oy! What an escape!"

"Oh no," said the guide quickly. "It was nothing. The rope is good and
strong, and all we had to do was to draw him out. It would have been
dangerous for one man--he would have died--but we are three, and we help
each other; so it is nothing."

The two travellers exchanged glances, wondering at the man's coolness;
but they were given no time to think, for Melchior quickly examined the
knots of the rope which secured it about Saxe's chest, and strode on
again, so that they were obliged to follow.

A few minutes later they had reached the rocky side of the glacier
valley, and a stiff ascent was before them. Here they found more than
ever the value of their guide, for his climbing powers seemed almost
marvellous, while almost by instinct he selected the easiest route.

But the easiest was very hard, and every now and then he threw himself
back against the rock in difficult places, planted his feet firmly wide
apart, and steadily hauled upon the rope, making the ascent of the
others much more facile than it would have been.

This was repeated again and again till they had reached the top of the
ridge, which had seemed the summit from below on the ice; but here a
fresh slope met their eyes, and Melchior made straight for a rift which
ran up into the mountain, and, being full of snow, looked at a distance
like a waterfall.

"We will go up this couloir," he said; "it will be the best, and it will
give the young herr his first lesson in climbing snow."

"But we have been climbing snow," said Saxe, whose trepidation had now
passed off, and who was feeling once more himself.

"Walking upon it," said the guide, smiling; "not climbing."

"Rather a steep bit, isn't it, Melchior?" said Dale, looking upward.

"Yes, it is steep; but we can do it, and if we slip it will only be a
glissade down here again. The rocks are harder to climb, and a slip
there would be bad; besides, the stones fall here sometimes rather
thickly."

"But they'll be worse down that couloir," said Dale.

"As bad--not worse, herr; but I will go which way you like."

"Go the best way," said Dale quietly.

Melchior nodded, and strode on at once for the foot of the narrow rift,
which looked like a gully or shoot, down which the snow fell from above.

"Use my steps," he said quietly; and, with the rope still attached, he
began to ascend, kicking his feet into the soft snow as he went on, and
sending it flying and rushing down