pping for a moment, looked
back at them and pointed forward with his staff. "Odde is over there,"
he said, and Urquhart added that he knew whereabouts they were. "If it
were clear enough," he told them, "you might see it all lying below
you like a map; but I doubt if you'll see anything." They pushed on.

Before the last slope, which was now close at hand, the ground became
very bad. The crevasses showed in every direction, raying out like
cracks on an old bench. The guide was evidently anxious. He gave up
all appearance of conducting his party and went off rapidly by
himself. They waited for him in silence; but presently Urquhart said,
"I bet you any money he won't want to go down."

"Don't he want to dine as much as we do?" said James.

"He doesn't want to break his neck," said Urquhart; "that's his little
weakness."

"I sympathise with him," James said; "but I should like to know more
before I turn back."

"You'll only know what he chooses to tell you," Urquhart answered.
Lingen was sitting on the snow.

The guide came back with firm steps. His eyes sought Urquhart's
naturally.

"Well?" he was asked; and lifted his stock up.

"Impossible," he said.

"Why impossible?" James asked Urquhart, having none of the language,
but guessing at the word.

Urquhart and the man talked; the latter was eloquent.

"He says," Urquhart told them, "that there's a great cornice, and a
drop of forty feet or so. Then he thinks there's another; but he's not
sure of that. He intends to go back. I knew he did before he went out
to look. It's a beastly nuisance."

James looked at Lingen, who was now on his feet. "Well," he said,
"what do you feel about it?"

Lingen, red in the face, said, "You'll excuse me, but I shall do what
the guide proposes, though I admit to great fatigue. I don't think it
would be right, under the circumstances, to do otherwise. I feel a
great responsibility; but I gather that, in any case, he himself would
decline to go down. You will think me timid, I dare say."

"No, no," James said. "That's all right, of course. Personally, I
should be inclined to try the first cornice anyhow. There's always a
chance, you know."

Urquhart looked at him keenly. "Do you mean that?" he asked him.

"Yes," James said. "Why do you ask?" Urquhart turned away. When he
faced James again he was strangely altered. His eyes were narrower;
lines showed beside his mouth. Temptation was hot in the mouth. "We'd
better talk abo