e, and shut off from his
companions by the curtain of mist they had set out to pierce.

He hailed and hailed again as loudly as he could, and a faint cry
answered him, but a few repetitions made him aware of the fact that it
was only his own voice, echoed back from the mountain-side, and a
strange sense of loneliness and despair attacked him now.

For as he recalled his own adventure, it was evident to him that he had
had a very narrow escape from suffocation, the mist being evidently a
volcanic exhalation, rising from the earth in a long low portion
extending for miles in a curve, perhaps being the extent to which the
mountain had reached in some far-off time; in fact, there might have
been an old crater here only a little raised above the sea.

But he shook off the despondency, and fought back the idea that his
companions might have been overcome by the escaping gases, and forced
himself to believe that if they were not somewhere on his side hidden
from him by the trees, they had safely made their way back to the side
from which they had started.

He knew he had no grounds for all this, as they must necessarily have
been as much confused and overcome as he, but he came to the conclusion
which he wished to be true, and after mounting to the highest bit of
ground in his immediate neighbourhood, he hailed again and again,
listening patiently in the intervals for some reply.

There was a musical piping whistle twice, and once he was aware of a
curious grunting sound from some trees away to his right, and this was
repeated on his hailing again. Then all was silent once more, and he
stood, now looking round, now watching the line of mist from which he
hoped to see his companions emerge.

There were moments when he felt convinced that they had reached the same
side as he, and he set to work hurrying here and there as fast as the
tangled growth of the pathless forest would allow, hailing from time to
time, but all in vain, and at last, dripping with perspiration, panting
and exhausted, he leaned against a tree.

He had something else to combat now besides weariness, a terrible
feeling of depression, for the thought would keep on coming with
constant recurrence that his friends had perished in the mist.

He mastered this thought as the feeling of exhaustion passed away, and
was ready to laugh at the sense of dread caused by his loneliness. For,
as he told himself, it was probably all imagination respecting his
frien