"How deep was it, Melk?" cried Saxe excitedly.

The guide shook his head.

"You know the rest, gentlemen. You came and saved my life just when I
had not sufficient strength left to have tied the rope safely about my
waist. It was the noose which saved me, and I could not believe in that
safety till you dragged me over the side of the crevasse. Herr Dale--
Herr Saxe, how am I to say words to show you how thankful I am?"

"Do not try," said Dale quietly. "Come, Saxe boy, you have let your
coffee grow cold."

"Yes," said Saxe; "but it has made my head hot. I don't feel as if I
want any breakfast now."

"Nonsense: you must eat, for we have a long journey back to the chalet."

"To the chalet, herr? You do not want to go round by the chalet?"

"Indeed, but I do. You will want a fortnight's rest after this
adventure."

The guide stared at him in astonishment.

"A fortnight's rest!" he echoed; "and with weather like this! Oh, herr,
it would be madness: I want no rest."

"Why, you do not mean to say that you feel equal to going on?"

"Oh yes, herr. I am a little stiff and tired this morning, but that
will be all gone by to-morrow; and I meant to take you up to a crystal
cave to-day."

Saxe looked at Dale's wondering face, and then burst into a hearty
laugh.

"It is of no use to dwell upon troubles gone by, herr," said Melchior.
"I shall get well quicker here than down at the chalet. How soon will
you be ready to start?"

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

AN EXPEDITION.

There was no doubt about Melchior's willingness to make a fresh start
that day; but none was made, Dale being of the opinion that a quiet rest
in the neighbourhood of the camp would be of advantage to all concerned.

"Rest our bodies and our nerves too, Saxe," he said. "I am pretty
strong in mind and muscle, but yesterday's business shook me in both. I
can see it all constantly; and as for my arms, the strain upon them was
terrific."

"The herr is stopping about the tent to-day," said Melchior to Saxe the
first time he could get him alone, "because he thinks I am too weak to
go forward, and because he does not trust me as he did before. It is
cruel of him, and he is mistaken. I had an accident, of course; but so
do the best guides upon the mountains have accidents."

"You are quite wrong," replied Saxe, and he repeated all that Dale had
said; but the guide did not seem to be satisfied, for he shook his head
solemnly, and went abo