Saxe followed him slowly, with his head bent to hide the tears standing in his eyes, and then Dale took his arm.
“We have done our duty so far,” he said; “and we are doing it now in going for help to try and rescue the poor fellow’s remains from yon icy tomb. Believe me, my lad, I would not come away if there was anything more that we could do.”
Saxe was silent for a few minutes, as they tramped on over the ice, which was now beginning to take a warm tint in the afternoon’s sunlight. Then, making an effort, he spoke: “You will of course get men and ropes?”
“Yes; and bring back a crowbar or tamping iron, and a heavy hammer to drive it into the ice.”
Saxe sighed, and, forgetting his weariness, stepped out quickly over the rugged way, as they kept as nearly as they could to the invisible track they had followed during the ascent.
The sun was now getting so low down that the great ragged pyramids and crags of ice cast fantastic shadows eastward. There was a deep orange glow in the sky, and at another time they would have stopped enchanted by the dazzling beauty of the effects before them; but now Saxe could see nothing but the pale face of their guide, as he lay far below with his staring eyes fixed upon the narrow rift beyond which was the evening sky; and at such times as the boy conjured up this ghastly picture in his brain, his eyes grew misty, and he stumbled and slipped upon the rugged ice which formed their way.
“We must press on,” said Dale; “we have not come down above a mile, and it is a long way yet. We must not be amongst these seracs and crevasses after dark.”
“I can walk faster,” said Saxe heavily, and he increased his pace.
But it was in many places a task requiring careful descent, and every time they came upon a crevasse Saxe felt a curious shrinking, which called for a strong effort of will to enable him to make the necessary spring to leap across, while several of the wider ones which had been leaped in coming up were now avoided by a détour to the left.
All these incidents made their descent slower; and as Dale thought of the long distance yet to go, he grew more and more anxious.