noose is thrown over the country-side--Supernatural lights and events--The Babel of tongues--The Saillon and Brigue testimonies--The curé of Lens and his sundial--The people’s cure--The Strubel--_Chauffage central_--Did I meet the Ski-runner of Vermala?--My third ascent of the Wildstrubel--A night encampment on the glacier--Meditations on mountains, mountaineers, and the Swiss--How to make _café noir_--Where to sleep and when not to--Alpine refuges--The old huts and the new--The English Alpinists and the Swiss huts--The Britannia hut.