hat long solitude. They had not been dull, however; the only
thing was to make up one's mind to it from the first, and in the end one
would find plenty of distraction, games and other means of whiling away
the time.

Ulrich Kunzi listened to him with his eyes on the ground, for in his
thoughts he was following those who were descending to the village. They
soon came in sight of the inn, which was, however, scarcely visible, so
small did it look, a black speck at the foot of that enormous billow of
snow, and when they opened the door, Sam, the great curly dog, began to
romp round them.

"Come, my boy," old Gaspard said, "we have no women now, so we must get
our own dinner ready. Go and peel the potatoes." And they both sat down
on wooden stools, and began to put the bread into the soup.

The next morning seemed very long to Kunzi. Old Hari smoked and spat
onto the hearth, while the young man looked out of the window at the
snow-covered mountain opposite the house.

In the afternoon he went out, and going over yesterday's ground again,
he looked for the traces of the mule that had carried the two women;
then when he had reached the neck of the Gemmi, he laid himself down on
his stomach and looked at Loeche.

The village, in its rocky pit, was not yet buried under the snow,
although it came quite close to it, but it was stopped short by the pine
woods which protected it. Its low houses looked like paving stones in a
large meadow, from up there. Hauser's little daughter was there now, in
one of those gray colored houses. In which? Ulrich Kunzi was too far
away to be able to make them out separately. How he would have liked to
go down, while he was yet able!

But the sun had disappeared behind the lofty crest of the Wildstrubel,
and the young man returned to the chalet. Daddy Hari was smoking, and
when he saw his mate come in, he proposed a game of cards to him, and
they sat down opposite each other, on either side of the table. They
played for a long time, a simple game called _brisque_, and then they
had supper and went to bed.

The following days were like the first, bright and cold, without any
more snow. Old Gaspard spent his afternoons in watching the eagles and
other rare birds which ventured onto those frozen heights, while Ulrich
returned regularly to the neck of the Gemmi to look at the village. Then
they played at cards, dice or dominoes, and lost and won a trifle, just
to create an interest in the game.