This last thought had hardly crossed his brain when a feeling of wild excitement rushed through him; for faintly heard from far away below, and to his left, there came the shrill chirruping note of an officer's whistle, and Gedge s.n.a.t.c.hed at the spike of his helmet, plucked it off, and waved it frantically in the air.

"Hoorray!" he yelled. "Hoorray! and I don't care if any one hears me.

Hoorray! He ain't dead a bit; he's down somewhere in the soft snow, and hoorray! I'm going to get him out."

At that moment the whistle chirruped faint and shrill again, the note being repeated from the vast wall.

"He's this side somewhere," cried Gedge. "Out o' sight under this curl-over o' snow. There he goes again, and I haven't answered. Of all the--"

The cramming of his fingers into his mouth checked the speech, and, blowing with all his might, the young soldier sent forth a shrill imitation of the officer's whistle, to echo from the mountain face; and then, unmistakably, and no echo, came another faint, shrill whistle from far to the left.

"All right, Mr Bracy, sir! Hoorray! and good luck to you! I'm a-coming."

He whistled again, and went off in the direction from which his summons seemed to have come, and again he was answered, and again and again, till, quite a quarter of a mile along the edge, the young soldier stopped, for the whistles had sounded nearer and nearer, till he felt convinced that he had reached a spot on the snow hanging just above his summoner's head.

As he stopped he whistled again, and the answer sounded shrill and near.

"Below there! Ahoy!" he yelled, and mingling with the echoes came his name, faintly heard, but in the familiar tones.

"Oh dear! What's a chap to do?" panted Gedge. "I want to holler and shout, and dance a 'ornpipe. Here, I feel as if I'm goin' as mad as a hatter. Hi! Oh, Mr Bracy--sir--ain't--half--dead--are--yer?" he shouted, as if he had punctuated his words with full stops.

"Not--much--hurt," came up distinctly.

"Then here goes!" muttered Gedge. "I must try and get a look at yer, to see where yer are."

The speaker threw himself on his faces once more, and began to crawl towards the edge of the cornice, to look down into the fairly-light chasm; but shrank back only just in time to save himself from going down with a great patch of snow; and he listened, shudderingly, to the dull rush it made, followed by a heavy pat and a series of whispering echoes.

Then faintly heard came the words: "Keep back, or you'll send an avalanche down."

"What's a haverlarnsh?" muttered Gedge. Then aloud, "All right, sir.

Can yer get out?"

"I don't know yet. I must rest a bit. Don't talk, or you'll be sending the snow down."

"All right, sir; but can't yer tell me what to do?"

"You can do nothing," came slowly back in distinct tones. "The snow curves over my head, and there is a tremendous depth. Keep still where you are, and don't come near."

"Oh, I can keep still now," said Gedge coolly. "It's like being another man to know that's he's all alive. Oh! can't be very much hurt, or he wouldn't call like he does. Poor chap! But what's he going to do?

Climb up the side somehow? Well, I s'pose I must obey orders; but I should like to be doing something to help him out."

Gedge was of that type which cannot remain quiet; and, feeling irritated now by his enforced state of helplessness, he spent the time in looking down and around him for signs of danger.

The sun was now above the horizon, lighting up the diversified scene at the foot of the mountain, and away along the valleys spreading to right and left; but for some time he could make out nothing save a few specks in the far distance, which might have been men, or a flock of some creatures pasturing on the green valley-side, miles beyond the termination of the snow-slope up which they had climbed. He made out, too, the continuation of the stony track leading to the head of the valley, and along which the party of tribes-men had been seen to pa.s.s; but there was apparently nothing there, and Gedge drew a breath full of relief as he felt how safe they were, and beyond the reach of the enemy.

Then, turning to the gulf again, he went as near as he dared to the edge, and stood listening to a dull sound, which was frequently repeated, and was followed by a low rushing noise, which kept gathering in force till it was like a heavy rush, and then dying away.

"What's he doing?" muttered Gedge. "Sounds like digging. That's it; he's been buried alive; and he's hard at work trying to dig himself out of the snow with his bayonet stuck at the end of his rifle. Well, good luck to him. Wonder where he'll come up first."

Gedge watched the cornice-like edge of the snowfield as the sounds as of some one feebly digging went on; but he could gain no further hint of what was going on, and at last his excitement proved too much for him, and he once more began to creep towards the edge of the snow, getting so far without accident this time that he could form an idea of what must be the depth from seeing far down the grey face of the wall of rock, certainly four or five hundred feet, but no bottom.

"He couldn't have fallen all that way," he said to himself. "It must go down with a slope on this side."

A sharp crack warned him that he was in danger, and he forced himself back on to firm snow, receiving another warning of the peril to which he had exposed himself, for a portion many feet square went down with a hissing rush, to which he stood listening till all was still once more.

Suddenly he jumped back farther, for from somewhere higher up there was a heavy report as of a cannon, followed by a loud echoing roar, and, gazing upward over a shoulder of the mountain, he had a good view of what seemed to be a waterfall plunging over a rock, to disappear afterwards behind a b.u.t.tress-like ma.s.s of rock and ice. This was followed by another roar, and another, before all was still again.

"Must be ice and snow," he said to himself; "can't be water."

Gedge was right; for he had been gazing up at an ice-fall, whose drops were blocks and ma.s.ses of ice diminished into dust by the great distance, and probably being formed of thousands of tons.

"Bad to have been climbing up there," he muttered, and he shrank a little farther away from the edge of the great chasm. "It's precious horrid being all among this ice and snow. It sets me thinking, as it always does when I've nothing to do.--If I could only do something to help him, instead of standing here.--Oh, I say," he cried wildly, "look at that!"

He had been listening to the regular dull dig, dig, dig, going on below the cornice, and to the faint rushing sound, as of snow falling, thinking deeply of his own helplessness the while, wondering too, for the twentieth time, where Bracy would appear, when, to his intense astonishment, he saw a bayonet dart through the snow into daylight about twenty feet back from the edge of the great gulf.

The blade disappeared again directly, and reappeared rapidly two or three times as he ran towards the spot, and then hesitated, for it was dangerous to approach the hole growing in the snow, the direction of the thrusts made being various, and the risk was that the weapon might be darted into the looker-on. Gedge stood then as near as he dared go, watching the progress made by the miner, and seeing the hole rapidly increase in size as the surface crumbled in.

Then all at once Gedge's heart seemed to leap towards his mouth, for there was a sudden eddy of the loose snow, as if some one were struggling, the bayonet, followed by the rifle, was thrust out into daylight, held by a pair of hands which sought to force it crosswise over the mouth of the hole, and the next instant the watcher saw why.

For the caked snow from the opening to the edge of the gulf, and for many yards on either side, was slowly sinking; while, starting from the hole in two opposite directions, and keeping parallel with the edge; of the cornice, a couple of cracks appeared, looking like dark jagged lines.

It was a matter of but a few moments. Gedge had had his lessons regarding the curving-over snow, and knew the danger, which gave him the apt prompt.i.tude necessary for action in the terrible peril.

Dropping his own rifle on the ice, he sprang forward, stooped, and, quick as a flash, caught hold of the barrel of the rifle lying on the surface just below the hilt of the bayonet. Then throwing himself back with all the force he could command, he literally jerked Bracy out from where he lay buried in the loose snow and drew him several yards rapidly over the smooth surface. The long lines were opening out and gaping the while, and he had hardly drawn his officer clear before there was a soft, dull report, and a rush, tons of the cornice having been undermined where it hung to the edge of the icefield, and now went downward with a hissing sound, which was followed by a dull roar.

"Ah-h-h!" groaned Gedge, and he dropped down upon his knees beside the prostrate snowy figure, jerked his hands towards his face, and then fell over sidewise, to lie motionless with his eyes fast closed.

When he opened them again it was to see Bracy kneeling by his side and bending over him, the young officer's countenance looking blue and swollen, while his voice when he spoke sounded husky and faint.

"Are you better now?" he said.

"Better!" replied Gedge hoa.r.s.ely as he stared confusedly at the speaker.

"Ain't been ill agen, have I! Here, what yer been doing to make my head ache like this here? I--I--I d' know. Something's buzzing, and my head's going round. Some one's been giving me--Oh, Mr Bracy, sir! I remember now. Do tell me, sir; are yer all right?"

"Yes, nearly," replied the young officer, with a weary smile. "Twisted my ankle badly, and I'm faint and sick. I can't talk."

"Course not, sir; but you're all right again now. You want something to eat. I say, sir, did you finish your rations?"

"No; they're here in my haversack. You can take a part if you want some."

"Me, sir? I've got plenty. Ain't had nothing since when we had our feed together. I ain't touched nothing."

"Eat, then; you must want food."

"Yes, I am a bit peckish, sir, I s'pose; but I can't eat 'less you do."

Bracy smiled faintly, and began to open his snow-covered haversack, taking from it a piece of hard cake, which he began to eat very slowly, looking hard and strange of manner, a fact which did not escape Gedge's eyes; but the latter said nothing, opened his canvas bag with trembling hands, and began to eat in a hurried, excited way, but soon left off.

"Don't feel like eating no more, sir," he said huskily. "Can't for thinking about how you got on. Don't say nothing till you feel well enough, sir. I can see that you're reg'lar upset. Ain't got froze, have you--hands or feet?"

"No, no," said Bracy slowly, speaking like one suffering from some terrible shock. "I did not feel the cold so much. There, I am coming round, my lad, and I can't quite grasp yet that I am sitting here alive in the sunshine. I'm stunned. It is as if I were still in that horrible dream-like time of being face to face with death. Ha! how good it is to feel the sun once more!"