The Crystal Hunters: A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps

by George Manville Fenn

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  SAXE HAS SUSPICIONS.

  "Do we go the same way?" said Saxe, as they started up the track out ofthe valley, Gros far more heavily laden this time--having, beside foodenough for some days, a handy tent just large enough to shelter three;waterproof sheet, rugs, ice-axes, and a coil of new English rope whichmade the guide's eyes glisten.

  "No, herr," Melchior answered--"only for a short distance. Then weshall strike up to the east and go over the Carvas Pass into the UrsThal."

  "Urseren?" said Dale quickly.

  "Oh no, herr! not a bleak green hollow like that, but a wild ravine inthe heart of the mountain. It lies next but one to the valley beyondthe peak you climbed."

  "Ah! that sounds better. Is it much visited?"

  "Never, herr, except by the chamois hunters, and very seldom by them."

  "And you think we shall find what I want there?"

  "I cannot say, herr. Such crystals as you seek are not oftendiscovered. They are very rare. But we shall see. Steady, Gros,steady! Don't hurry, boy. Slow and sure: these stones are slippery."

  "Slippery! Yes," cried Dale, stepping forward quickly, and then givinga glance up to right and left at the walls of rock rising on eitherside. "Look at this, Saxe: we must not pass things like these withoutnotice. Wait a minute, Melchior."

  "Yes, herr; but there are bigger and smoother pieces farther up thevalley."

  "Do they extend far?"

  "Right up to the top of the pass, herr, and down the other side."

  Saxe looked over at the huge mass of smoothly polished stone acrosswhich the mule had been picking its way, taking longer steps to get itshoofs on the narrow cracks and places where veins of a softer kind ofrock had in the course of ages corroded away.

  "Why, I thought you said that very few people came along here?" saidSaxe suddenly, as Dale bent down here and there to examine the stone.

  "I did, herr. Nobody uses this pass. There is no need. It is verydifficult, and leads away up to the everlasting snow."

  "Then, Melchior, how is it that the stones are worn so much?"

  The guide shook his head.

  "It is as if a river had run along here," he said. "I suppose it is therain that has slowly worn it so."

  "No," said Dale, with the voice of authority, "it is the ice."

  "No, herr; there is no ice here. A great deal of snow comes down fromthe great stock up yonder, and from the valley between Piz Accio and PizNero, here on the right--avalanches of snow. We could not walk alonghere in March; it would be madness. But it soon wastes, and is washedaway."

  "No, Melchior, it is not snow or water that has smoothed all this, butice. There must have been a huge glacier all along here."

  The guide shook his head.

  "Look, man," cried Dale, "it is written on the stones;" and he pointedto those beneath them, and then to others high up, which presented thesame appearance.

  "The stones and rocks are worn smooth, herr; but I never heard my fatheror grandfather speak of ice in this valley."

  "No," said Dale quietly, "and your grandfather never heard his ancestorsspeak of it, nor they in turn, right back to the most remote times ofhistory; but, all the same, a huge glacier must have filled the whole ofthis valley, sixty or seventy feet above where we stand."

  "A very long time ago, then, herr."

  "Who can say how many ages? Glaciers shrink and melt away in time. Theone in the other valley has retired a good deal."

  "Ah, yes, herr--hundreds of yards. Old people say it once came nearlyto Andregg's chalet."

  "To be sure; and how do the rocks look where it has retired?"

  "Rubbed smooth, like this, herr."

  "Of course; and there is no denying this fact. It must have been amighty glacier indeed."

  They went after the mule up the valley, content to follow the animal'sguidance; and invariably, as Melchior pointed out, Gros picked out thebest path. As they went right on the valley contracted, and the sides,which towered up more and more perpendicularly, displayed the peculiar,smooth, polished look, just as if masses of stone had constantly groundagainst their sides.

  "Now, Saxe, look here," cried Dale, suddenly pausing by a great mass ofgrey stone. "Here is a proof that I am right."

  "Is it? I don't see."

  "Do you, Melchior?"

  "No, herr. The stone is very big."

  "Yes. How did it come here?"

  "Oh, it must have rolled down from the rock up yonder."

  "If it had rolled down from the rock up yonder, it would have been apiece of that rock!"

  "Of course, herr. Here are plenty of pieces," and he touched them withthe handle of his ice-axe.

  "Yes, you are right," said Dale, picking up a great fragment; "and youcan see this is the same kind of stone as that which towers up here overour heads."

  "Yes, herr."

  "But this great block is a different kind of stone, is it not!"

  Melchior looked at the vast mass, and said at once:

  "Yes, herr, of course. It is the grey hard stone that they use forbuilding bridges."

  "Well, where did it come from! There is none up here to right or left."

  "No, herr--none."

  "It could not have been brought here by man."

  Melchior laughed.

  "No; a hundred horses could not have dragged it along a hard road."

  "But it has been brought here, you see, all the same. Now, where is thenearest place where we could find stone like that!"

  "Oh, on the Domberg, herr, at the head of the pass. We shall go beneathit six hours from here."

  "Exactly, Melchior," cried Dale. "That proves what I say. This hugemass of granite must have fallen from the Domberg on to the glacierwhich once filled this limestone valley, and have been gradually carrieddown and left here. Such a glacier as the one which polished all theserocks could easily have brought down that block; and when in bygone agesthe ice melted, this block was left here. I dare say we shall find morelike it."

  "Oh yes, herr, there are many," said Melchior, thoughtfully examiningthe stone and then picking up other pieces to compare with it. "Theherr's words seem like truth, but I should never have thought of that."

  "It took, too, long thought and study of some of our greatest men tofind it out," said Dale, "and I am glad to have come to a valley whichshows all we have read so plainly."

  "Stop! take care!" shouted Melchior, as a strange rushing sound washeard high up on their right; and directly after a large stone camebounding down the slope, fell on the smooth rocks before them, andsmashed to atoms.

  Melchior stood looking up, shading his eyes.

  "That is curious," he said thoughtfully. "I do not know why that stoneshould have fallen."

  "Loosened by the frost, man."

  "No, herr. It could not have come from high enough. There is no ice upthere. You have to pass another valley first. The high mountain isbeyond it, and the stones would fall into the next valley."

  "It must have been loosened, then, by the rain."

  "Perhaps, herr; but it is more likely that a goat--No, there are nogoats pastured so far up as this, and no man could be travelling upthere. Herr, would you like to shoot a chamois?"

  "Indeed I should; but we have no gun."

  "No, herr, I forgot: we have no gun. But that must have been a chamois.We are getting into the wild region where they live, though this is lowdown for them."

  "But surely," said Dale, "they would get no pasture higher up?"

  "Only in patches, herr. They have been so persecuted by the huntersthat they live constantly amongst the ice and snow and in the mostsolitary spots. But I cannot understand about that stone falling."

  "Well, it doesn't matter," said Saxe. "It did not hit either of us, andyou said they often fell in the mountains."

  "Yes herr, but not like that."

  They went on for the next two hours in silence, while the pass they werefollowing grew more an
d more wild, but it opened out a little during thenext hour, but only to contract again. And here, in a secluded placebeneath one of the vast walls of rock which shut them in, and beside atiny rivulet which came bubbling and foaming down, the guide suggested ashort halt and refreshment.

  Dale agreed, and Saxe doubly agreed, helping to lift the pannier fromthe mule's back, when the patient animal indulged in a roll, drank alittle water, and then began to browse on such tender shoots and herbageas it could find.

  The bread and cheese were produced, and all were seated enjoying theiralfresco meal, when once more from up to their right a stone as big as aman's head came crashing down, to fall not far away. So near was itthat it startled the mule, who trotted a little on out of danger beforebeginning again to graze.

  Melchior had sprung to his feet at once, leaped away for a shortdistance, and stood shading his eyes again, and scanning the rocky faceof the precipice on their right--that is, just above their heads.

  "Well, what do you make of it?" cried Dale,--"a landslip?"

  "No, herr; there is no landslip."

  "Is it the advance-guard of an avalanche?"

  "Without snow, herr? No."

  "Come and eat your bread and cheese, Melk," cried Saxe; "it is only aloose stone tumbled down, and no one was hit."

  "But I cannot eat, herr, with the knowledge that some one is hurlingdown stones upon our heads. Do you know that either of those fallingstones would have killed us?"

  "Yes, but they did not hit us," said Saxe.

  "But surely there is no one up there to hurl down stones?" said Dale.

  "I don't know, herr," said the guide, shaking his head.

  "But you said you thought it was a chamois," cried Saxe.

  "I did, herr, but I'm afraid I was wrong. I am not a believer in suchthings; but some of our people would say that the spirits of themountains are displeased with us for coming here, and are throwingstones to drive us back."

  "They're pretty strong, then, to throw such stones as that," said Saxe,with his mouth full of Swiss cheese.

  "Yes," said Dale, looking at the stone which had fallen; "and they takevery bad aim--eh, Saxe?"

  "Awfully: I could do better than that. Why, if I were up there Ibelieve I could hit either of you."

  "But it might be only to frighten us," said Melchior seriously.

  "Why, Melchior, my man, surely you do not believe in such childishnonsense as that?"

  "No, herr, not when I have English gentlemen with me; but there aretimes on the mountains, when I am quite alone and I hear noises that Icannot understand, that I do get fancying strange things, and all theold stories I have heard as a boy come back to me."

  "And then you say to yourself, `I am a man who puts his trust in reason,and shall not let myself be scared by silly tales.'"

  "Well, yes, herr, something of the kind," replied the guide, smiling.

  "There goes another stone!" cried Saxe, as a smaller one fell aboutfifty yards farther on.

  "Yes," said the guide; "and it is as if somebody were climbing alongthere, near the edge of the rocks, and sent them down."

  "Ah! that's more like an explanation," cried Dale, laughing. "Somebody.Yes, you must be right. Somebody with feet and hands, like ourselves.Can you see who it is?"

  "No, herr," said Melchior, after a long examination; "and it puzzles me,for who could be climbing along up there?"

  Dale shrugged his shoulders. "Impossible to say."

  "Yes, herr, it is impossible to say," said Melchior, who was stillwatching the precipice; and he was now joined by Saxe. "You see,anybody who wished to get along the pass would come down here."

  "But there may be a path up yonder."

  "No, herr, there is none, or I should have known of it years ago. Ihave been up there, and it is so perilous that no one but a bold climbercould get along. Well, it is one of the many things I have seen andheard in the mountains that I could not understand. Shall we go on,herr?"

  "Yes, and we'll keep a sharp look-out," said Saxe.

  "You may," cried Dale; "but you will find it is something perfectlysimple--a stray foot, if the stone is not loosened by the weather."

  Ten minutes later they were trudging on over the rough ground, with thevalley growing wilder and more strange; presenting, too, plenty ofclefts and openings to ravines which Dale felt disposed to stop andexplore; but Melchior was always ready with the same form of speech.

  "Wait, herr," he said. "It would only be labour in vain. We'll go ontill I get you into the parts where none but the most venturesome guideshave been. If crystals are to be found, it will be there."

  "What's that?" said Saxe suddenly, pointing upwards.

  His companions looked at once in the direction indicated, and sawnothing particular.

  "Does the young herr mean that strangely shaped thing!"

  "No, no. Something ran across there hundreds of feet up, where that bitof a ledge is in front of the pale brown patch of stones."

  "A marmot, perhaps," said Melchior; "there are many of the little thingsabout here."

  "But this was not a little thing," cried Saxe impatiently. "It wassomething big as a goat. I thought it was a man."

  "Up yonder, herr?" said Melchior. "No man could run along up there. Itwould be slow, careful climbing, and a slip would send the climberheadlong down into the valley here. From where you say, is quite athousand feet."

  "It must have been a goat, then, or a chamois," said Saxe.

  "I cannot say, herr," replied the guide rather solemnly, and as if hehad faith in the possibility of something "no canny" being at the bottomof the mystery.

  But the rest of their day's journey, as mapped out for them by Melchior,was achieved without further adventure, and some ten hours after theirstart in the morning he halted them high up among the mountains, in alittle rock amphitheatre, surrounded by peaks, which looked gigantic inthe solemn evening light.

  But the need of the ordinary animal comforts of life took all romanticthought out of Saxe's brain, and he busily set to work helping to lighta fire with the wood the guide had brought. Then, while the kettle wasgetting hot, all three busied themselves in setting up the tiny tent,anchoring it by means of its lines to stones, as soft a spot as could befound having been selected, for they were far above the pines, and theprospect of getting anything suitable for a bed was very small--evenmoss proving scarce. However, a rug spread beneath them saved them fromsome of the asperities of the rocky ground, and after they had partakenof their evening meal and taken a short peep round the huge hollow,which promised admirably for exploration next day, "good nights" weresaid, and Saxe lay down for his first test of what it would be like tosleep under the shelter of a thin tent eight thousand feet above thelevel of the sea.

  "Is there any need to keep watch up here?" asked Dale.

  "Oh no, herr; not the slightest."

  "Then welcome sleep to my weary bones," said Dale, as he stretchedhimself out; and soon after, as the stars came out, they were allsleeping peacefully, but only to be aroused just after midnight by amost unearthly scream--a cry loud enough to make every one spring atonce to his feet and nearly upset the tiny tent.