scott waved, but even as he looked for an answering
signal, the figure vanished.

"My eyes!" he muttered to himself. "I'm getting snow-blind."

Then he called aloud:

"Jack! Oh, Jack! Hello!"

Only an echo greeted the call, and he did not repeat it but pushed on
silently, conserving his energy.

Was there truth after all in those persistent rumors of the natives
about the snow people who inhabited the upper slopes of the Himalayas?
His tired brain toyed with the idea, to be cut off sharply by the
cheery call:

"Hi there, Professor! Hi-ho!"

And gazing upwards toward a jutting crag not ten rods beyond, he saw
young Stoddard etched against the darkening sky.

* * * * *

In a few joyous steps, Professor Prescott had reached his audacious
companion.

"Thank God!" he gasped. "I'd given you up for lost."

"Why give me up for anything so unpleasant?" was the genial reply.
"I've just been enjoying the view."

"Then--then you reached the top?" with a quick intake of breath.

"Well, not exactly, but I feel on top of the world, just the same."

The professor's spirits fell.

"Then I can't see--"

"Of course you can't see!" interrupted Stoddard. "But look at this!"

As he spoke, he drew from a pocket of his leather jacket something
that caught the last light of the dying day and refracted it with
weird brilliance.

Professor Prescott blinked.

"Well?"

"A diamond. As big as your fist! And here's another!"

His left hand reached into his jacket and produced a second sparkling
gem.

"But--but I don't understand--"

"Granted. But you will, when I tell you I've found the Diamond
Thunderbolt!"

The professor gave a shrug of scorn.

"And no doubt you've seen the snow people and have had a perfect
afternoon, while--"

"No, I haven't seen any snow people, but I've had a perfect afternoon,
all right! As I said, I've found the Diamond Thunderbolt; and here are
a couple of chips, picked up from around the edge."

* * * * *

So saying, Stoddard extended his two specimens toward Professor
Prescott, who disdained at first to touch them.

"Nothing but quartz!" was the deprecating comment. "The snow has
affected your eyesight, as it has my own."

"I'll say it's affected _yours_, if you don't recognize diamonds when
you see them. But wait till I show you the old Thunderbolt itself!
It's--"

"More quartz!" brusquely. "Be sensible, Jack. This Dia