There was a group of trees just at
the foot of the path, which increased the gathering gloom.
"My poor child will be tired of waiting," he thought, and he began to
climb the steep ascent more rapidly than usual.
All at once a faint cry reached him; he stopped and listened, but it did
not come again.
The way was very slippery, he thought; his feet seemed to be clogged
with soft earth, and he stopped at last to breathe. Then he heard
another cry, and the sound of footsteps behind him.
Some one was following him up the dangerous ascent. And as his ears took
in the sound he heard Anna's voice some way below.
[Sidenote: "You cannot climb To-night!"]
"Father! father! stop! stop!" she cried; "there is a landslip above; you
cannot climb to-night."
George Fasch stopped. He shut his eyes and opened them again. It seemed
to him that he was dreaming. How came Anna to be at the foot of the pass
if it was not possible to climb to the top of it?
"What is it, Anna? Do you mean that I must come down again?" he said
wonderingly.
"Yes, yes; the path above is destroyed."
And once more he wondered if all this could be real.
"Father, can you come down with the pack, or will you unfasten it and
leave it behind?"
George Fasch thought a moment.
"You must go down first," he said, "and keep on one side; the distance
is short, and I think I can do it; but I may slip by the way.
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