r, he ran
swiftly to the right car and jumped in it. Passengers on the long train
watched him do this, for he never mistook his own car though there were
several others just like the one in which he rode.

Jan wore his silver collar, and wherever he went men and women would
look at it, then pat his big head and praise him. He was very happy
though he did not know where he and his friends were going.

From the train they stopped at a little town, and early the next morning
Jan followed the doctor and the captain to a place where a funny little
cart waited them. A sleepy-looking mule was hitched to the cart, and a
driver stood at the mule's head. After some talk between the driver and
the doctor, the old captain climbed into the cart and the doctor trudged
beside it, while the muleteer, as the drivers of these little carts are
called, kept near the mule's head. At first Jan followed behind them
all, but in a short time he found that the road they were trudging
became more steep. Then he trotted ahead and led the way, but looked
back often to see that every one was all right.

The town where they had spent the night was perched on a high bluff
overlooking a noisy, scurrying little river that seemed in a great hurry
to get some place else. The road Jan now travelled climbed higher and
higher, but as he stopped and looked down he could see the river
gurgling and hurrying along. It was a queer little stream, and the
muleteer called it the Dranse. In places Jan could not see it at all,
and then when he thought it had gone in another direction, it popped
out, foaming and spluttering as though it thought Jan had been fooled.
Sometimes it appeared to be running backward, and then suddenly it
seemed to be racing forward, and always it kept playing its game of
hide-and-seek with them all, and laughing and dancing like a merry elf
or water-sprite. The river kept all of them interested until they
stopped at a little village, which the muleteer said was Cantine de
Proz.

Here they walked about, while the mule was unhitched and the little
wagon was left behind. The captain now climbed on the back of the mule,
and the doctor and muleteer walked on either side of him. The road had
changed to a narrow, slippery pathway, one side of which dropped down to
a deep chasm with a fringe of snow showing here and there.

In front of them loomed mountains, and as the path twisted sharply, Jan
stopped short and stared ahead. Far away rose a hug