xe felt that he ought to be
doing something to take them food to eat--coarse bread, butter, cheese
like Gruyere, full of holes, and a jug of milk, but he did not do it,
and the people went on moaning and ringing the bells.

Then he was high up, watching the waterfalls with the silvery rockets
slowly descending, and trailing after them their sparkling spray, which
kept lighting up with glorious rainbow colours.

Then he was stepping from stone to stone in the ice-cave below the
glacier, listening to the gurgling and whishing of the water as it came
rushing down over the grey, dark rock from out the narrow arching tunnel
which shut up behind him.

How he got out of that place he did not know; but soon after his eyes
were aching with the glare of the snow around him. A huge eagle, a
hundred times bigger than the one he had seen, was soaring round and
round, and coming lower and lower, till it was so close to him that he
could feel the wind of its wings wafted pleasantly over his face. The
bird's back was soft and cushiony, and it seemed to be inviting him to
take his place upon it for a ride up in the air; and he was thinking of
doing so, and gliding off over the silver-topped mountains to look out
for caves where they could chip out crystals, and perhaps discover
valuable metals; but just as he was about to throw a leg over the
feathery saddle and take his seat, there was a fearful yell, that
sounded like an accident in a trombone manufactory, where all the
instruments had been blown up by an explosion of steam. He was hurled
back upon the snow, and held down by some monstrous creature, which
planted its feet upon his chest; and the people buried in the snow began
to moan more loudly and ring the bells.

Then Saxe opened his eyes, and in his half-awake condition he felt the
wafting of the great bird's wings, heard the moaning of the people
buried beneath the avalanche, and listened to them ringing the bells in
an impatient way.

"What nonsense, to dream such stuff!" he said impatiently. "Why, it's
the cows lowing in the place underneath, waiting to be milked, and
shaking their bells."

But, all the same, he felt a thrill of horror run through him, and tried
to pierce the gloom by which he was surrounded, for certainly something
was holding him down with its feet upon his chest, and stooping by him
so that he could feel its breath.

The sensation to him was horrible, for it raised its head now, making a
strang