wind raging fierce enough to tear any man from
his hold."

"Well!" ejaculated Saxe, "I am puzzled. Why, the weather looks
glorious--like summer!"

"But you forget that if you only go high enough up it is eternal winter.
The tops of those mountains are in the midst of never-failing snow,
which is gradually compressed into ice and--"

"Would the herr like to go to the foot of the glacier and examine the
ice grotto?"

"We did do that in the other valley."

"But this is a larger cave, herr; and besides, it is the entrance to the
one where I journeyed down."

"Can't you settle yourself for a quiet day, Melchior?" said Dale,
smiling.

"No, herr; I do not seem to be earning my money. It will be a very easy
walk, and we can take the lanthorn and another candle; besides, it is
quite fresh. I do not think any one has ever been in it but me."

"What do you say, Saxe?"

"That I should like to go," cried the lad eagerly; for half a day of
comparative inaction had been sufficient to weary him, surrounded as he
was by such a region of enchantment, where, turn which way he would,
there was some temptation to explore.

"I am in the minority," said Dale, smiling; "but I mean to have my own
way. No: I shall keep to my previous arrangements. To-day we will
rest. To-morrow, if the weather is good, I'm going up to the bare face
of that mountain on the other side of the glacier."

"The Bergstock," said Melchior. "Yes, it is one of the places I mean to
take you to, herr; for the gletscher winds round behind it, and I hope
you will find what you want there."

"I'm not half so eager to find crystals now, Melk," said Saxe that
evening, as he sat beside the guide, glad that the day of inaction was
at an end.

"Why so?" asked Melchior.

"Because we don't find any, I suppose."

"But when we do the young herr will be as eager as ever."

"Oh!"

"Is the young herr in pain?"

"No: only when I move. My arms are so stiff. I say, don't you feel a
bit sore from your work yesterday?"

"Oh yes, herr," said the guide, smiling; "but the best way to ease pains
like those is not to think about them."

"I dare say it is," grumbled Saxe; "but it seems to me that it would be
easier to bear the pain. I couldn't forget a thing that's always
reminding you that you are sore. But there, I am glad it's to-night. I
shall go to roost in good time, so as to get a fine long sleep."

Saxe kept his word, and he slept soundly, only wakin