Even in that little time the difference in the level of the water was very evident; and as Saxe waded along, with the stream rushing by him and seeming to give him quite a series of pushes, he could not help an excited feeling of dread filling his breast, and he wondered whether he should get out of the place alive if some sudden rush of water came down in a wave and swept them off the ledge.
It was slow work for a few minutes, till the path rose once more, and then they progressed pretty quickly till the shelf ran down again; and as Saxe went on through the gloom, feeling that the rope was kept fairly taut, another sharp bend was turned, and they came in view of the facing wall of rock, against which the stream rushed and rose up now in such a body that Melchior raised his voice loudly:
“Stop, herr!” he cried: “don’t try to pass.”
“No,” said Dale, as Saxe and the guide closed up, “the water has increased there terribly. We should be swept away.”
“Then we’re shut in!” cried Saxe.
“Yes, herr; but only for a time. The waters rise quickly and fall as quickly in the schluchts. Let’s get back to the highest part, where we can be dry. If we could only have reached farther on!”
He said no more, for it was hard work to make the voice heard in the midst of this terrific reverberating war of the fierce waters, but he turned and led the way back round the corner they had so lately passed, to where the ledge was fully four feet above the stream.
Here he calmly seated himself on the damp stone, with his legs hanging down toward the dark rushing water, took out and filled his great pipe, and then looked up at his companions, as if inviting them to be seated too.
There was but little temptation to follow his example, and sit down on the humid rock; but it offered rest, poor as it was, and Saxe and Dale both followed the example set them, while Melchior calmly lit his pipe and began to smoke and wait patiently for the water to go down.
But Saxe’s nature was too impatient for this, and before he had been seated there many minutes he began to strain his neck in looking up to right and left.