The crevasse narrowed, and the distant peaks of the Matterhorn approached nearer.

Min was close to me, so close that I could almost touch the hand she held out to guide my steps.

I heard her say, "Come, Frank, come! courage, and you're safe!" I was stepping across a thin ice bridge, which I suddenly perceived in front of me, leading over the gulf that separated us.

I felt her warm, violet breath on my cheek.

I was just planting my feet on the further side of the glacier, and going to clasp her in my arms, when--the frail platform on which I was crossing gave way:--I fell downward through the chasm with a shriek of terror that she re-echoed, and--I awoke! Again, I was in the midst of an arid, sandy desert.