the roll of the thunder rang through the organ pipes. At a little
distance is a cleft in the rocks, and the two parts look as if their
jagged edges would fit together. Through the ravine several fathoms
wide, a branch of the cold Szomas forces its way and is lost again
among the thick oaks along the shore. In another place the rocks are
piled up in stairs not intended however for human foot, for each step
is as high as a house. Again the rocks are tumbled together in such a
way that the entire mountain mass would fall into other forms if the
rock beneath were moved from its position. Everything indicates that
here the rule of man has found its limit. From the dizzying height not
a single hut is seen; on all sides are bold crags and yawning chasms
through which the mountain streams roll tumultuously. Only the ibex
wanders from crag to crag.

"Which way are we going?" Clement asked his guide, looking anxiously
about, where there was every possibility of losing oneself
irrecoverably.

"Trust yourself to me," replied Sanga-moarta, and he led them with
confident knowledge of the place through this unfrequented region.

In places where a path seemed hardly possible, he knew where to find
the way over the cleft rocks. He had noticed every root that could
help one in climbing; every tree-trunk bridging a chasm; every narrow
ledge of rock where one could step by clinging to its projections; in
short, he moved through this labyrinth with the utmost confidence.

"We are near the end," he said, suddenly, after he had climbed a steep
wall of rock and looked over the country, and he stretched his hand
down and drew the others up after him. The scene was now changed. The
declivity of the rock that they had mounted was under them; a smooth
surface in semi-circular shape formed a basin hundreds of fathoms
deep, where the dark green water of a mountain lake gleamed. There
was no breeze but the lake was broken with foam. The opposite side of
the basin was formed by a group of mountains with fir trees at the
base, and where the two mountain masses came together a small stream
flowed into this lake, over which the ice that tumbled into the valley
made a crystal arch.

"Where will that bring us?" Clement asked, with horror.

"To the head of the stream," replied Sanga-moarta. "It has made its
way through the ice and if we follow its track we shall reach the
place we seek."

"But how shall we get there? This wall of rock is as smooth a