Saxe sturdily.

"The young herr shall see," replied the guide. "Ah! there is Andregg.
The cows have just been brought home, and here come the goats. I heard
the cry in the mountains. We shall have bread and milk and cheese, if
we have nothing else. Do I believe that about the demons who guard the
crystal caves?" he continued thoughtfully. "Well, the young herr shall
see. Hoi! hola, Andregg! I bring you friends!" he shouted to a
grey-haired man standing in the evening twilight, which was declining
fast, just outside the plain brown pine-wood chalet, with two women and
a boy leisurely milking cows and goats.

"The herrs are welcome," said the man gravely. "It has been fine among
the mountains to-day. I was fearing we should have a storm."

CHAPTER FIVE.

STRANGE QUARTERS.

Milk, bread, butter and cheese in the rough pine verandah, seated on a
homely bench, with the soft pleasant smell of cows from beneath, and the
melodious chiming tinkle of many sweet-toned bells--not the wretched tin
or iron jangling affairs secured to sheep or kine in England, but
tuneful, well-made bells, carefully strapped to the necks of the cattle,
and evidently appreciated by the wearers, several of which stood about,
gently swaying their heads, blinking their great soft eyes, ruminating,
and waiting their turn with the brawny milkmaid, who rose from her
crouching position from time to time, taking her one-legged stool with
her, fastened on and projecting like a peculiar tail.

The light was dying out fast on the peaks around, and they ceased to
flash and glow, to become pale and grey, and then ghastly, cold and
strange, as the little party sat enjoying the simple meal and the calm
and rest of the peaceful scene. Everything around was so still that
there was hardly a murmur in the pines; only the hushed roar of the
restless river, but subdued now, for its waters were shrinking fast from
the failure of the supply; for the many thousand trickling rivulets of
melting snow, born of the hot sunshine of the day, were now being frozen
up hard.

The weary feeling that stole over Saxe was very pleasant as he eat
there, with his back against the rough pine boards of the chalet,
watching the shadows darkening in the valley, and the falls grow less
and less distinct, while a conversation, which did not trouble him, went
on close by his elbow.

"I think I have pretty well explained what I want, Melchior," Dale was
saying. "I have seen