ld Jack and Molly. "_Il est trop
fort._ If I'm to walk the face of the earth, I want a pack-mule and a
man; and, 'somehow, somewhere, somewhen,' I mean to have them. But
you've more than done your duty by me. You can get back to Lucerne
from here comfortably, without daring any more mountain passes and
fines for law-breaking. Since to Brig I must go, I'll make a virtue of
necessity, and walk over the Simplon, to see the tunnel and railway
works."

"Walk, if you will," said Molly; "but if I know my Lightning Conductor
and myself, we'll see you through to the end, be it bitter or sweet."

"Echo answers," added Jack. "If you want to see things clearly, you
must have daylight, and if we wish to escape the arm of the law, we
must fly by night, which means that we can't join forces till the
journey's end."

"You needn't think we're sacrificing ourselves, for we should love
it," Molly capped him. "We're having the jam of adventure spread thick
on our bread now."

"Well, then, everything's settled," said Jack, "except the start."

Molly thought a day in Domodossola too much. It was decided, therefore,
that they should rest till eleven, and that the motor should be ready
at midnight. They could reach Brig between two and three, and being a
posting town, the hotel people were sure to be up. I was to start
early in the morning, and meet my friends at Brig, after walking over
the Pass.

I saw them off, and then plunged fathoms deep into sleep, dreaming of
a land flowing with mules and donkeys. At five, I was up, and was
surprised to find that the despised Domodossola was a beautiful and
interesting old town, with curiously Spanish effects in its shadowy
streets, lined with ancient, arcaded houses. I thought to save time
and fatigue by taking a carriage to the frontier village of Iselle at
the foot of the Pass, and was glad I had done so, for the road was
rough and covered inches deep with a deposit of peculiar, grey dust.
But things mended when we climbed a hill, turned out of the main
valley, and followed the course of the river Diveria into a lateral
gorge of the mountains, the real porchway or entrance of the Simplon
Pass.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII

At Last!

"A Jack-o'-lantern, a fairy fire,
A dare, a bliss, and a desire."
--BLISS CARMAN.

"Here a great personal deed has room."
--WALT WHITMAN.

The further I penetrated into the mountains, the more like a vast
engineering works