THE RETURN HOME.
Oh what a load Rudy had to carry home with him over the mountains the
next day! He had won three silver cups, two rifles, and a silver
coffee-pot; this would be of use to him when he began housekeeping.
But that was not the heaviest thing; there was something heavier and
stronger which he carried with him--or which carried him--on that
return journey over the mountains. The weather was wild, dull, heavy,
and wet; dense clouds covered the mountain tops like a thick veil,
quite hiding the snowy peaks. From the valleys he heard the sound of
the woodman's ax, and huge trunks of trees rolled down the steep
mountain sides; they seemed only like small sticks, but they were big
enough for masts. The Lütschine rushed along with its continual hum,
the wind shrieked, and the clouds hurried across the sky. Then Rudy
discovered that a young maid was walking at his side; he had not seen
her until she was quite near. She also was about to climb over the
mountain. The girl's eyes had a strange power; you could not help
looking at them, and they were wonderful eyes, very clear, and
deep--oh, so deep!
"Have you a sweetheart?" said Rudy, for that was all he could think
of.
"No, I have not," laughingly replied the maiden; but she did not look
as if she spoke the truth. "Don't go round all that way," she then
said. "You must bear more to the left; that is the shortest way."
"Yes, and tumble down a crevasse!" said Rudy. "You're a fine one to be
a guide if you don't know better than that!"
"I know the way," she replied, "and my thoughts have not gone astray.
Yours are below, in the valley, but here, on high, you should be
thinking of the Ice-Maiden; people say that she does not love men."
"I fear her not!" exclaimed Rudy. "She had to yield me up when I was a
baby, and I am not going to yield myself up to her now that I am a
man."
It grew darker, and the rain poured down; then came the snow,
dazzling and bewildering.
"Take my hand," said the maiden, "I will help you;" and she touched
him with her ice-cold fingers.
[Illustration: "Have you a sweetheart?" said Rudy.]
"You needn't help me!" returned Rudy; "I don't need a girl to teach me
to climb!" and he hurried on, leaving her behind. The snow came down
all around him, the wind shrieked, and he heard strange sounds of
laughing and singing behind him. He believed she was one of the
spirits in the Ice-Maiden's train, of whom he had heard tales when he
spent the night up in the mountains as a boy.
The snow ceased to fall, and he was now above the clouds. He looked
behind him, but saw nobody; yet he heard a strange singing and
yodeling that he did not like, as it did not sound human.
When Rudy was quite at the highest ridge, from which the way tended
downwards towards the Rhone valley, he saw above Chamonix, in a patch
of blue sky, two bright stars shining and twinkling; they reminded him
of Babette, and of his own good fortune, and the thought made him feel
quite warm.
[Illustration: Rudy believed she was one of the spirits in the
Ice-Maiden's train.]