those countries for
burdens which are to be carried on the back of a man.

"What is he going to do?" asked Mr. George.

"He is going to carry the baggage the rest of the way himself," said
Rollo. "You see it is so steep and rocky from here down to Lungern that
it is dreadful hard work to get a horse down and up again; especially
_up_. So the guide leaves the horse here, and is going to carry the
baggage down himself on his back. That rack that he is fastening the
trunk upon goes on his back. Those straps in front of it come over his
shoulders."

"It seems to me," said Mr. George, "that that is a monstrous heavy load
to put on a man's back, to go down a place which is so steep and rocky
that a horse could not get along over it. But then I suppose my courier
knows what he is about."

So Mr. George, with an air and manner which seemed to say, It is none of
my concern, walked up a flight of steps which led to a sort of elevated
porch or platform before the door of the inn.

For a moment Rollo himself was a little disconcerted, not knowing
whether it would be safe for a man to go down a steep declivity with
such a burden on his back; but when he reflected that this was the
arrangement that the guide himself had proposed, and that the guide had,
doubtless, done the same thing a hundred times before, he ceased to feel
any uneasiness, and following Mr. George up the steps, he took a seat by
his side, at a little table, which was placed there for the
accommodation of travellers stopping at the inn to rest.

Rollo and his uncle spent half an hour at this hotel. For refreshment
they had some very excellent and rich Alpine milk, which they drank from
very tall and curiously-shaped tumblers. They also amused themselves in
looking at some specimens of carved work, such as models of Swiss
cottages--and figures of shepherds, and milkmaids with loads of utensils
on their backs--and groups of huntsmen, with dogs leaping up around
them--and chamois, or goats, climbing about among the rocks and
mountains. Rollo had bought a pretty good supply of such sculptures
before; but there was one specimen here that struck his fancy so much
that he could not resist the temptation of adding it to his collection,
especially as Mr. George approved of his making the purchase. It was a
model of what is called a chalet,[15] which is a sort of hut that the
shepherds occupy in the upper pasturages, in the summer, where they go
to tend the cows, and t