The road, to where these had been left, could no longer be
traversed. It would no doubt be necessary for them to make a long
detour over the mountains, before they could get back to that camp.

Ossaroo had prepared a substitute for one of the blankets at least. He
had stretched the yak-skin upon a frame, and placed it in front of the
fire, so that by night it was dry enough for some of the party to wrap
their bodies in. Sure enough, when Caspar was enveloped in this strange
blanket--with the hairy side turned inward--be obtained in it, as he
himself declared, one of the pleasantest and soundest sleeps he had ever
slept in his life.

All three, rested well enough; but had they only known of the discovery
that awaited them on the morrow, their sleep would not have been so
sound, nor their dreams so light.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

THE BOILING SPRING.

They ate their breakfasts of boiled yak-steak, washing it down with a
draught of water. They had not even a cup to hold the water. They
knelt down and drank it out of the lake. The water was clear enough,
but not as cold as they might have expected at such an elevation. They
had noticed this on the preceding day, and now expressed their surprise
at finding it so warm. They had no thermometer with which to test it,
but it was evidently of much higher temperature than the air!

Whence came this water? It could not be from the melting snow--else it
would certainly have been colder than it was. Perhaps there was a
spring somewhere? Perhaps there was a hot spring?

This was not at all improbable, for, strange to say, hot springs are
numerous on the Himalaya Mountains--often bursting out amidst ice and
snow, and at very great elevations.

Karl had read of such springs, and this it was that led him to infer the
existence of one in the valley. How else could the water be warm?

Now they recollected that on the previous morning they had noticed a
singular cloud of vapour that hung over the tops of the trees on one
side of the valley. It was no longer visible, after they had descended
from the elevation at which they then were; but they remembered the
direction in which it had been seen, and now went in search of it.

They soon reached the spot, and found it just as they had conjectured.
A hot spring was there, bubbling out from among the rocks, and then
running off in a rivulet towards the lake. Caspar thrust his hand into
the water, but drew it back agai