What did the old rascal expect to gain from the interview he wondered?
Up and up the narrow path they went, till at length a small natural platform in the shoulder of the hill was reached, and here the ragged creature in front of Dacre paused and turned.
The moonlight smote full upon him, revealing him in every repulsive detail.

His eyes burned in their red-rimmed sockets as he lifted them.
But he did not speak even after the careless saunter of the Englishman had ceased at his side.

The dash of the stream far below rose up like the muffled roar of a train in a tunnel.

The bed of it was very narrow at that point and the current swift.
For a moment or two Dacre stood waiting, the cigar still between his lips, his eyes upon the gleaming caps of the snow-hills far away.

But very soon the spell of them fell from him.