"You know Alvar is much too fidgety; he thinks I can do nothing. But,
at least, let us all ride to the foot of the mountain; perhaps we shall
meet them yet."
"Yes, that at any rate we will do. Give your orders, and then come and
get some chocolate."
Miss Weston had taken care that this was ready, and Cherry sat down and
ate and drank, trying to put a good face on the matter before the
ladies.
After they started on their ride he was very silent, and hardly spoke a
word till they came to the little inn where the mules had been left the
day before. Then he said very quietly to Mr Stanforth,--
"Perhaps I had better wait--I might hinder you."
"I think it would be best," said Mr Stanforth, with merciful absence of
comment, for he knew what the sense of incapacity must have been to
Cherry then.
The kindest thing was to start on the steep ascent at once. Miss
Weston, in what Gipsy thought a cold-blooded manner, took out her
drawing materials, and sat down to sketch the mountain peaks, Cheriton
started from his silent watch of the ascending party, and asked Gipsy to
take a little walk with him: and as she gladly came, they gathered
plants and talked a little about the view, showing their terror by their
utter silence on the real object of their thoughts. Then he exerted
himself to get some lunch for them; so that the first hours of the day
passed pretty well. But as the afternoon wore on, he sat down under a
great walnut-tree, and watched the mountain--the great pitiless creature
with its steep bare sides and snowy summits. He gave no outward sign of
impatience, only watched as if he could not turn his eyes away; and Miss
Weston, almost as anxious for him as for the missing ones, thought it
best to leave him to follow his own bent.
No one was anxious about poor Gipsy, who wandered about, running out of
sight in the vain hope of seeing something on the bare hill-side on her
return.
At last, just as the wonderful violet and rose tints of the sunset began
to colour the white peaks, Cheriton sprang to his feet, and pointed to
the hill-side, where, far in the distance, were moving figures.
"How many?" he said, for, in the hurry of their start, they had left the
field-glasses, which would have brought certainty a little sooner,
behind.
"Oh, there are surely a great many," said Gipsy.
Cheriton watched with the keen sight trained on his native moorlands;
while the ladies counted and miscounted, and thought they saw Jack's
white puggaree.
"_No_," said Cherry, "there are only Mr Stanforth and the two guides.
I _cannot_ wait," he added, impetuously, and began to hurry up the hill,
till he stopped perforce for want of breath.
"There can have been no accident; we have found no one--nothing
whatever," cried Mr Stanforth, as soon as he came within speaking
distance. "They must have gone the other way; there is no trace."
He spoke in a tone of would-be congratulation, but an ominous whisper
passed among the guides, _bandidas_, and the utter blank was almost more
terrifying than direct ill news.
"We must go back to Ronda, and see what can be done to-morrow."
"But," said Cherry, rather incoherently, "I don't know--you see, I must
take care of Jack."
"Yes," said Mr Stanforth, "but any little detention would not hurt
either of them, and they must not find that you are knocked up. We can
consult the authorities at Ronda."
"Yes, thank you; I hope you are not over-tired," said Cherry, half
dreamily. "I? oh, no; I am quite well; but I can't help being anxious."
"No, it is very perplexing; but I feel quite hopeful of good news
myself," said Mr Stanforth.
But somehow the necessity of this assurance struck a sharper pang to
Cherry's heart than his own vague forebodings.
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End of Volume Two.