340 THE BED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA. 
" ' Because — I'll tell you before long, if what I am 
afraid of turns out to be true.' 
Uncle looked troubled when he said this, and it wor- 
ried us all a little. Somehow, we had a feeling, a pre- 
sentiment I suppose you'd call it, that all our trip was to 
be for nothing. Still, we kept on. 
That night we camped on the moraine, where we 
went to get off the ice, which was chilling us through. 
We hadn't a spark of fire, and I didn't know but we'd 
freeze to death before morning. Oh, what a long 
night ! " 
Robert spread out his hands to the fire as he spoke, and 
shivered at the bare recollection. 
" Well, you may be sure we were on our way bright 
and early the next morning. We left the glacier at about 
ten o'clock, and reached the foot of the great peak itself 
an hour later. You can imagine how we felt, mother, 
laying our hands on the A^eritable Red Mountain of 
Alaska, that we had been travelling a year to reach. 
" And now comes the queerest part of the story." 
Mrs. Button, Florence, and indeed all who had been 
left behind, leaned forward eagerly to listen. 
"When we came to examine the rock, it was — not 
cinnabar at all ! " 
The faces of the listeners fell. It was a terrible disap- 
pointment to them, as it had been to the men when they 
made the discovery. 
" Well," said Mrs. Dutton, heaving a deep sigh, as she 
