A WALK TO FISCH13ACHAU. 51 



" Well, if the rain ceases and the weather clears, we 

 will start tomorrow early. When yo$ are ready, call 

 me." 



At least twenty times that day T had been to the win- 

 dow, peering, or rather trying to peer, through the clouds 

 of mist, to see if no blue sky were visible. Sometimes 

 the heads of the opposite mountains — the Klein Miesing, 

 the Jager Kamm, and others — would show themselves 

 just above the gloomy mantle whose undulating folds 

 floated around them; but then the spirit of the storm 

 would come sweeping on to recover his supremacy, bring- 

 ing up an array of dim clouds from the chasms that di- 

 vided the mountains, and soon all was again enveloped 

 in impenetrable gloom. It had rained the whole of that 

 day and the preceding night in sullen perseverance, 

 and there seemed no hope of change ; when in the after- 

 noon the wind gave sign of his approach, for fragments 

 of mist like flying banners came hurrying past, and 

 bearing down on the cohorts of clouds that had, till 

 now, in sturdy masses defied the sun, tore great rents 

 through them, and sent them flying in all directions. 

 How glad we were of his victory, and how we rejoiced to 

 see the scattered remnants of that vast army of clouds 

 trying in vain to re -assemble ! The strong wind put them 

 utterly to the rout. We now saw that snow had fallen 

 on the tops of the mountains. Over the flat land the sun 

 was again visible, and there was every prospect of fine 

 weather on the morrow. We looked out again at night, 

 and the firmament was strewn with stars. What more 

 could we desire? 



e 2 



