“No, herr. How could man live up here in these solitudes? It is bright and beautiful now, with moss and dwarf firs and ferns; but food would not grow here. Then there is no grass for the cattle; and in the winter it is all deep in snow, and the winds tear down these valleys, so that it is only in sheltered places that the pines can stand. Am I leading the herrs right? Is this the kind of scenery they wish to see?”
“Capital!” cried Saxe.
“Yes,” said Dale quietly, as his eyes wandered up the wall-like sides of the gorge they were in; “but there ought to be rifts and caverns up in these narrow valleys where I could find what I seek.”
“After awhile, herr, after awhile. When we get to the end of this thal we shall come upon a larger lake. We shall go along one shore of that to where it empties itself. There is much water in it, for three glaciers run down toward it. At the other end, beyond the schlucht, we shall be in the greater valley, between the mountains I pointed to this morning; and there you will find steeper places than this, wilder and stranger, where we can camp for to-night, and to-morrow you can choose.”
“Very good: I leave it to you; but if we pass anything you think would be interesting, stop.”
They had zigzagged about, and climbed up and up as well as descended, so that Saxe had quite lost count of the direction.
“Which way are we going now?” he said at last.
“Nearly due south.”
“Then that’s toward Italy?”
“Yes. As the crow flies we can’t be many miles from the border.”