r me, and I can set to work in
earnest. I will milk the goats first, though, that the poor animals may
not suffer till I get back."

Obedient to his loud call, the goats came frisking along; and after
having relieved them of their milk, Walter drank some, ate a little
black bread to it, and then put the rest of the milk in a flat pan,
which he set carefully in the cool cellar. When the goats had returned
to the hills, and were clambering from crag to crag in search of grass
and herbage, Walter slung a light hunting bag across his shoulder, stuck
a small axe with a short handle into his belt, and a knife into his
pocket, filled a bottle with goat's milk, and then cut off a large hunch
of bread and placed it with the bottle in his bag. He then selected a
stout alpenstock and tried it carefully, to see if the iron point was
sharp and strong. When these preparations were made, he looked for a
piece of thin strong cord, such as the chamois-hunters take with them on
their dangerous Alpine journeys, put it into his bag beside the bread
and milk, and quitted the cottage, the door of which he bolted on the
outside.

The cottage was about half an hour's walk from the inn on the road from
Meyringen to Grindelwald, and thither the stout-hearted youth turned his
steps. The sun was still low in the east when he arrived, for it was
early in the morning; but a number of horses and mules stood at the door
of the inn waiting for their riders. Several guides were loitering
about, ready to conduct travellers either to the steep heights lying
above the village, down to the beautiful water-falls of the Reichenbach,
or to the village of Meyringen.

"Well, Watty Hirzel," said one of the guides in answer to the boy's
salute, "I suppose you want to earn a couple of francs to-day, as you
have come armed with alpenstock and game bag? You couldn't have chosen a
better day. Every room in the inn is full, and you will easily get
somebody to take to the glaciers or anywhere else."

"No, no, Mohrle," replied the boy; "I haven't come to take your trade
away from you; I only want to speak to Mr. Seymour, the gentleman from
Scotland who has been staying here for about a month. He hasn't left
yet, I hope?"

"No; there he is at the window," said the guide. "But you won't be able
to earn anything from him, for he knows all the roads of the Oberland as
well as any of us. What do you want to speak to him about?"

"You will find that out in the evening,