The Crystal Hunters Part 66

"Gone!--stolen!" he cried. "That man must have gone off with them on the mule."

"Did the herr call?" said Melchior, hurrying up.

"You here, Melchior?" stammered Dale in his surprise. "But yes. Look!

The crystals! We laid them there. Do you know where they are gone?"

"No, herr. But are you sure?"

"Sure, man! Yes, and--ah! Look at that!" he continued, pointing at the tent wall. "A slit has been cut in it with a knife."

Melchior rushed outside and examined the slit.

"Yes," he said, shaking his head; "cut with a sharp knife. It must have been whilst we slept."

"And by some one who must have been watching our movements."

"There!" cried Saxe excitedly. "I knew it. I felt sure that we were being watched."

"Whoever it is cannot have gone far," said Dale sternly. "It is the same party that stole the crystal before. Now, Melchior, which way are they likely to have gone?--of course back toward the valley!"

Melchior shook his head.

"But they must. There is no other road, you say."

"Oh yes, herr: there are ways for good climbers."

"But a good climber cannot get up and down dangerous places with half a hundredweight of stones on his back, man."

"No, herr. They would not carry the stones very far: they would hide them."

"And go back without them!"

"No, herr. If the object of watching us is to get the crystals, they will still be hiding to see if we find more."

"Yes, you may be right," said Dale, after a few moments' thought.

"Here, let's have a good look round in different directions."

Melchior looked at him half pityingly.

"Which!" he said at last. "Has the herr thought how impossible it would be to hunt good climbers down in these wilds! Look!" he continued, waving his hand round; "the great wilderness is everywhere, and there are thousands of places where men could hide."

"Yes, I know all that," cried Dale impatiently; "but I am not going to sit down quietly and be robbed like this of the specimens I have worked so hard to get. What do you say, Saxe!"

"Get 'em back at any cost. I think they are Italian brigands from the other side who have done it."

"No, herr," said Melchior. "It is the work of some of our people, who are greedy and jealous. There are some who would sooner work hard for a month to find an opportunity to steal a few francs than work honestly for a week to earn double. Fortunately they are very few."

"Then you would give up and not search for them!" said Dale angrily.

"I would search for them, herr; but it would end in failure. This must be done by men who know these high mountains as well as I do. Why, if I wished to hide here, there are places I could get to where I should never be found."

"But the hiding people want food!"

"Yes, herr," said the guide drily; "and they have got it. A great deal of what I brought up with Gros has gone. I thought the young herr here had taken some of it; but I see now."

"Then, what would you do?"

"I would not waste time in hunting for what we shall never discover, herr. It may be hidden in the mountains, or down some creva.s.se in the great glacier. Those crystals were very fine, but we left others behind in the grotto as beautiful. Why not go and get these, and take what we find at once to a place of safety?"

"At once? You forget how long a journey it is back."

"No, herr. It is far; but once we have them we must watch, and not be robbed again like this."

Dale stood thinking for a minute or two, Saxe watching him eagerly.

"Very good advice," he said; "and I will follow it, but not to-day.

Saxe, you must be guardian over the camp. No: we shall want your help, my lad. Put some food in your wallet, Melchior; and we will try and trace these people, for there must be more than one."

"Yes, herr; there must be more than one," said Melchior; and hastily making the provision required, he said that he was ready.

"Now, then," cried Dale; "which way first?"

"One way is as good as another, herr," replied the guide. "It is all chance. We may go upon their track; we may go right away. Shall I lead?"

"Yes," said Dale, frowning; and the search began and lasted till darkness forced them to give up and seek their couches, tired out. For, taking the camp as a centre, they went off from it and returned, from every possible direction: not that there were many, for the vast precipices and hollows around compelled them to be select in their routes.

But it was all in vain, and from starting there was nothing that guided them in the slightest degree: for they were in a wilderness where footprints only showed upon the snow; and wherever they approached an ice field it was to find the pure white mantle unstained, and not even showing the track of a bird.

"Will the herr continue the search to-morrow, or go to the grotto?" said Melchior, as they lay down to sleep.

"Continue the search," said Dale sternly; and the next day and the next they toiled on, going farther and farther into the mountains, but there was no other result than weariness.

"It's enough to make one believe in Melchior's goblins," said Dale petulantly, "all those beautiful crystals to have been spirited away like that. But never mind: we shall find them to-morrow, I feel sure."

But when to-morrow came Dale did not feel so sure; and, altering his mind, to Saxe's great delight, they took the mule and started for the grotto once again.

Dale went first, and the mule followed, Saxe walking behind with Melchior, until they reached the black ravine.

"I am glad," the boy said, as they trudged along over the rock and ice.

"It was all waste of time trying to catch those fellows."

"Yes, herr--quite."

"Have you no idea as to whom it could be, Melk?"

"No, herr, not the least. Mr Dale must have talked about his journey to some one as you came, and clever people have been let to watch you."

"Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk, even if it is Swiss milk,"