"But that won't hinder his being led astray. And I shall deceive them all, rogues as they are, over and over again, as you'll see, with this precious pair of old boots. Two parties of spies have been buried under avalanches already. And though they go peering and prowling about every dwelling and outhouse in the valley, asking their sly questions, 'Where's _Sandvird_? when was he last seen?' they always get the same stupid, indifferent-like answer, 'I don't know.'" Rudolf drawled this out in such ludicrous caricature, that Theresa could not help laughing heartily. "But it is too shocking to laugh about," said she, checking herself with a deep sigh. "Poor father!" "I am convinced he will escape them, Theresa. He is not a sanguine man; but when we parted, he said with such steadiness, 'I trust in God, in my faithful brothers, and in a certain nook in Passeyr,' that I believed him." "How did mother bear up?" "Oh, bravely. We travelled quite silently, for more reasons than one. Our voices might have been heard--they might have brought an avalanche down upon us from the Oetzberg--and our hearts were heavy. When we got to the châlet, however,--(it lies very high up, quite among the glaciers!) we found it situated in a kind of little kessel,[D] so as to be very unlikely to be discovered. A thicket of pines shelters it; there is a little pool or pond near the door; a stable below, a loft above, in which Johann and I slept--or rather, he whimpered himself to sleep, but I lay awake, thinking matters over." "No wonder!--Ah!--" (sighing.) "Well, I thought it was no good to stay there till it got too light, especially as it was snowing, which would prevent my retracing our track if I delayed, and effaced mine along with it if I were quick. The Sandwirth was serious, but quite calm and hearty. Your good mother offered me some breakfast, but I would not diminish their little store." "That reminds me, Rudolf! They will soon be in want of food!" "Soon, but not just yet. I think we may leave them alone another week." "Oh, only think if their stock should fall short! Cold, peril, and famine _too_!" "Well, then, at the end of this week, which will be in four days, I will start off with a fresh supply if I _can_." "If you _can_?" "Yes, Theresa; remember everything does not depend on me; the weather may be tempestuous, the search more vigorous and less easily baffled; but what man _can_ do, I _will_ do, rely upon it." Theresa rewarded him with a grateful look, and then began to milk the cow. He stood by her the while. "How everything has changed, Theresa!" "Changed _indeed_--" "_I_ am not changed." "Nor I." "The winter, with its snows and its ice-blasts, is not more different from the summer, with its ripe fruits and sunshine, than the prospects of the Tyrolese now are, from what they were a few months, even weeks, ago!"