"I expect that last crag will give us enough practice in that," remarked Donald. "I've brought a rope with me in case we want it--got it wound round and round my waist under my coat." "Oh, that explains why you look so stout to-day!" laughed Meg. "I should think it's pretty uncomfortable." "Not a bit of it! It keeps me warm. I call it jolly cold up here." "I believe we've reached the Arctic zone!" agreed Gipsy. The air had undoubtedly grown colder with every hundred feet of their ascent. The sunshine had disappeared, grey clouds had gathered, and feathery flakes of snow began to fall lightly. The grass was soon covered with a thin white coating which gave a delightfully Alpine aspect to the scene. The prospect was glorious--the sharp, splintered, snow-crested crags stood out in bold relief against the neutral-tinted sky, and the long stretches of moor below them looked soft and blurred masses of whiteness. "We can find our way home by our footsteps in the snow!" said Gipsy, drawing long breaths of the pure, exhilarating air. "I wonder if we ought to turn back," said Meg, rather doubtfully. "Turn back!" exclaimed Donald. "You don't mean to say you want to turn tail now, Meg? Why, we're just getting to the exciting part!" "I was only thinking of the snow." "Why, that makes it all the more like Switzerland! You don't suppose Dad turns back at the snowline when he's doing a climb? We're in luck to have the chance of a little snow. I wish there'd been a keen frost, and we could have tried an ice axe somewhere. Pluck up your courage, Meg! You'll never do the Matterhorn if you shirk Hawes Fell!" Thus encouraged Meg said no more, though she had her private doubts about the wisdom of proceeding farther. It is an unpleasant task to be a drag on other people's amusement, and both Donald and Gipsy were very keen on making the ascent. So they scrambled onward and upward, slipping often on the rapidly freezing rocks, helping each other over difficult places, sighing for nailed boots and alpenstocks, but laughing and enjoying the fun of the adventure. To climb to the summit certainly taxed all their strength. The mountain seemed to heave before them in a succession of huge boulders, and as each one was scaled another appeared beyond it. At length they reached a piled confusion of rocks, where a little cairn had been built of small stones and loose pieces of shale. "There we are! The very place!" shouted Donald. "I knew we'd find it if we pegged along. Now, can you girls tackle this last bit? Wouldn't you like to use the rope?" The final piece of crag was slippery enough to justify Donald's offer, and as he seemed particularly anxious not to have brought his rope in vain, the others consented to give it a trial. With its aid the difficult bit was accomplished fairly easily, and the three were soon standing in triumph by the cairn, hurrahing and waving their handkerchiefs with much excitement.