The guide stood for a minute or two looking intently at the girl as she slowly ascended the path, especially when she passed the angles of the zigzag, for there she turned sometimes in such a manner as to show her face more plainly.
"No," said he, at length; "I do not know her. I never saw her before. But I'll ask her who she is when she comes up."
"Uncle George!" said Rollo, calling out very loudly to his uncle, who was at some distance above.
"Ay, ay," said Mr. George, responding.
Rollo attempted to look up to see where his uncle was standing; but in doing this he had to throw his head back so far as to bring a fear suddenly over him of falling from his horse. So he desisted, and continued his conversation without attempting to look.
"Here is a girl coming up the mountain with a basket on her back. Come down and see her."
"Come up here," said Mr. George, "and we will wait till she comes."
So Rollo chirruped to his horse and started along again. In a few minutes he reached the place where his uncle George was standing, and there they all waited till the little girl came up.
"Good morning," said the girl, as soon as she came near enough to be heard. She spoke the words in the German language and with a very pleasant smile upon her face.
The peasants in Switzerland, when they meet strangers in ascending or descending the mountains, always accost them pleasantly and wish them good morning or good evening. In most other countries, strangers meeting each other on the road pass in silence. Perhaps it is the loneliness and solitude of the country and the sense of danger and awe that the stupendous mountains inspire that incline people to be more pleased when they meet each other in Switzerland, even if they are strangers, than in the more cheerful and smiling regions of France and England.