This made matters a little better, and tramp, tramp, they went on and on, rising more swiftly than they knew, and little incommoded now by the darkness, for the stars were shining out through the cloudy mist which hung over the slope, while their spirits seemed to rise with the ascent.
“Have we passed the rocks along which we saw that body of men moving?” said Bracy at last.
“I s’pose not, sir, or we must have felt ’em. They must have been a long way off when we saw ’em going along.”
“Yes; the distances are very deceptive, and—Ah! stones, rocks. Here is the rough track at last.”
They halted again, for by walking here and there they could make out that there was a rough track to right and left, comparatively free from snow, and if this were followed to the right there would be travelling which would necessitate their waiting for daylight, since it was all in and out among huge masses of stone.
“We couldn’t get along here, sir, very fast,” said Gedge after making a few essays.
“No, it is impossible now,” replied Bracy. “It would be a dangerous way, too, for it must, as we saw, cut the valley when; the enemy will come out.”
He stood looking back and around him, to see that the darkness was lightened by the strange faint glare from the ice and snow around him; then, turning, he crossed the ridge of broken rocks and tried what the slope seemed like upon the other side, to find that it was a continuation of that up which they had toiled, and apparently much the same, the gradual curve upward to the mountain being cut by this band of rocks.
“Forward again, Gedge,” he cried. “This must be right, for we are getting a trifle nearer to our journey’s end, and more out of reach of our pursuers.”
“Then it is right, sir; but I suppose we shall get a bit o’ downhill some time.”