next?"

"Up whichever thal the herr chooses, and then up the mountain."

"And not quite over the pass?"

"No, herr. We are in the highest part here, and we may come upon
crystals in any of these solitary peaks."

"Very well; then we'll make a start at any time you like. Do we come
back here?"

"No, herr. I propose that we take the mule on to the foot of the Great
Oberweiss glacier, an hour from here. There is good camping ground, and
then we will go up the mountain by the side of the ice meer."

"And to shake off our stone-throwing friend," said Dale. "Good. We
will, and will keep a better look-out for the crevasses this time--eh,
Saxe?"

"Yes, and we can try the new rope."

A few minutes sufficed for saddling up the mule with his load, and then
they started once more farther into the wilds, in all the glorious
beauty of the early summer morning, Melchior leading them in and out
through such a labyrinth of cracks and rifts that after some hours'
walking, Saxe glanced at his leader.

"Yes?"

"I was wondering how we could find our way back."

Melchior laughed.

"Oh, easily enough, herr."

"But I couldn't," cried Saxe.

"No, herr. That shows the use of a guide. But I could have come an
easier way, only I am taking a short cut. We are a thousand feet higher
than when we started. Look, herr: go on by that shelf of rock: it is
perfectly safe. Then come back and tell me what you see."

Saxe started forward, from the ragged slope they were ascending; and a
minute or two after passing quite a mossy niche, which ran some forty or
fifty yards right into the mountain, to where a silvery-veil-like
cascade fell, he stopped short, threw up his hands, and then turned and
signalled to Dale.

"What is it?" cried the latter, as he hurried to the boy's side. "Hah!"

He wanted no explanation, for they were standing at the edge of a
precipice, gazing down at another huge glacier, which glittered in the
rays of the morning sun--a vast chaos of ice whose cracks and shadows
were of a vivid blue; and as they gazed up towards the point where it
suddenly curved round an immense buttress, there beyond, peak after
peak, as far as eye could reach, stood out in the clear air, and all
seeming to rise out of the fields and beds of snow which clung around
them and filled every ravine and chasm running up from their feet.

"Oh!" cried Saxe--"did you ever see anything so beautiful? Why, the
place is all crystals!"

"G