A STORY OF ENDURANCE
The Fight for Everest, 1924. (Arnold. 25s. net.) Tins volume is a worthy successor to the two previous works in _which the story of the Reconnaissance in 1921 and the Assault in 1922 is told. By the time a fresh attempt was made in 1924 enough was known of the mountain to assure the members of the expedition that what lay before them was indeed a fight ; a struggle against the forces of Nature, now known but not fully understood, a need to force the human will to the uttermost, a necessity to make sudden decisions accurately and safely. Throughout the wonderful story there is a complete lack of personal satisfaction. A note of regret that the utmost that could be done was just short of what can and will be done, is sounded frequently in the narratives here collected from different pens. There is no sign of contentment in present achievement, but a looking forward to the next time when hostile circumstances shall not be so strongly arrayed against them.
The reader of the book cannot resist the feeling that there is something- at once demoniac and tangible in a mighty mountain's resistance to human effort. Almost one feels present at the birth of a new mythology where the person of a lofty peak is born an unappeasable Fury to lure-and trap men into her malignant service. But the men who made this great effort do not see things thus ; to them the mountain is part enemy, part friend. The narrative cannot be ads equately described,it is too fine, too simple, with the fineness and simplicity of all things great.
The various writers are introduced by Sir Francis Young- husband who urges eloquently the necessity for such under- takings. It is distressing to gather from this introduction that there are some who question the need for expeditions of this kind, and who grudge the cost, but Sir Francis disposes of them in eloquent and inspiring words, claiming that hard things are worth attempting for their own sake. When the record of final achievement comes to be written and Everest is finally conquered, the cost, in brave lives as well as money, will not have been in vain.
The illustrations are magnificent. Coloured and tone photographs show -4vidly the successive stages of the attack and give some hint of the almost insuperable difficulties overcome on the lower slopes as well as presenting a splendid view of the final pyramid. Were nothing more ever done, these men have written a new chapter in adventure—history.
Previous page
