a ponderous slab there was a crash of
thunder that rolled from rock to rock, and a few big drops fell. Then
as the echoes died away the hillside was hidden by a curtain of driving
rain. One end of the slab was tilted and they crept into the hollow
underneath.

"It will be awkward if this goes on," Miss Jardine remarked.

"These thunderstorms seldom last," said Helen. "I expect we have seen
the worst, and we must start again as soon as we can see."

Festing thought she was anxious to get down, but Miss Jardine grumbled
about the rain, and then turned to him.

"It was a relief to give you my sack, and I was glad to see it didn't
bother you. I suppose you are used to these mountains."

"No," said Festing. "This is the first time I've climbed a hill for
amusement."

"But you are a climber. You have balance, trust your feet and not your
hands, and know how to step on a loose stone."

Festing laughed. "I used to do something of the kind as a matter of
business. You see, I helped mark out the line for a new railroad in
British Columbia, and rocks are plentiful in that country."

"It must be a wonderful place," said Helen. "I have a photograph of the
gorge at the foot of the glacier, where the line went through. You had
stern work when you laid the rails in winter."

Festing looked at her in surprise, for he had worked to the edge of
exhaustion and run many risks at the spot, but while he wondered how she
knew Helen got up.

"I think the rain is stopping and we can start," she said.

There was not much rain, but thick mist rolled across the top of the
hill they were now level with, and everything below was blotted out.
Leaving the stones, they crossed a belt of boggy grass where their feet
sank, but Festing felt it a relief to have done with the rocks. The
narrow tableland they were crossing was comfortingly flat, and he looked
forward to descending a long grassy slope. When they reached the edge,
however, he got a rude disappointment, for the mist rolled up in waves
with intervals between, and when a white cloud passed a gray light shone
down into the gulf at his feet.

In the foreground there was a steep slope where rock ledges broke
through the wet turf, and in one place a chasm cleft the hill. He could
not see the bottom, for it was filled with mist, but the height of the
rock wall hinted at its depth. A transverse ravine ran into the chasm,
and he could hear the roar of a waterfall. Then the mist rolled up in