o mistake about height here. The line of snow, which ended as
quickly as if it had been cut square at one end, seemed terribly far
away; and Saxe was thinking that it seemed almost madness to try and
reach such a spot, when Melchior drew his attention to first one and
then another flake of ruddy light in the distance.

"Clouds?" asked Saxe; though he felt what the answer would be.

"No," replied the guide--"mountain peaks. Will you awaken Mr Dale, or
shall I?"

"I am awake," said that personage. "Is there any water near here? Oh
yes, I remember. Well, Saxe, had your bath?"

Saxe looked confused, and said nothing.

"I asked you if you had had your bath, my lad," said Mr Dale, looking
at him wonderingly.

"Well, the fact is," stammered the boy, "there was no jug or basin, and
I--"

"Forgot it?" said Dale.

"Yes, I forgot it," replied the boy, with an effort; and as he spoke he
felt to himself that this was a touch of moral, though it was not
physical, cowardice, for he ought to have spoken out frankly.

"Well, I'm going to have mine. How long will the coffee be, Melchior?"

"Not a quarter of an hour, herr."

"Right. We'll soon be back," cried Dale; and a few minutes after he and
Saxe were having a good scrub about the neck and shoulders, and glowing
as if from an electric shock, so brisk and sharp was the water that came
tumbling down over the rocks in the middle of one of the clumps of pines
whose tops were freshened by the little cascade.

Back to the alfresco breakfast, which Dale ate with his back resting
against a block of stone nestling in a mass of whortleberry, and gazing
up at the mountain, while he and Melchior discussed the plan of their
ascent.

"Yes," said Dale, "you are right. We ought to take to the snow there,
cross to that arete, and--"

"What's an arete?" said Saxe, who was listening eagerly.

"That ridge along the summit of yonder spur or buttress," said Dale.
"That will bring us back to the main part of the mountain, and we ought
to reach the shoulder from there."

"No, herr," said the guide quietly; "the climbing would be too steep,
and there is a slope there which later on will be swept by loose stones.
Better take to the snow again, then work up it."

"But suppose it is in bad condition?"

"It will be shaded from the sun till the afternoon, and quite hard.
From there, you see, we can easily get to the shoulder, and then choose
our way up the last part by the rocks or t