rnful howl that
was lost in frightful cracking as the ice-bridge broke away. Rex was
never seen again, but his warning prevented those four men from being
smothered in the chasm under hundreds of feet of snow. So, you see, this
little fellow comes of royal blood. That is why we named him 'Prince
Jan.' He looks just like his father, too!"

Jan thrust his warm nose into Brother Antoine's hand.

"I want to be like my father and Barry," he said, hoping they would
understand him, as he understood them. "I will do my very best to be
worthy of them both!"

The visitors and the monk did not know what Jan said, but the other dogs
understood. Bruno's dim eyes beamed on the pup.

"You will be a credit to us all, Prince Jan!"

The strangers and Brother Antoine left the yard, and the dogs formed in
little groups to talk among themselves, as they always did when new
people came to see them.

"That man came from America," Bruno said to Jan's mother.

"Lots of people from America visit us," she replied, trying not to
yawn, for the storm had kept her awake. All night, while she felt the
warm little bodies of the puppies pressed against her side, she had
stared into the darkness, thinking of the time when Prince Jan and his
brother must go out, like their father, Rex, to do the work of the St.
Bernards.

"Yes," Bruno added in a queer voice, "but this man said he was from
California, where they never have any snow!"

"What?" shouted all the dogs together. "A place where they never have
any snow? Oh, what a funny place that must be!"

"What do they walk on?" asked Jan's mother curiously.

Before Bruno could answer, Jan shoved up and said earnestly: "But,
mother, how do dogs save people where there is no snow?"

"I am sure I don't know," she told him. "Ask Bruno."

Neither Bruno nor any of the other dogs could explain this mystery,
though Jan went to each in turn for an answer to his question. At last
he lay down, his nose wedged between his paws, his yellow forehead
wrinkled with thought, and he stared across at the tops of the great
white peaks above the enclosure until his soft eyes closed in sleep.
Soon he was dreaming that he was digging travellers from the snow and
asking them, "Won't you please tell me how a dog can save people in a
land where there is no snow?"

But none of them could answer his question.

Chapter III

A NEW WORLD

The next morning Mr. Pixley and Brother Antoine returned to the kennel