locks of
granite instead of tethering pegs, and Saxe gave a grunt of pleasure as
he saw the preparations for the evening meal.

"How about the goat, Melk?" he said: "will she want tethering?"

"Oh no, herr: she will not leave us and Gros. Those animals are too
fond of company to go far. They get tiresome now and then from being
too familiar."

The night passed quietly enough. It was cold; and, at the height they
had reached, the stars shone out frostily; but the sleep was deliriously
refreshing, and Saxe rose the next morning ready for a journey to the
Black Ravine. The mule was taken to carry back any specimens that they
might decide to bring away, and the goat insisted upon following, having
apparently no intention of being left alone, and setting Gros an
excellent example in climbing.

In the Black Ravine the two grottoes were well searched, and the lower
one found to be fairly extensive; but no specimens were found worthy of
notice, and they returned to camp.

The next day was spent in another expedition higher up the glacier
valley, which was followed till the snow became so deep as to be
laborious to pass over, and, after exploring two similar ravines to the
last, they returned once more to camp, where Melchior drew Saxe aside to
ask him if he noticed anything.

"Eh? No," said the boy.

"Perhaps I am wrong, then," said the guide. "I thought the tent had
been interfered with, as if some one had touched it."

No more was said; but these words set Saxe thinking till it was bedtime,
when Melchior startled him by saying quietly--

"Don't laugh at me, herr. I do try to be firm, and to set aside all the
old stories of demons, dragons and goblins in the mountains. I wish the
herr would have a watch kept again, for I am afraid that this gletscher
valley is bewitched."

Saxe looked at him for a moment wonderingly, and then laughed.

"Don't let Mr Dale hear you talk like that," he said. "It will make
him cross. He says there is no need to keep watch; and that it is so
tiring."

Saxe had forgotten the incident in the conversation which ensued; and
after the discussion of the plans for the ensuing day, he went to his
sleeping-place to think about the blue-ice grotto at the bottom of the
glacier where the milky stream issued, and lie wondering how far up they
would be able to explore it, and whether it would be possible to get up
as far as the crevasse out of which they had rescued the guide.

"Wouldn