The faint grey dawn lit up the canvas of the tent and faintly showed the
figure of Dale fast asleep, with his head close to the place where the
crystals had been laid and covered over with a rug.
Melchior had crept out of the tent without making sound loud enough to
awaken them; and it was apparent now that he was busy preparing the
morning meal.
Saxe did not want to get up for a few minutes, and he lay thinking about
the beautiful crystals, and of how he would break off a few of the
smaller ones to bring away in his pockets to keep as curiosities for
home. Then he recalled the weight of the one he had carried overnight,
and thought how strong Melchior must be, or else how patient and
enduring. Finally, he determined to get up and go and talk to the guide
about their work for the coming day--a task which had lost its zest now
that some of the crystals had been found.
But his moving roused Dale, who started up.
"Throw open the tent door, my boy, and let's have some fresh air. I
want to have a look, too," he cried, "at our treasures."
Saxe obeyed; and he was in the act of looping back the canvas, when Dale
uttered an angry cry.
"Gone!--stolen!" he cried. "That man must have gone off with them on
the mule."
"Did the herr call?" said Melchior, hurrying up.
"You here, Melchior?" stammered Dale in his surprise. "But yes. Look!
The crystals! We laid them there. Do you know where they are gone?"
"No, herr. But are you sure?"
"Sure, man! Yes, and--ah! Look at that!" he continued, pointing at the
tent wall. "A slit has been cut in it with a knife."
Melchior rushed outside and examined the slit.
"Yes," he said, shaking his head; "cut with a sharp knife. It must have
been whilst we slept."
"And by some one who must have been watching our movements."
"There!" cried Saxe excitedly. "I knew it. I felt sure that we were
being watched."
"Whoever it is cannot have gone far," said Dale sternly. "It is the
same party that stole the crystal before. Now, Melchior, which way are
they likely to have gone?--of course back toward the valley!"
Melchior shook his head.
"But they must. There is no other road, you say."
"Oh yes, herr: there are ways for good climbers."
"But a good climber cannot get up and down dangerous places with half a
hundredweight of stones on his back, man."
"No, herr. They would not carry the stones very far: they would hide
them."
"And go back without them!"
"No, herr. If the object of watching us is to get the crystals, they
will still be hiding to see if we find more."
"Yes, you may be right," said Dale, after a few moments' thought.
"Here, let's have a good look round in different directions."
Melchior looked at him half pityingly.
"Which!" he said at last. "Has the herr thought how impossible it would
be to hunt good climbers down in these wilds! Look!" he continued,
waving his hand round; "the great wilderness is everywhere, and there
are thousands of places where men could hide."
"Yes, I know all that," cried Dale impatiently; "but I am not going to
sit down quietly and be robbed like this of the specimens I have worked
so hard to get. What do you say, Saxe!"
"Get 'em back at any cost. I think they are Italian brigands from the
other side who have done it."
"No, herr," said Melchior. "It is the work of some of our people, who
are greedy and jealous. There are some who would sooner work hard for a
month to find an opportunity to steal a few francs than work honestly
for a week to earn double. Fortunately they are very few."
"Then you would give up and not search for them!" said Dale angrily.
"I would search for them, herr; but it would end in failure. This must
be done by men who know these high mountains as well as I do. Why, if I
wished to hide here, there are places I could get to where I should
never be found."
"But the hiding people want food!"
"Yes, herr," said the guide drily; "and they have got it. A great deal
of what I brought up with Gros has gone. I thought the young herr here
had taken some of it; but I see now."
"Then, what would you do?"
"I would not waste time in hunting for what we shall never discover,
herr. It may be hidden in the mountains, or down some crevasse in the
great glacier. Those crystals were very fine, but we left others behind
in the grotto as beautiful. Why not go and get these, and take what we
find at once to a place of safety?"
"At once? You forget how long a journey it is back."
"No, herr. It is far; but once we have them we must watch, and not be
robbed again like this."
Dale stood thinking for a minute or two, Saxe watching him eagerly.
"Very good advice," he said; "and I will follow it, but not to-day.
Saxe, you must be guardian over the camp. No: we shall want your help,
my lad. Put some food in your wallet, Melchior; and we will try and
trace these people, for there must be more than one."
"Yes, herr; there must be more than one," said Melchior; and hastily
making the provision required, he said that he was ready.
"Now, then," cried Dale; "which way first?"
"One way is as good as another, herr," replied the guide. "It is all
chance. We may go upon their track; we may go right away. Shall I
lead?"
"Yes," said Dale, frowning; and the search began and lasted till
darkness forced them to give up and seek their couches, tired out. For,
taking the camp as a centre, they went off from it and returned, from
every possible direction: not that there were many, for the vast
precipices and hollows around compelled them to be select in their
routes.
But it was all in vain, and from starting there was nothing that guided
them in the slightest degree: for they were in a wilderness where
footprints only showed upon the snow; and wherever they approached an
ice field it was to find the pure white mantle unstained, and not even
showing the track of a bird.
"Will the herr continue the search to-morrow, or go to the grotto?" said
Melchior, as they lay down to sleep.
"Continue the search," said Dale sternly; and the next day and the next
they toiled on, going farther and farther into the mountains, but there
was no other result than weariness.
"It's enough to make one believe in Melchior's goblins," said Dale
petulantly, "all those beautiful crystals to have been spirited away
like that. But never mind: we shall find them to-morrow, I feel sure."
But when to-morrow came Dale did not feel so sure; and, altering his
mind, to Saxe's great delight, they took the mule and started for the
grotto once again.
Dale went first, and the mule followed, Saxe walking behind with
Melchior, until they reached the black ravine.
"I am glad," the boy said, as they trudged along over the rock and ice.
"It was all waste of time trying to catch those fellows."
"Yes, herr--quite."
"Have you no idea as to whom it could be, Melk?"
"No, herr, not the least. Mr Dale must have talked about his journey
to some one as you came, and clever people have been let to watch you."
"Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk, even if it is Swiss milk,"
said Saxe, laughing.
The guide looked at him wonderingly. He was very proficient in English,
but proverbs puzzled him, and he shook his head.
"Well, then," said Saxe, laughing, "it's of no use to throw away time
when we can use it to advantage. Do you understand that!"
"Quite," said Melchior. "We must get a very great load of the crystals
to-day, and make sure of them. It will be a splendid find, if we pick
the best--grander than has ever been made here before."
"And I discovered them," said Saxe proudly. "Yes, herr; you discovered
them," said the guide, smiling. Saxe coloured.
"He's laughing at me," he said to himself, as he hurried on to overtake
Dale. "I do wish I was not so conceited."
They had a brief halt at the mouth of the black ravine, toiled up it
till they reached Gros's tethering place, and then went on.
"I have been thinking," said Dale, as Saxe climbed on beside him, "that
we ought to have swept away all those chips of stone after we opened the
place."
"You both thought no one likely to climb up here," replied Saxe.
"Yes: we thought so, Saxe," said Dale rather shortly; and then the toil
of the climbing among and over the sharp crags put an end to their
conversation, and they kept on till they were beneath the narrow crevice
with the fragments of stone chipped out by Melchior lying just as they
had been left.
"Now, Melchior," cried Dale; "I will not be avaricious. We'll have one
good select load of the crystals, and then make them safe. Up with
you!"
Melchior climbed up, fastened the rope to the spike, and then crept
inside the grotto with the lanthorn attached to his waist.
"Looks just like a bear going into his den," said Saxe, laughing, as the
hind quarters of the guide disappeared.
"Yes. Up with you, and play bear too, or monkey," said Dale, laughing;
and with the help of the rope the boy soon reached the opening and
crawled in.
Dale followed, and blocked out the light just as Melchior had crept
farther in, and was busy opening the lanthorn and striking a match.
"One moment, Melchior," said Dale: "here's a piece of blue light,--let's
burn that."
But just as he spoke the match flashed into light, and Melchior dropped
it; they heard him scratching at his box, and directly after he struck
about half a dozen together, and separated them, so that they burned
brightly, holding them high up above his head before taking one to light
the wick of the lanthorn.
At the first flash out of the matches Saxe sprang back in horror, and
Dale uttered a groan of disappointment. Then there was a dead silence,
during which the matches blazed down close to the guide's fingers, and
were allowed to fall, while the lanthorn burned more brightly, showing
the guide's wrinkled countenance, full of disappointment and despair.
"It's horrible!" cried Saxe wildly. "Oh, if I only knew!"
"Yes, boy: if you only knew," said Dale.
"We must find them."
"No, young herr: it would be waste of time to try. Trust to me; perhaps
I can take you to a better grotto yet, and if we do find one, we will
live in it till bit by bit the crystals are removed and placed in
safety."
"We shall not find such another spot," said Dale sadly.
"The mountains are wonderful and vast, herr. There is the Blitzenhorn
yet to try."
"Yes, to try," said Dale sadly. "Oh, but it is maddening just as
success had attended us!" and he relapsed into gloomy silence, as
Melchior went about the grotto holding the lanthorn to its glittering
ceiling, the light flashing from hundreds of crystals; but every one
worth taking as a specimen had been removed, and a great rusty hammer
with which they had been broken off lay before them, forgotten in their
hurry by those who had been there.