companion.

"Who said that I was fond of it?"

"A very good friend of mine," replied Lewis, with a light laugh.

"He can be no friend of mine," returned the hunter, with contracted
brows.

"I'm not so sure of that," said the other; "at least if you count
_yourself_ a friend. You whispered so much about gold in your dreams
this morning that I came to the conclusion you were rather fond of it."

The expression of the hunter changed completely. There seemed to be a
struggle between indignation and sorrow in his breast as he stopped,
and, facing his companion, said, with vehemence--

"Monsieur, I do not count _myself_ a friend. I have ever found _self_
to be my greatest enemy. The good God knows how hard I have fought
against self for years, and how often--oh, how often--I have been beaten
down and overcome. God help me. It is a weary struggle."

Lecroix's countenance and tones changed as rapidly as the cloud-forms on
his own mountain peaks. His last words were uttered with the deepest
pathos, and his now pale face was turned upward, as if he sought for
hope from a source higher than the "everlasting hills." Lewis was
amazed at the sudden burst of feeling in one who was unusually quiet and
sedate, and stood looking at him in silence.

"Young man," resumed the hunter, in a calmer tone, laying his large
brown hand impressively on the youth's shoulder, "you have heard aright.
I have loved gold too much. If I had resisted the temptation at the
first I might have escaped, but I _shall_ yet be saved, ay, despite of
self, for there is a Saviour! For years I have sought for gold among
these mountains. They tell me it is to be found there, but I have never
found it. To-day I intended to have visited yonder yellow cliffs high
up on the shoulder of the pass. Do you see them?"

He pointed eagerly, and a strange gleam was in his blue eyes as he went
on to say rapidly, and without waiting for an answer--

"I have not yet been up there. It looks a likely place--a very likely
place--but your words have turned me from my purpose. The evil spirit
is gone for to-day--perhaps for ever. Come," he added, in a tone of
firm determination, "we will cross this crevasse and hasten down to the
cave."

He wrenched himself round while he spoke, as if the hand of some
invisible spirit had been holding him, and hurried quickly towards a
wide crevasse which crossed their path at that place.

"Had we not better tie ourselves to