d gain the pilot-house.

His fit of insensibility, however, did not last long--the latent
consciousness of responsibility effectually prevented that; and he was
soon able to rise and stagger to the pilot-house. Once there, he
forthwith made his way below and availed himself of the stimulus
afforded by a glass of neat brandy, after which he felt equal to the
task which yet lay before him. Having swallowed the brandy, he at once
returned to the deck and shifted the rope-ladder over to the larboard
gangway. He then looked about him to ascertain the whereabouts of the
ship, which he found to be about half a mile distant from the spot where
he had left his friends, and gradually drifting further away under the
influence of a gentle night-breeze which had just sprung up--thus
proving indubitably that, had he not reached the craft when he did, she
would probably have been lost to them all for ever. Having attached the
ladder securely, Mildmay next entered the pilot-house, and--night having
by this time completely fallen--turned on the electric lights; after
which he set the engines in motion and returned to the side of the
mountain in search of the two companions he had left clinging in so
dangerous a situation. These were found just as he had left them, and
were speedily taken on board--they too being completely overcome by the
revulsion of feeling following upon their rescue.

A glass of brandy each quickly revived them, however, and then they
devoted their united energies to a search for the baronet. With some
little difficulty the scene of the accident was discovered; and a minute
or two later Sir Reginald was observed, not dead, as they had feared to
find him, but sitting up on the snow-bank upon which he had fallen, a
prisoner to the spot, from the fact that there was no possible way of
retreat from it either upward or downward; but in other respects very
little the worse for his terrible fall, the snow, happily, proving so
deep that it served as a cushion or buffer, allowing the baronet to
escape with only a few somewhat severe bruises. The adventure being
thus happily terminated, the ship was quickly navigated to the berth she
had occupied on the preceding night; and the party then sat down to
dinner, over which meal they came to the conclusion that they had had
enough mountain-climbing that day to suffice them for the remainder of
their lives.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

THE FOUNDERING OF THE "MERCURY."

T