At last they reached the dike.
"Heaven be praised!" cried Duncan. "And now we shall rest just a short time and then start on and down. Cheer up, lads, we will manage now."
Flora descended from her brother's back, and he sat down on the turf, and took her on his knee.
But where was Vike?
Surely he had not deserted them!
No, for a dog of this breed is faithful unto death.
But now a strange kind of somnolence began to take possession of the boys.
Duncan himself could not resist its power, far less his companions.
"Let us be going, lads," he cried more than once, but he did not move.
He seemed to be unable to lift a limb, and at last he heard the howling of the wind only like sunlit waves breaking on a far-off sandy beach.