level; and
the next moment the guide lay prone on the ice with the lanthorn still
burning, and attached to the waist.

"Both together again!" cried Dale hoarsely; and they dragged him a few
yards along the ice perfectly helpless, for he had exhausted himself in
that last effort to reach the surface.

"Take--off--that--that light!" said Dale, in a strange tone of voice;
and then, before Saxe could run to his assistance, he staggered toward
the crevasse and fell heavily.

The boy's heart was in his mouth. For the moment it had seemed as if
Dale were going headlong down, but he lay a good two feet from the edge,
a distance which Saxe increased by drawing him over the ice; and then,
himself utterly exhausted, he sank upon his knees helpless as a child,
the ice glimmering in a peculiarly weird and ghastly way, the dark sky
overhead--far from all aid--faint and famished from long fasting--and
with two insensible men dumbly appealing to him for his assistance.

It was not at all a matter of wonder that Saxe should say piteously--

"What can I do? Was ever poor fellow so miserable before?"

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

A GREAT CALL ON A BOY.

Saxe's depression was only very temporary. As his breath, short from
exertion, began to come more regularly, his thoughts dropped back from
the tangle of weak helplessness into their proper common-sense groove.

Going to Dale, he turned him over on to his back, and then went to
Melchior, who lay motionless; but he was quite sensible, and spoke.

Saxe drew out the flask, and poured a few drops between Dale's lips.
Then, returning to the guide, he treated him in the same manner before
clasping the poor fellow's hand between both his own, and crying in a
choking voice--

"Oh, Melchior! Thank God--thank God!"

"Ja, herr," said the poor fellow in a whisper, as he reverted to his
native tongue: "Gott sei dank!"

Just then Dale began to recover, and uttered a low groan; but
consciousness came with one stride, and he sat up, looked sharply round,
and said sharply--

"Surely I did not swoon? Ah! I was utterly exhausted. Well, Melchior,
lad," he continued, with a forced laugh, "you are no light weight; but
we tested the two ropes well. However did you get down to this place?"

"Don't ask me now, herr," said the guide. "I am weak, and want rest.
Will you let me grasp your hand?"

"My dear fellow!" cried Dale eagerly, and he seized and held the poor
fellow's hand in both of h