y shall we go?" said Saxe, painfully picking up his axe and
looking hopelessly around over the white waste where the snow lay, now
compressed into waves of ice, and looking like portions of a glacier.

There was no answer to his question, and he looked at the guide, who
stood leaning upon his ice-axe.

"Well!" cried Saxe; and Melchior started and faced him. "I was trying
to think, herr," he said. "We were all separated at the first slip of
the snow. I held on to you for a few moments, but you were snatched
from me, and I saw no more, till I found myself far below yonder. I had
been buried twice; but the snow as it rolled over thrust me forth again,
and I was able to struggle out."

"Then you have no idea where Mr Dale can be?" Melchior shook his head
sadly.

"It was a mistake, sir," he said. "I ought to have known better than to
cross such a treacherous slope. I did know better, but I suffered
myself to be overruled, and now in the face of all this terrible
misfortune I feel helpless. What can one man do when great Nature
fights against him as she does here?"

Saxe looked wildly round again, to see that before long it would be
dusk, for the snow was fast turning grey, and the peaks alone were ruddy
with the sinking sun.

The boy shivered from cold and nervous shock, as he gazed at the
weird-looking rocks and the folded snow, and then, grasping at
Melchior's arm, he said pitifully: "Don't tell me you think he is
buried."

"No, herr," cried the guide, rousing himself: "I will not say that, for
there is still hope. He may have been carried right away below us by
the loose upper snow, which went on, while the lower part soon stopped
by getting pressed together into ice. But it is impossible to say. We
must do something; it will soon be dark, and you have no strength left
now."

"I have!" cried the boy excitedly; "and I can help you now. Shout:
perhaps he may be within hearing."

The guide shrugged his shoulders and shook his head; but he gave forth a
long, loud mountaineer's call, which was repeated plainly from far away
above him.

Then again, and again, and again; but there were only the echoes to
respond.

"Let's look about," cried Saxe, in a voice which told of his despair;
but even as he spoke the guide had started off after a few minutes'
consideration, and the boy followed up and up, painfully, slowly,
slipping, climbing and drawing himself forward from time to time by
driving the pick of