a small landslide which left little room to pass,
and Mary had to descend and cross on foot while the driver took the car
over alone. Ivery's temper seemed to be souring. To the girl's relief
he resumed the outside seat, where he was engaged in constant argument
with the chauffeur.

At the head of the pass stands an inn, the comfortable hostelry of Herr
Kronig, well known to all who clamber among the lesser peaks of the
Staubthal. There in the middle of the way stood a man with a lantern.

'The road is blocked by a snowfall,' he cried. 'They are clearing it
now. It will be ready in half an hour's time.'

Ivery sprang from his seat and darted into the hotel. His business was
to speed up the clearing party, and Herr Kronig himself accompanied him
to the scene of the catastrophe. Mary sat still, for she had suddenly
become possessed of an idea. She drove it from her as foolishness, but
it kept returning. Why had those tree-trunks been spilt on the road?
Why had an easy pass after a moderate snowfall been suddenly closed?

A man came out of the inn-yard and spoke to the chauffeur. It seemed to
be an offer of refreshment, for the latter left his seat and
disappeared inside. He was away for some time and returned shivering
and grumbling at the weather, with the collar of his greatcoat turned
up around his ears. A lantern had been hung in the porch and as he
passed Mary saw the man. She had been watching the back of his head
idly during the long drive, and had observed that it was of the round
bullet type, with no nape to the neck, which is common in the
Fatherland. Now she could not see his neck for the coat collar, but she
could have sworn that the head was a different shape. The man seemed to
suffer acutely from the cold, for he buttoned the collar round his chin
and pulled his cap far over his brows.

Ivery came back, followed by a dragging line of men with spades and
lanterns. He flung himself into the front seat and nodded to the driver
to start. The man had his engine going already so as to lose no time.
He bumped over the rough debris of the snowfall and then fairly let the
car hum. Ivery was anxious for speed, but he did not want his neck
broken and he yelled out to take care. The driver nodded and slowed
down, but presently he had got up speed again.

If Ivery was restless, Mary was worse. She seemed suddenly to have come
on the traces of her friends. In the St Anton valley the snow had
stopped and she let down