268 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE . 
Muriel laughed cheerfully. 
“ Conduct us to the foot of the Needle, 
Heinrich/ 1 she answered, “ and leave the 
rest to us. Perhaps you will get a surprise. ” 
“ Nothing that American Herren do would 
surprise me/’ said the guide, resignedly. 
“ Why does this one carry a rope ? Does he 
mistrust mine ? ” 
li American Herren have many fads, and this 
is his/’ replied the girl , with a chuckle. Lahn 
grunted. 
“ I am a plain man — I am not a riddle- 
solver;’ he announced. “ It will be as well 
to reserve our breath for propelling our bodies. 
Vorwarts ! ” And so in silence he continued 
to lead upon the upward path. 
Day was breaking as the four stepped off 
the edge of the famous Sudletch Glacier on 
to the bare ribs of rock which buttress the 
Gemscnhorn. Three thousand feet above 
their heads it soared into the air, clean cut 
against the opal of the dawn. The guide 
looked at it with searching attention. 
“ Better luck than I expected,” he ex- 
plained at last. “ Last night’s shower missed 
this. No fresh snow to make verglas in the 
big chimney.” 
O’Rorke stared about him curiously. 
“ A chimney ? ” he debated. “ A chim- 
ney ? ” 
Carthew smiled a trifle superciliously. 
“ Look at that patch of snow to the left. 
Tt is the groove which reaches from there to 
the slabs which disappear in the shadow of 
the overhanging crag two hundred feet 
higher,” he explained. 
O’Rorke nodded solemnly. 
“So that’s a chimney?” he soliloquized. 
“ If you’d said the open fireplace, now— with 
a special reminder that the bars were all out 
of the grate — there’s one chance in fifty I 
might have captured your meaning, I hope 
my waistcoat buttons are well sewed on. 
They’re going to be my principal means of 
support.” 
££ There’s the rope,” said Carthew, dryly. 
“ Are you satisfied that it is reliable ? 
Because in that case why not leave the one 
you arc carrying ? We shall drop our ruck- 
sacks here after we have breakfasted.” 
The American looked at the cord which 
attached him on one side to the guide and on 
the other to Muriel, who in her turn was 
linked to Carthew. Then he fingered the 
rawhide which was still coiled about his own 
shoulder. 
“ It’s a sort of mascot with me— a lariat,” 
he explained. “ I think I’ll stick to it.” 
Something suspiciously like a wink, Carthew 
was annoyed to notice, accompanied this I 
pronouncement. It was directed, too, to 
Muriel Fren ton’s address. 
A quarter of an hour’s halt was allowed 
while the party drank cold tea and disposed 
of bread and hard-boiled eggs. When Lahn 
rose he turned to the American with some- 
thing of pessimism in his air. 
“ The Herr will not move while T am 
moving,” he commanded. “ Where I put 
my feet he will place his. Before he places 
any weight upon a hold he will try it. So 
only can we proceed in safety.” 
O’Rorke nodded. 
“ Sure ! ” he assented, and gripped the 
staff of his ice-axe. Lahn turned and heaved 
himself up on to a narrow, overhanging ledge. 
For the next two hours he led unerringly 
from shelf to shelf. At first he paid a very 
special attention to the man immediately 
behind him, showing by word and gesture 
exactly how each difficulty had to be over- 
come. The American made no comment, 
but with an easy assurance did as he was 
told, winning at last the compliment of an 
inarticulate but satisfied grunt. Ten minutes 
later, as a thin foothold suddenly gave way, 
leaving the leader hanging by his hands alone, 
he was surprised to find his boot seized from 
below and thrust into a new and deeper niche. 
He stared over his shoulder almost sus- 
piciously. 
“ The Herr was very quick — and skilful,” 
he allowed. 
O’Rorke made no answer, but Carthew 
wore something like a frown. He felt it as 
almost insufferable that the tenderfoot of 
the party should actually be showing presence 
of mind and resource. How could one look 
forward to the humiliation of a rival like that ? 
As the climbers emerged at last by way of the 
slabs on to the shoulder of the peak a new 
view came into prospect. Away to the left, 
springing from the main body of the rock 
and outlined against the skv, rose an irregular 
mass, in shape not unlike a closed fist from 
which the index finger alone was lifted. The 
whole hand, so to speak, jutted out from the 
crag, a ruined tower of granite representing 
the thumb, a rugged ridge-like lump the 
knuckles, while on the outmost edge a slender 
pinnacle tapered fifty feet into the air. It 
overhung a void which seemed illimitable. 
Lahn halted and wiped his brow. 
“ So ! ” he grumbled. “ The Herr has 
done excellently, and that is the Needle. ' 
He flung out his arm in indication. The 
gesture seemed, somehow, to imply a sort of 
fatalistic contempt. 
