hand pressed against his side, and the other tilting up the
flask, he was grey from head to foot.

Harz had dropped on to another stone. He, too, was worn out by the
excitement and fatigue, coming so soon after his illness. His head was
whirling, and the next thing he remembered was a tree walking at him,
turning round, yellow from the roots up; everything seemed yellow, even
his own feet. Somebody opposite to him was jumping up and down, a grey
bear--with a hat--Mr. Treffry! He cried: "Ha-alloo!" And the figure
seemed to fall and disappear....

When Harz came to himself a hand was pouring liquor into his mouth, and
a wet cloth was muffled round his brows; a noise of humming and hoofs
seemed familiar. Mr. Treffry loomed up alongside, smoking a cigar;
he was muttering: "A low trick, Paul--bit of my mind!" Then, as if a
curtain had been snatched aside, the vision before Harz cleared again.
The carriage was winding between uneven, black-eaved houses, past
doorways from which goats and cows were coming out, with bells on their
necks. Black-eyed boys, and here and there a drowsy man with a long,
cherry-stemmed pipe between his teeth, stood aside to stare.

Mr. Treffry seemed to have taken a new lease of strength; like an angry
old dog, he stared from side to side. "My bone!" he seemed to say:
"let's see who's going to touch it!"

The last house vanished, glowing in the early sunshine, and the carriage
with its trail of dust became entombed once more in the gloom of tall
trees, along a road that cleft a wilderness of mossgrown rocks, and dewy
stems, through which the sun had not yet driven paths.

Dominique came round to them, bearing appearance of one who has seen
better days, and a pot of coffee brewed on a spirit lamp. Breakfast--he
said--was served!

The ears of the horses were twitching with fatigue. Mr. Treffry said
sadly: "If I can see this through, you can. Get on, my beauties!"

As soon as the sun struck through the trees, Mr. Treffry's strength
ebbed again. He seemed to suffer greatly; but did not complain. They had
reached the pass at last, and the unchecked sunlight was streaming down
with a blinding glare.

"Jump up!" Mr. Treffry cried out. "We'll make a finish of it!" and he
gave the reins a jerk. The horses flung up their heads, and the bleak
pass with its circling crown of jagged peaks soon slipped away.

Between the houses on the very top, they passed at a slow trot; and soon
began slanting down the