ng, Saxe: we'll go down."

"Can't--can't we stop a little longer?" said the lad hesitatingly.

"No. You will have plenty more chances of seeing views like this, or
finer. What is it, Melchior?"

"We were forgetting all about the rocks, herr. There are some curious
bits here."

He picked up two or three fragments and handled them, but Dale threw
them aside after a glance.

"Only very fine, hard granite, with scarcely a grain of felspar," he
said. "What about this?"

As he spoke he stooped down over a narrow crevice running up a portion
of the summit.

"Yes. There may be something here, but it would require blasting tools
and power to open it out. Look here, Saxe!"

He pointed to the narrow split, in which it was just possible to get the
end of his ice-axe handle; and as Saxe bent down he saw that the sides
were lined with tiny quartz crystals, which grew bigger lower down.

"I want to find a rift in the mountains leading into a cavern where we
may find crystals worth saving. Yes, Melchior, I will not waste time.
These are of no value. Lead on."

The guide had been giving an anxious look round, for there was a faint
sighing of the wind, and clouds were floating around them now and then,
shutting off the sun.

"I should like to get well down, herr, before the weather changes. The
young herr would find it terribly cold."

"Hadn't we better wait till it gets clearer," said Saxe, "and go down
then?"

"If we did we might not be able to get down at all," said Dale quietly.

"Why?"

"We might be frozen to death. Come, Saxe, you must not be greedy.
You've had a splendid ascent on a lovely day, and you will have others.
Always pay respect to your guide's opinion about the weather. Come
along."

Saxe could hang back no longer, though the sensation of dread he
suffered from was terrible. Try how he would, there was the horror of
that first bit of the descent before him; and, shuddering and feeling
cold, he followed to the edge of the rock where he had found the guide
sitting, and a fresh access of horror came over him as Dale said coolly:

"Now, Melchior, it is your turn to go first and have the use of the
rope. I'll come last."

"We can all use it, herr," said the guide. "It will be quite long
enough if I pass it round this block and let both ends hang down. I can
draw it after us when we are down."

He threw the rope over a great block of granite, and proceeded to draw
it along till the end