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The Crystal Hunters: A Boy's Adventures in the Higher Alps, a fiction by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 39. Saxe Sees A Kobold |
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_ CHAPTER THIRTY NINE. SAXE SEES A KOBOLD "I don't approve of our hunt for crystals to turn out such a failure," said Saxe one day, after they had had their rest and spent another fortnight in the valley, making short excursions in various directions. "It is disappointing," replied Dale; "but we did succeed, though we have lost the fruit of our success." "Well, that's the part of it that I don't like," said Saxe. "It seems so precious hard. But you will not give up yet!" "No: I propose staying another month, or till the weather breaks up. If we begin to have rain and snow, we shall soon want to get down to the lower grounds." "That is what always puzzles me," said Saxe; "for with the mountains rising up all round us, we seemed to be on the low grounds here--down in this valley." "You forget that we are between five and six thousand feet above sea-level here." "Between five and six thousand!" said Saxe thoughtfully. "Six thousand; and the cross of Saint Paul's is only four hundred and four. Why, this valley here is nearly fifteen times as high, and it does not seem high a bit!" "But it is my lad, all the same." There was a few minutes' silence, and then Saxe began again: "You win not give up the crystal hunting?" he said. "Yes, I think I shall--at all events, for this year. You see it is such a matter of accident. You found that partly--well, by accident." "No," said Saxe sharply, "not by accident: I was looking for it." "Yes; but it was by mere accident that we were in the right spot. There--never mind the crystals. We have had a delightful trip, made an excellent collection of Alpine plants, and you have had a good early apprenticeship to mountaineering. Better still, we have escaped unhurt, in spite of the one or two rather serious accidents." "Yes," said Saxe thoughtfully, "that's true. How soon are we going up another mountain?" "What! have you not had enough climbing?" "No: I should like to go up a dozen more." "Then you will be disappointed for this season, Saxe. Melchior will tell you that it will soon be risky to attempt the high Alps. But as you want an expedition, what do you say to one up the great glacier again--this time as far as we can get?" "This glacier?" "No, no: the one in the high valley. We might camp again in the narrow niche." "And go up the Black Ravine, and examine that lower grotto?" "Well--yes, if you like. I do not feel very anxious, for the memory of that place is too much associated with my disappointment." "When shall we go?" "Make your hay while the sun shines, my boy. The weather is so settled that we cannot do better than go to-morrow." "I was going with Melk to the Silbern See to-morrow, for trout; but I'd rather visit the great glacier." "Then go and tell Melchior that we will be off in the morning. I want to make some notes about the movement of the glacier, and perhaps we may descend one or two of the crevasses where the ice is not so thick." Saxe started off to where Melchior was busy fitting an iron spike to a stout ashen alpenstock. "Now, Melk!" he cried: "off to-morrow again!" "Where to, herr? over into Italy?" "No: into the cold country again. Mr Dale wants to visit the great glacier once more." "To search for the crystals?" "Oh no. Don't talk about them to him. It only makes him angry. But we are going to stay up there two or three days; so take a good load of provisions and blankets, so as to make it warmer in the tent." Melchior looked pleased, and rose to speak to Pierre about the mule, and ordered him to chop up some pine-wood small, to act as kindling to start a fire when that collected might be wet. Then Andregg and his wife were summoned, and received their orders about bread, butter, poultry and cheese; after which Saxe had a happy thought. "Look here, Melchior!" he said; "I like milk in my coffee." "Yes, herr, it is pleasant. I will take a bottleful." "Oh, but I want it every day!" "We could not take a cow up there." "No; but we might take a goat." The guide laughed. "Yes, we might take a goat," he said; "but it would be rather troublesome." "Oh no, I'll look after her. I've watched Pierre milk time's enough, and I'm sure I can do it." "Very well, herr: if you don't mind goat's milk, I'll get one that will run beside the mule." This fresh idea was received with a good deal of laughter by the old peasant and his wife; but a goat was selected as suitable for the purpose, and the preparations were completed by Pierre, of the heavy, stolid face, bringing in the mule, and haltering it in the stable beneath the chalet. Saxe was the first to wake next morning at dawn and rouse Dale and the guide, the little party starting off soon afterward, before the sun was up, with the mule heavily laden, and the goat trotting, along by its side contentedly enough. Once or twice it made a bound or two up the steep rocks by the track, and Saxe was about to start in pursuit. "There goes my breakfast milk!" he shouted; but the guide restrained him. "She has only gone to crop a few mouthfuls," he said; and so it proved, for the active little animal returned to the track again farther on. The way to the great glacier--or gros gletscher, as Melchior called it-- was now familiar, so that the various points of view had ceased to extort ejaculations of wonderment from Saxe, who trudged on, with geological hammer in hand, "tasting," as he called it, the different stones they passed. "For who knows?" he said: "I might hit upon gold or silver!" "You would have to hit that kind of stone much harder to make it produce gold," said Dale, laughing. Saxe went on in silence for a time, and then broke out with-- "Never mind: I did find the crystals, and perhaps I shall hit upon another grotto yet." "Pray do," said Dale merrily. "But at any rate we will have a few of the best from the lower grotto in the Black Ravine." "Yes; and I would have a good search down there," said Saxe: "we may find a fresh place." "Well, we shall see, my lad; we shall see." The journey to the niche was made leisurely enough, with no further excitement than a false alarm or two raised by Saxe, who felt sure that they were being followed; but, as he was only laughed at for his pains, he turned sulky, and went on without looking back. He played with the goat, which took to him in the most affectionate way, snowing its appreciation by butting at him when he did not expect the kindly attention; and he became the best of friends with Gros, who climbed on, uttering low sighs of satisfaction as soon as Saxe had hit upon the idea of scratching here and there with the point of the geological hammer, and whinnying impatiently for a continuance of the titillation as soon as the boy ceased. Then the niche was reached, looking quite familiar with the traces of their old fireplace; the tent was set up and secured with blocks of granite instead of tethering pegs, and Saxe gave a grunt of pleasure as he saw the preparations for the evening meal. "How about the goat, Melk?" he said: "will she want tethering?" "Oh no, herr: she will not leave us and Gros. Those animals are too fond of company to go far. They get tiresome now and then from being too familiar." The night passed quietly enough. It was cold; and, at the height they had reached, the stars shone out frostily; but the sleep was deliriously refreshing, and Saxe rose the next morning ready for a journey to the Black Ravine. The mule was taken to carry back any specimens that they might decide to bring away, and the goat insisted upon following, having apparently no intention of being left alone, and setting Gros an excellent example in climbing. In the Black Ravine the two grottoes were well searched, and the lower one found to be fairly extensive; but no specimens were found worthy of notice, and they returned to camp. The next day was spent in another expedition higher up the glacier valley, which was followed till the snow became so deep as to be laborious to pass over, and, after exploring two similar ravines to the last, they returned once more to camp, where Melchior drew Saxe aside to ask him if he noticed anything. "Eh? No," said the boy. "Perhaps I am wrong, then," said the guide. "I thought the tent had been interfered with, as if some one had touched it." No more was said; but these words set Saxe thinking till it was bedtime, when Melchior startled him by saying quietly-- "Don't laugh at me, herr. I do try to be firm, and to set aside all the old stories of demons, dragons and goblins in the mountains. I wish the herr would have a watch kept again, for I am afraid that this gletscher valley is bewitched." Saxe looked at him for a moment wonderingly, and then laughed. "Don't let Mr Dale hear you talk like that," he said. "It will make him cross. He says there is no need to keep watch; and that it is so tiring." Saxe had forgotten the incident in the conversation which ensued; and after the discussion of the plans for the ensuing day, he went to his sleeping-place to think about the blue-ice grotto at the bottom of the glacier where the milky stream issued, and lie wondering how far up they would be able to explore it, and whether it would be possible to get up as far as the crevasse out of which they had rescued the guide. "Wouldn't be worth the trouble," he said to himself, in the middle of a yawn. "Plenty of crystals, but the wrong sort--ice crystals--won't keep." It only seemed to be the next minute that he was sitting up in the darkness listening and realising that he had been asleep. He had been dreaming, he was sure, but had not the least idea what about; and all he knew now was that he was hot and thirsty. He rose and quietly unfastened the little canvas fold which served as a door, and went out to find the kettle and have a good draught of water; but it was so mawkishly warm, that he turned from it in disgust, and began to ascend higher to where the little fall came, down, with its pure, icily cold stream. The night was glorious, and as he looked up he felt that he had never seen so many or such large stars before. So grandly was the arch of heaven bespangled, that he stopped to gaze upward for a few minutes, till, the sensation of thirst growing more acute, he went on, with the towering wall of rock to right and left, and the moist odour of the falling water saluting his nostrils, as he went close up to where one tiny thread of water fell bubbling into a rocky basin, edged with moss-- the spot where water was obtained for regular use, its crystal purity tempting the thirsty to drink. Saxe placed a hand on the rock on either side, bent down till his lips touched the surface, and then drank with avidity, every draught being delicious. "Make any fellow sleep," he said to himself, as he raised his head; and he was in the act of passing his hand across his wet lips, when he became suddenly petrified, and stood there motionless, gazing straight before him at a hideous object, apparently not a yard away. It looked misty and dim in the semi-darkness, but plain enough for the boy to see apparently a huge head resting in a pair of hands, which held the chin and pressed up the long loose cheeks on either side, curving up the monstrous mouth into a ghastly grin. The forehead was low, and the eyebrows were shaggy, while from beneath them glared into his a great pair of glowing eyes, that flashed at times and sparkled in the starlight, which rained down on and through a bush of dark, tangled hair, a portion of which hung below the head on either side, and stood out wildly around. There was no movement but in the eyes, and these literally held the boy, so that for a time he could do nothing but stare at the horrible-looking object, which seemed to come nearer to him--so near that it almost touched him; then receded, till it was almost invisible, and once more stood quite still. But it was not moving, and Saxe still had sufficient command over self to know that this effect was produced by the mist from the fall being wafted between them by the soft night wind. How long he stood bent forward there gazing at that horrible head Saxe did not know, but by degrees he began to shrink back slowly, getting farther and farther away, till he dared to turn and run with all his might to the tent door, and creep in, fully expecting that the monster was about to spring upon him till he was inside, when he fastened the canvas door with trembling fingers, and crept to his bed again, where he lay down quickly, with his breath sobbing and the perspiration standing in great drops upon his face. The sensation was upon him that the terrible being he had seen would begin breaking in through the canvas directly, and he lay there with one arm stretched out ready to wake up Dale for help at the first sound outside the tent. As he now lay trembling there, he recalled Melchior's words about the valley being bewitched, the falling stones, the disappearance of the crystals; and he was fast growing into a belief that the old legends must be true, and that there really existed a race of horrible little beings beneath the earth, whose duty it was to protect the treasures of the subterranean lands, and that this was one of them on the watch to take the crystals from their hands. But in the midst of the intense silence of the night better sense began to prevail. "It's all nonsense--all impossible," he muttered. "There are no such things, and it was all fancy. I must have seen a block of stone through the falling water, and I was half asleep and nearly dreaming at the time. Why, if I were to wake Mr Dale and tell him, he would laugh at me. It was all a dream." But, all the same, he lay shivering there, the aspect of the face having startled him in a way that at times enforced belief; and it was getting rapidly on toward morning when he once more fell asleep, to dream of that hideous head and see the terrible eyes gazing right into his own. _ |
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