rand!" said Dale slowly, as he stood rapt in a reverie of wonder and
admiration at the scene before him. "Why, Saxe, we couldn't have had a
better guide! We must make a halt here, and begin to explore."

"But you'll go up another mountain?"

"Didn't you have enough of the last?"

"No!" cried the boy excitedly. "I know I was very stupid and clumsy,
and wasn't half so brave as I should have liked to be; but I long to
begin again."

"Then you shall."

"When? Now?"

"Too late in the day. We'll explore about here first, and if the
weather is right we'll make a start to-morrow."

"Oh!" said Saxe in a disappointed tone.

"There--you'll have plenty of work to-day, for we must go down on this
wonderful glacier and examine the sides. Look! there's what they call a
mill there."

"A mill? I don't see it."

"Moulin. No, no--not a building. That fall, where the water rushes
into the crevasse you can see. There--up yonder, a quarter of a mile
away."

At that moment there was a tremendous crash on their left; and, as they
turned sharply, it was to see from far below them what appeared to be a
cloud of smoke rising and wreathing round, full of tiny specks of
silver, and over which an iris glimmered for a few moments, and faded
away with the ice dust caused by the toppling over of a huge serac,
which had crushed half a dozen others in its fall.

"Come along. Let's arrange about our camp; and then we'll take hammers
and a chisel, and begin to examine the side of this glacier at once."

They turned back. Saxe quitting the glorious view of the crystal silver
land, as he mentally dubbed it, very unwillingly.

To his surprise, as they descended they found Gros on his back, in a
gully full of sand and stones, snorting, flapping his ears and throwing
up his legs, as he fell over first on one side, then on the other, in
the full enjoyment of a good roll; while as they advanced it was to find
Melchior in the sheltered nook setting up the tent, after rolling some
huge pieces of rock to the four corners ready to secure the ropes; for
there was no spot in that stony ravine where a peg of iron, let alone
one of wood, could be driven in.

"Hah! a capital spot, Melchior."

"Yes, herr, well sheltered from three winds, and there is plenty of good
water; but we shall have to be sparing with the wood. To-morrow I'll
take Gros, and go down to the nearest pine forest and bring up a load."

"Then you mean to stay here?"

"