“Make your hay while the sun shines, my boy. The weather is so settled that we cannot do better than go to-morrow.”
“I was going with Melk to the Silbern See to-morrow, for trout; but I’d rather visit the great glacier.”
“Then go and tell Melchior that we will be off in the morning. I want to make some notes about the movement of the glacier, and perhaps we may descend one or two of the crevasses where the ice is not so thick.”
Saxe started off to where Melchior was busy fitting an iron spike to a stout ashen alpenstock.
“Now, Melk!” he cried: “off to-morrow again!”
“Where to, herr? over into Italy?”
“No: into the cold country again. Mr Dale wants to visit the great glacier once more.”
“To search for the crystals?”
“Oh no. Don’t talk about them to him. It only makes him angry. But we are going to stay up there two or three days; so take a good load of provisions and blankets, so as to make it warmer in the tent.”
Melchior looked pleased, and rose to speak to Pierre about the mule, and ordered him to chop up some pine-wood small, to act as kindling to start a fire when that collected might be wet. Then Andregg and his wife were summoned, and received their orders about bread, butter, poultry and cheese; after which Saxe had a happy thought.