The boy told his little sister his thought and she followed him.

But the way down to the “neck” was not to be found.

However clear the sun shone, however beautifully the snowy heights stood there, and the fields of snow lay there, yet they could not recognize the places over which they had come the day before.  Yesterday, all had been veiled by the immense snowfall, so they had scarcely seen a couple of feet ahead of them, and then all had been a mingled white and gray.  They had seen only the rocks along and between which they had passed; but today also they had seen many rocks and they all resembled those they had seen the day before.  Today, they left fresh tracks behind them in the snow; yesterday, all tracks had been obliterated by the falling snow.  Neither could they gather from the aspect of things which way they had to return to the “neck,” since all places looked alike.  Snow and snow again.  But on they marched and hoped to succeed in the end.  They avoided the declivities and did not attempt to climb steep slopes.

Today also they frequently stood still to listen; but they heard nothing, not the slightest sound.  Neither was anything to be seen excepting the dazzling snow from which emerged, here and there, black peaks and ribs of rock.

At last the boy thought he saw a flame skipping over a far-away snow-slope.  It bobbed up and dipped down again.  Now they saw it, and then again they did not.  They remained standing and steadfastly gazed in that direction.  The flame kept on skipping up and down and seemed to be approaching, for they saw it grow bigger and skipping more plainly.  It did not disappear so often and for so long a time as before.  After awhile they heard in the still blue air faintly, very faintly, something like the long note of a shepherd’s horn.  As if from instinct, both children shouted aloud.  A little while, and they heard the sound again.  They shouted again and remained standing on the same spot.  The flame also came nearer.  The sound was heard for the third time, and this time more plainly.  The children answered again by shouting loudly.  After some time, they also recognized that it was no flame they had seen but a red flag which was being swung.  At the same time the shepherd’s horn resounded closer to them and the children made reply.

“Sanna,” cried the boy, “there come people from Gschaid.  I know the flag, it is the red flag that the stranger gentleman planted on the peak, when he had climbed the Gars with the young hunter, so that the reverend father could see it with his spyglass, and that was to be the sign that they had reached the top, and the stranger gentleman gave him the flag afterward as a present.  You were a real small child, then.”

“Yes, Conrad.”

After awhile the children could also see the people near the flag, like little black dots that seemed to move.  The call of the horn came again and again, and ever nearer.  Each time, the children made answer.