This was a most unpleasant interruption to their expedition. They consulted what had best be done. Paul proposed to go back immediately to the village to procure surgical aid, but this Kuno would not listen to; he was sure that rest would bring him relief; it would be quite time enough to consult a Tyrolean village doctor when the hurt was proved to be serious, which he was quite certain was not the case. He begged his friends to proceed quietly without him, and he would wait here a couple of hours until Paul should return, after having accompanied Leo to the castle-gate. By that time the pain would have abated sufficiently to allow of his walking back the short distance they had come. It certainly was no misfortune to lie on the soft moss for a couple of hours and enjoy the lovely landscape. At first Paul and Leo refused to agree to Kuno's plan, but after they had examined his ankle, and convinced themselves as far as was possible for the uninitiated in the science of surgery that the leg was neither broken nor seriously injured, they consented to do as he desired. They left him lying comfortably on the grass lighting a cigar, and once more Leo advised Paul to pursue the road where they could not go wrong. This, however, the latter was less inclined to do than before. "Can I leave our wounded knight alone in the desert for so long?" he asked. "The foot-path is much shorter than the worthy postmaster said. As soon as I have delivered you safely to your uncle I shall return by the same path to Kuno." The shortest road! Many a one among the mountains has found that the shortest road to his destination has proved the longest for him in the end. Thus it was with Delmar and Leo. As long as the foot-path led through the bushes it was easy to trace; it was evidently not much frequented, but the grass was worn upon it and it could not be missed; the case, however, was different when it emerged upon a steep, stony waste,--here it suddenly vanished, and even Leo's practised eye could find no signs of it over the stones. "I think it would be better to go back to the road," said Leo, after vainly searching about. "Then we must retrace our steps, for we cannot turn to the left, where it lies, because of that deep chasm." "Better go all the way back than lose our time and our way, as the landlord warned us we should among these stones." "We have come a quarter of a mile at least, and as we have been always ascending we must be half-way up. I cannot see how we can go wrong,--there is the castle always before us to point the way. The nearest way is the best. Let us scramble directly up over these stones, and we must reach the castle." Leo was not convinced, but he yielded and followed Paul, who began to clamber sturdily over the stones.