The Crystal Hunters Part 34

"No; a hundred horses could not have dragged it along a hard road."

"But it has been brought here, you see, all the same. Now, where is the nearest place where we could find stone like that!"

"Oh, on the Domberg, herr, at the head of the pa.s.s. We shall go beneath it six hours from here."

"Exactly, Melchior," cried Dale. "That proves what I say. This huge ma.s.s of granite must have fallen from the Domberg on to the glacier which once filled this limestone valley, and have been gradually carried down and left here. Such a glacier as the one which polished all these rocks could easily have brought down that block; and when in bygone ages the ice melted, this block was left here. I dare say we shall find more like it."

"Oh yes, herr, there are many," said Melchior, thoughtfully examining the stone and then picking up other pieces to compare with it. "The herr's words seem like truth, but I should never have thought of that."

"It took, too, long thought and study of some of our greatest men to find it out," said Dale, "and I am glad to have come to a valley which shows all we have read so plainly."

"Stop! take care!" shouted Melchior, as a strange rushing sound was heard high up on their right; and directly after a large stone came bounding down the slope, fell on the smooth rocks before them, and smashed to atoms.

Melchior stood looking up, shading his eyes.

"That is curious," he said thoughtfully. "I do not know why that stone should have fallen."

"Loosened by the frost, man."

"No, herr. It could not have come from high enough. There is no ice up there. You have to pa.s.s another valley first. The high mountain is beyond it, and the stones would fall into the next valley."

"It must have been loosened, then, by the rain."

"Perhaps, herr; but it is more likely that a goat--No, there are no goats pastured so far up as this, and no man could be travelling up there. Herr, would you like to shoot a chamois?"

"Indeed I should; but we have no gun."

"No, herr, I forgot: we have no gun. But that must have been a chamois.

We are getting into the wild region where they live, though this is low down for them."

"But surely," said Dale, "they would get no pasture higher up?"

"Only in patches, herr. They have been so persecuted by the hunters that they live constantly amongst the ice and snow and in the most solitary spots. But I cannot understand about that stone falling."

"Well, it doesn't matter," said Saxe. "It did not hit either of us, and you said they often fell in the mountains."

"Yes herr, but not like that."

They went on for the next two hours in silence, while the pa.s.s they were following grew more and more wild, but it opened out a little during the next hour, but only to contract again. And here, in a secluded place beneath one of the vast walls of rock which shut them in, and beside a tiny rivulet which came bubbling and foaming down, the guide suggested a short halt and refreshment.

Dale agreed, and Saxe doubly agreed, helping to lift the pannier from the mule's back, when the patient animal indulged in a roll, drank a little water, and then began to browse on such tender shoots and herbage as it could find.

The bread and cheese were produced, and all were seated enjoying their alfresco meal, when once more from up to their right a stone as big as a man's head came crashing down, to fall not far away. So near was it that it startled the mule, who trotted a little on out of danger before beginning again to graze.

Melchior had sprung to his feet at once, leaped away for a short distance, and stood shading his eyes again, and scanning the rocky face of the precipice on their right--that is, just above their heads.

"Well, what do you make of it?" cried Dale,--"a landslip?"

"No, herr; there is no landslip."

"Is it the advance-guard of an avalanche?"

"Without snow, herr? No."

"Come and eat your bread and cheese, Melk," cried Saxe; "it is only a loose stone tumbled down, and no one was. .h.i.t."

"But I cannot eat, herr, with the knowledge that some one is hurling down stones upon our heads. Do you know that either of those falling stones would have killed us?"

"Yes, but they did not hit us," said Saxe.

"But surely there is no one up there to hurl down stones?" said Dale.

"I don't know, herr," said the guide, shaking his head.

"But you said you thought it was a chamois," cried Saxe.

"I did, herr, but I'm afraid I was wrong. I am not a believer in such things; but some of our people would say that the spirits of the mountains are displeased with us for coming here, and are throwing stones to drive us back."

"They're pretty strong, then, to throw such stones as that," said Saxe, with his mouth full of Swiss cheese.

"Yes," said Dale, looking at the stone which had fallen; "and they take very bad aim--eh, Saxe?"

"Awfully: I could do better than that. Why, if I were up there I believe I could hit either of you."

"But it might be only to frighten us," said Melchior seriously.

"Why, Melchior, my man, surely you do not believe in such childish nonsense as that?"

"No, herr, not when I have English gentlemen with me; but there are times on the mountains, when I am quite alone and I hear noises that I cannot understand, that I do get fancying strange things, and all the old stories I have heard as a boy come back to me."

"And then you say to yourself, 'I am a man who puts his trust in reason, and shall not let myself be scared by silly tales.'"

"Well, yes, herr, something of the kind," replied the guide, smiling.

"There goes another stone!" cried Saxe, as a smaller one fell about fifty yards farther on.

"Yes," said the guide; "and it is as if somebody were climbing along there, near the edge of the rocks, and sent them down."

"Ah! that's more like an explanation," cried Dale, laughing. "Somebody.

Yes, you must be right. Somebody with feet and hands, like ourselves.

Can you see who it is?"

"No, herr," said Melchior, after a long examination; "and it puzzles me, for who could be climbing along up there?"

Dale shrugged his shoulders. "Impossible to say."

"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 pa.s.s would come down here."

"But there may be a path up yonder."