This was the situation Handy now found himself in and was busy trying to distract himself from. He stood on the bridge of the ship, looking out over the wheel at the breathtaking vista of endless clouds and numerous peaks and valleys of the range before him. The front of the boat was given over entirely to the bridge and the quart-sphere of iron-wrought windows that allowed such a sight. He was lost in thought as his gaze swept across the desolate beauty of the snow-swept peaks and the clumps of dark green of the pine forests that eked out an existence in those deep valleys.