assisted by his comrades; but the little creature was too sagacious for
them. They came to its bed at last, and found that, while they had been
busy at one end of the hole, the marmot had quietly walked out at the
other, and made off.

Having pushed over the valley, and once more ascended to the regions of
perpetual ice, the ramblers determined to "attack"--as the phrase goes
among Alpine climbers--a neighbouring summit. It was not a very high
one, and Emma declared that she was not only quite able, but very
anxious, to attempt it. The attempt was, therefore, made, and, after a
couple of hours of pretty laborious work, accomplished. They found
themselves on a pinnacle which overlooked a large portion of the
ice-world around Mont Blanc. While standing there, one or two
avalanches were observed, and the Professor pointed out that avalanches
were not all of one character. Some, he said, were composed of rock,
mud, and water; others entirely of ice; many of them were composed of
these elements mixed, and others were entirely of snow.

"True, Monsieur," observed the guide, "and the last kind is sometimes
very fatal. There was one from which my wife and child had a narrow
escape. They were visiting at the time a near relation who dwelt in a
village in a valley not far distant from this spot. Behind the village
there is a steep slope covered with pines; behind that the mountain
rises still more steeply. The little forest stands between that village
and destruction. But for it, avalanches would soon sweep the village
away; but wood is not always a sure protector. Sometimes, when frost
renders the snow crisp and dry, the trees fail to check its descent. It
was so on the last night of my wife's visit. A brother was about to set
off with her from the door of our relative's house, when the snow began
to descend through the trees like water. It was like dry flour. There
was not much noise, merely a hissing sound, but it came down in a
deluge, filled all the houses, and suffocated nearly all the people in
them. My brother-in-law saw it in time. He put his horse to full
speed, and brought my dear wife and child away in safety, but his own
father, mother, and sister were lost. We tried to reach their house the
next day, but could advance through the soft snow only by taking two
planks with us, and placing one before the other as we went along."

Soon after the ramblers had begun their return journey, they came to a