imself borne sidewise and carried along, with the snow rising up and
covering his face.

The next minute, as he vainly strove to get higher, the movement ceased,
and he felt himself locked in the embrace of the snow, while his
breathing stopped.

Only for a moment, before the hardening crystal which surrounded his
head dropped away, and a rush of pure air swept over him and seemed to
bring back life.

Then the sliding movement entirely ceased, and he wildly shouted his
cousin's name.

His voice echoed from somewhere above, telling him that, though a
prisoner, he was free down to the shoulders, though his arms were
pinned.

But there was no other reply to the call, and he turned sick and faint
with the knowledge that Dallas must be once more buried deep, and far
below.

Around all was black darkness, and in his agony another desperate effort
was made; but the snow had moulded itself around him nearly to the neck,
and he could not stir a limb.

CHAPTER NINE.

UNDER PRESSURE.

The fit of delirium which once more attacked Abel Wray was merciful,
inasmuch as it darkened his intellect through the long hours of that
terrible night, and he awoke at last with the level rays of the sun
showing him his position in a hollow of a tremendous waste of snow,
while fifty yards away the sides of the rocky valley towered up many
hundred feet above his head.

But it was daylight, and instead of the ravine seeming a place of horror
and darkness, the snow-covered mountains flashed gloriously in the
bright sunshine, whose warm glow brought with it hope and determination,
in spite of the terrible sense of imprisonment, and the inability to
move from the icy bonds. The great suffering was not bodily, but
mental, and not selfish, for the constantly recurring question was, how
was it with Dallas?

But the sunshine was laden with hope. Dallas was shut in again, but he
had the tools and provisions with him, and he would be toiling hard to
tunnel a way out, _if_--

Yes, there was that terrible "if." But Abel kept it back; for it was
quite possible that he might still be getting a sufficient supply of air
to keep him alive.

How to lend him help?

There was the face of the vast cliff some fifty yards away, and it was
close up to it that they had been first buried, the fresh collapse, when
the snow had fallen away and borne him with it, having taken him the
above distance. It was probable, then, that Dallas would not be no