Although all dogs sigh more or less--their intimate association with mankind being the usual cause--still sighing seems to be an especial characteristic of the noble breed we term Newfoundland.
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Everything was ready and packed, including, of course, a long plank and a light but strong rope-ladder many fathoms in length.
It was a very bright and beautiful morning when the little expedition started; the crew manning the rigging and giving three times three of those ringing British cheers that are heard wherever our ensign--red, blue, or navy-white--flutters out on the breeze.
It was but little past sunrise. The oriel windows of the glorious S.E. were still painted in colours rare and radiant, but hardly a breath of air blew across the untrodden fields of snow that now stretched out and away to the westward--a good ten miles, until bounded at last by the great rising hills.
Silence now as deep as death.
They were deserted even by the birds.
But in a great snow-clad wilderness like this, with unseen, unheard-of dangers, mayhap, ahead, what a comfort it is to know that He who made the universe is ever near to all those who call upon Him even in thought, if in spirit and in truth.
The ship was out of sight now, hidden by bluffy ice-covered rocks; and Talbot was acting as guide to the party, taking the direction which he believed would lead him to the side of the mountain which appeared to be most accessible.
For more than a mile the "road" was rugged indeed.