The sound rolled and reverberated in the sky for a considerable time like a prolonged peal of thunder. Rollo thought that Henry must be mistaken in supposing it an avalanche.
At this moment Rollo, looking round, saw Mr. George coming up, on his horse, at a turn of the path a little way behind them.
"Henry," said Mr. George, "there is a thunder shower coming up; we must hasten on."
"No," said Henry; "that was an avalanche."
"An avalanche?" exclaimed Mr. George. "Why, the sound came out of the middle of the sky."
"It was an avalanche," said the guide, "from the Jungfrau. See!" he added, pointing up into the sky.
Mr. George and Rollo both looked in the direction where Henry pointed, and there they saw a vast rocky precipice peering out through a break in the clouds high up in the sky. An immense snow bank was reposing upon its summit. The glittering whiteness of this snow contrasted strongly with the sombre gray of the clouds through which, as through an opening in a curtain, it was seen.
Presently another break in the clouds, and then another, occurred; at each of which towering rocks or great perpendicular walls of glittering ice and snow came into view.
"The Jungfrau," said the guide.
Mr. George and Rollo gazed at this spectacle for some minutes in silence, when at length Rollo said,—