"Yes, herr, it is impossible to say," said Melchior, who was still
watching the precipice; and he was now joined by Saxe. "You see,
anybody who wished to get along the pass would come down here."
"But there may be a path up yonder."
"No, herr, there is none, or I should have known of it years ago. I
have been up there, and it is so perilous that no one but a bold climber
could get along. Well, it is one of the many things I have seen and
heard in the mountains that I could not understand. Shall we go on,
herr?"
"Yes, and we'll keep a sharp look-out," said Saxe.
"You may," cried Dale; "but you will find it is something perfectly
simple--a stray foot, if the stone is not loosened by the weather."
Ten minutes later they were trudging on over the rough ground, with the
valley growing wilder and more strange; presenting, too, plenty of
clefts and openings to ravines which Dale felt disposed to stop and
explore; but Melchior was always ready with the same form of speech.
"Wait, herr," he said. "It would only be labour in vain. We'll go on
till I get you into the parts where none but the most venturesome guides
have been. If crystals are to be found, it will be there."
"What's that?" said Saxe suddenly, pointing upwards.
His companions looked at once in the direction indicated, and saw
nothing particular.
"Does the young herr mean that strangely shaped thing!"
"No, no. Something ran across there hundreds of feet up, where that bit
of a ledge is in front of the pale brown patch of stones."
"A marmot, perhaps," said Melchior; "there are many of the little things
about here."
"But this was not a little thing," cried Saxe impatiently. "It was
something big as a goat. I thought it was a man."
"Up yonder, herr?" said Melchior. "No man could run along up there. It
would be slow, careful climbing, and a slip would send the climber
headlong down into the valley here. From where you say, is quite a
thousand feet."
"It must have been a goat, then, or a chamois," said Saxe.
"I cannot say, herr," replied the guide rather solemnly, and as if he
had faith in the possibility of something "no canny" being at the bottom
of the mystery.
But the rest of their day's journey, as mapped out for them by Melchior,
was achieved without further adventure, and some ten hours after their
start in the morning he halted them high up among the mountains, in a
little rock amphitheatre, surrounded by peaks, which looked gigantic in
the solemn evening light.
But the need of the ordinary animal comforts of life took all romantic
thought out of Saxe's brain, and he busily set to work helping to light
a fire with the wood the guide had brought. Then, while the kettle was
getting hot, all three busied themselves in setting up the tiny tent,
anchoring it by means of its lines to stones, as soft a spot as could be
found having been selected, for they were far above the pines, and the
prospect of getting anything suitable for a bed was very small--even
moss proving scarce. However, a rug spread beneath them saved them from
some of the asperities of the rocky ground, and after they had partaken
of their evening meal and taken a short peep round the huge hollow,
which promised admirably for exploration next day, "good nights" were
said, and Saxe lay down for his first test of what it would be like to
sleep under the shelter of a thin tent eight thousand feet above the
level of the sea.
"Is there any need to keep watch up here?" asked Dale.
"Oh no, herr; not the slightest."
"Then welcome sleep to my weary bones," said Dale, as he stretched
himself out; and soon after, as the stars came out, they were all
sleeping peacefully, but only to be aroused just after midnight by a
most unearthly scream--a cry loud enough to make every one spring at
once to his feet and nearly upset the tiny tent.