you, herr," he said; "I seldom smoke anything but my pipe."

They went on for a while in silence, the only sound falling upon their
ears being the continuous roar of the torrent-like river which rushed
down the valley in a narrow chasm far below their feet--one series of
thundering cascades, all foam and milky glacier water.

Patches of pine forest, with the trees crowded close together, every
stem straight as an arrow, ran for some distance up the sides of the
vale; but there was no sign or note of bird. All was solemn and still,
save that deep-toned roar.

Saxe stopped suddenly, waited till they came near, and held up his hand.

"What is it?" said Dale.

"Isn't it wonderful, Mr Dale? Only two days ago in London, and here we
are in this wild place! Why, you can't hear a sound but the water!"

Almost as he spoke he bounded from the spot where he was standing, and
ran a few yards in alarm.

For from somewhere unseen and high above, there was a sudden roar, a
terrific crash, then a rushing sound, followed by a dead silence of a
few seconds, and then the earth seemed to receive a quivering blow,
resulting in a boom like that of some monstrous gun, and the noise now
ran up the valley, vibrating from side to side, till it died away in a
low moan.

The boy looked wildly from one to the other, to see that his uncle was
quite unmoved and that the guide was smiling at him.

"Then that was thunder?" he said inquiringly.

"No; a big piece of rock split off and fell," replied the guide.

"Is there no danger?"

"It would have been dangerous if we had been there."

"But where is `there'?"

"Up yonder," said the guide, pointing over the pine-wood toward the top
of the wall of rock, a perpendicular precipice fully three thousand feet
in height. "The rock split off up the mountain somewhere, rushed down,
and then fell."

"Can we see?"

"Oh yes; I could find the place," said the guide, looking at Dale.

"No, no: we will go on," said the latter. "It would take us two or
three hours. That sort of thing is often going on out here, Saxe."

"But why did it fall? Is any one blasting rock over there?"

"Yes, Nature: blasting with cold and heat."

Saxe looked at him inquiringly.

"You'll soon understand all this, my lad," said Dale. "The rocks high
up the mountains are always crumbling down."

"Crumbling? I don't call that crumbling."

"Call it what you like; but that was a crumb which fell down here, my
lad