his companion's arm.

"Why! what? Le Croix--I saw--I--I--saw--Well, well--I do really believe
I have been--I'm ashamed to say--"

"Yes, Monsieur, you've been asleep," said the hunter, with a quiet
laugh, gently letting go his hold of the arm as he became fully
persuaded that Lewis was by that time quite awake and able to take care
of himself.

"Have you been asleep too?" asked Lewis.

"Truly, no!" replied the hunter, rising with care, "but you have had
full three hours of it, so it's my turn now."

"You don't say so!" exclaimed Lewis.

"Indeed I do; and now, please, get next the cliff and let me lie
outside, so that I may rest with an easy mind."

Lewis opposed him no longer. He rose, and they both stood up to stamp
their feet and belabour their chests for some time--the cold at such a
height being intense, while their wet garments and want of covering
rendered them peculiarly unfitted to withstand it. The effort was not
very successful. The darkness of the night, the narrowness of their
ledge, and the sleepiness of their spirits rendering extreme caution
necessary.

At last the languid blood began to flow; a moderate degree of warmth was
restored, and, lying down again side by side in the new position, the
hunter and the student sought and found repose.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

DANGER AND DEATH ON THE GLACIER.

Daylight--blessed daylight! How often longed for by the sick and weary!
How imperfectly appreciated by those whose chief thoughts and
experiences of night are fitly expressed by the couplet:--

"Bed, bed, delicious bed,
Haven of rest for the weary head."

Daylight came at last, to the intense relief of poor Lewis, who had
become restless as the interminable night wore on, and the cold seemed
to penetrate to his very marrow. Although unable to sleep, however, he
lay perfectly still, being anxious not to interrupt the rest of his
companion. But Le Croix, like the other, did not sleep soundly; he
awoke several times, and, towards morning, began to dream and mutter
short sentences.

At first Lewis paid no attention to this, but at length, becoming weary
of his own thoughts, he set himself with a half-amused feeling to
listen. The amusement gave place to surprise and to a touch of sadness
when he found that the word `gold' frequently dropped from the sleeper's
lips.

"Can it be," he thought, "that this poor fellow is really what they say,
a half-crazed gold-hunter? I hope not. It se