“No, herr, it is strange; but I will light the fire and get breakfast.”
As he spoke he began kindling some dry stuff he had collected, and shortly after the coffee-pot was promising to boil. Then some bacon was sliced and frizzled, and the appetising odour soon made the memories of the night alarm pass away in the thoughts of the excellent breakfast, which was finished while the pass in which they were seated was still grey, though the mountain peaks looked red-hot in the coming sunshine.
“Well, I’m not going to let an incident like that interfere with our progress, Melchior. Where do you propose going next?”
“Up whichever thal the herr chooses, and then up the mountain.”
“And not quite over the pass?”
“No, herr. We are in the highest part here, and we may come upon crystals in any of these solitary peaks.”
“Very well; then we’ll make a start at any time you like. Do we come back here?”
“No, herr. I propose that we take the mule on to the foot of the Great Oberweiss glacier, an hour from here. There is good camping ground, and then we will go up the mountain by the side of the ice meer.”
“And to shake off our stone-throwing friend,” said Dale. “Good. We will, and will keep a better look-out for the crevasses this time—eh, Saxe?”
“Yes, and we can try the new rope.”