me, but the obstinacy of the
Englishman prevailed. The hunter gave in, and at once lay down straight
out with his face to the cliff, and as close to it as he could squeeze.
Lewis immediately lay down outside of him, and, throwing one arm over
his Lecroix's broad chest gave him a half-jocular hug that a bear might
have enjoyed, and told him to go to sleep. In doing this he dislodged a
stone from the outer wall, which went clattering down into the dark
gulf.

Almost immediately the deep, regular breathing of the wearied hunter
told that he was already in the land of Nod.

It was a strange, romantic position; and Lewis rejoiced, in the midst of
his anxieties, as he lay there wakefully guarding the chamois-hunter
while he slept. It appeared to Lewis that his companion felt the need
of a guardian, for he grasped with both hands the arm which he had
thrown round him.

How greatly he wished that his friends at Chamouni could have even a
faint conception of his position that night! What would Lawrence have
thought of it? And the Captain,--how would _he_ have conducted himself
in the circumstances? His mother, Emma, the Count, Antoine, Gillie,
Susan--every one had a share in his thoughts, as he lay wakeful and
watching on the giddy ledge--and Nita, as a great under-current like the
sub-glacial rivers, kept flowing continually, and twining herself
through all. Mingled with these thoughts was the sound of avalanches,
which ever and anon broke in upon the still night with a muttering like
distant thunder, or with a startling roar as masses of ice tottered over
the brinks of the cascades, or boulders loosened by the recent rain lost
their hold and involved a host of smaller fry in their fall. Twining
and tying these thoughts together into a wild entanglement quite in
keeping with the place, the youth never for one moment lost the sense of
an ever present and imminent danger--he scarce knew what--and the
necessity for watchfulness. This feeling culminated when he beheld Nita
Horetzki suddenly appear standing close above him on a most
dangerous-looking ledge of rock!

Uttering a loud cry of alarm he sought to start up, and in so doing sent
three-quarters of the protecting wall down the precipice with an
appalling rush and rumble. Unquestionably he would have followed it if
he had not been held by the wrist as if by a vice!

"Hallo! take care, Monsieur," cried Le Croix, in a quick anxious tone,
still holding tightly to