s berg was a steep
slope of hard snow, so steep that they thought it unwise to attempt the
descent by what in Switzerland is termed glissading.

"We'll have to zig-zag down, I think," continued the Captain, settling
himself on his sledge; but the Captain's dogs thought otherwise. Under
a sudden impulse of reckless free-will, the whole team, giving vent to a
howl of mingled glee and fear, dashed down the slope at full gallop. Of
course they were overtaken in a few seconds by the sledge, which not
only ran into them, but sent them sprawling on their backs right and
left. Then it met a slight obstruction, and itself upset, sending
Captain Vane and his companions, with its other contents, into the midst
of the struggling dogs. With momentarily increasing speed this
avalanche of mixed dead and living matter went sliding, hurtling,
swinging, shouting, struggling, and yelling to the bottom. Fortunately,
there was no obstruction there, else had destruction been inevitable.
The slope merged gradually into the level plain, over which the
avalanche swept for a considerable distance before the momentum of their
flight was expended.

When at length they stopped, and disentangled themselves from the knot
into which the traces had tied them, it was found that no one was
materially hurt. Looking up at the height down which they had come,
they beheld the Eskimos standing at the top with outstretched arms in
the attitude of men who glare in speechless horror. But these did not
stand thus long. Descending by a more circuitous route, they soon
rejoined the Captain's party, and then, as the night was far advanced,
they encamped on the edge of the ice-plain, on a part that was bathed in
the beams of the ever-circling sun.

That night at supper Captain Vane was unusually thoughtful and silent.

"You're not losing heart, are you, uncle?" asked Leo, during a pause.

"No, lad, certainly not," replied the Captain, dreamily.

"You've not been bumped very badly in the tumble, father, have you?"
asked Benjy with an anxious look.

"Bumped? no; what makes you think so?"

"Because you're gazing at Toolooha's lamp as if you saw a ghost in it."

"Well, perhaps I do see a ghost there," returned the Captain with an
effort to rouse his attention to things going on around him. "I see the
ghost of things to come. I am looking through Toolooha's lamp into
futurity."

"And what does futurity look like?" asked Alf. "Bright or dark?"

"Bla