Part 27 (1/2)
”Yes, Monsieur, you've been asleep,” said the hunter, with a quiet laugh, gently letting go his hold of the arm as he became fully persuaded that Lewis was by that time quite awake and able to take care of himself.
”Have you been asleep too?” asked Lewis.
”Truly, no!” replied the hunter, rising with care, ”but you have had full three hours of it, so it's my turn now.”
”You don't say so!” exclaimed Lewis.
”Indeed I do; and now, please, get next the cliff and let me lie outside, so that I may rest with an easy mind.”
Lewis opposed him no longer. He rose, and they both stood up to stamp their feet and belabour their chests for some time--the cold at such a height being intense, while their wet garments and want of covering rendered them peculiarly unfitted to withstand it. The effort was not very successful. The darkness of the night, the narrowness of their ledge, and the sleepiness of their spirits rendering extreme caution necessary.
At last the languid blood began to flow; a moderate degree of warmth was restored, and, lying down again side by side in the new position, the hunter and the student sought and found repose.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
DANGER AND DEATH ON THE GLACIER.
Daylight--blessed daylight! How often longed for by the sick and weary!
How imperfectly appreciated by those whose chief thoughts and experiences of night are fitly expressed by the couplet:--
”Bed, bed, delicious bed, Haven of rest for the weary head.”
Daylight came at last, to the intense relief of poor Lewis, who had become restless as the interminable night wore on, and the cold seemed to penetrate to his very marrow. Although unable to sleep, however, he lay perfectly still, being anxious not to interrupt the rest of his companion. But Le Croix, like the other, did not sleep soundly; he awoke several times, and, towards morning, began to dream and mutter short sentences.
At first Lewis paid no attention to this, but at length, becoming weary of his own thoughts, he set himself with a half-amused feeling to listen. The amus.e.m.e.nt gave place to surprise and to a touch of sadness when he found that the word `gold' frequently dropped from the sleeper's lips.
”Can it be,” he thought, ”that this poor fellow is really what they say, a half-crazed gold-hunter? I hope not. It seems nonsensical. I never heard of there being gold in these mountains. Yet it may be so, and too much longing after gold is said to turn people crazy. I shouldn't wonder if it did.”
Thoughts are proverbial wanderers, and of a wayward spirit, and not easy of restraint. They are often very honest too, and refuse to flatter.
As the youth lay on his back gazing dreamily from that giddy height on the first faint tinge of light that suffused the eastern sky, his thoughts rambled on in the same channel.
”Strange, that a chamois-hunter should become a gold-hunter. How much more respectable the former occupation, and yet how many gold-hunters there are in the world! Gamblers are gold-hunters; and I was a gambler once! Aha! Mr Lewis, the cap once fitted you! Fitted, did I say? It fits still. Have I not been playing billiards every night nearly since I came here, despite Captain Wopper's warnings and the lesson I got from poor Leven? Poor Leven indeed! it's little gold that he has, and _I_ robbed him. However, I paid him back, that's one comfort, and my stakes now are mere trifles--just enough to give interest to the game. Yet, shame on you, Lewie; can't you take interest in a game for its own sake?
The smallest coin staked involves the spirit of gambling. You shouldn't do it, my boy, you know that well enough, if you'd only let your conscience speak out. And Nita seems not to like it too--ah, Nita!
She's as good as gold--as good! ten million times better than the finest gold. I wonder why that queer careworn look comes over her angel face when she hears me say that I've been having a game of billiards? I might whisper some flattering things to myself in reference to this, were it not that she seems just as much put out when any one else talks about it. Ah, Nita!”
It is unnecessary to follow the youth's thoughts further, for, having got upon Nita, they immediately ceased their wayward wandering practices and remained fixed on that theme.
Soon afterwards, the light being sufficient the mountaineers rose and continued their descent which was accomplished after much toil and trouble, and they proceeded at a quick pace over the glacier towards the place where the chamois had been left the previous day.
”Why are you so fond of gold, Le Croix?” said Lewis, abruptly, and in a half-jesting tone, as they walked along.
The hunter's countenance flushed deeply, and he turned with a look of severity towards his companion.
”Who said that I was fond of it?”
”A very good friend of mine,” replied Lewis, with a light laugh.
”He can be no friend of mine,” returned the hunter, with contracted brows.
”I'm not so sure of that,” said the other; ”at least if you count _yourself_ a friend. You whispered so much about gold in your dreams this morning that I came to the conclusion you were rather fond of it.”