“They thought the dog had gone mad, and backed away as he advanced threateningly.  Then suddenly his snarl turned to a mournful howl that was lost in frightful cracking as the ice-bridge broke away.  Rex was never seen again, but his warning prevented those four men from being smothered in the chasm under hundreds of feet of snow.  So, you see, this little fellow comes of royal blood.  That is why we named him ’Prince Jan.’  He looks just like his father, too!”

Jan thrust his warm nose into Brother Antoine’s hand.

“I want to be like my father and Barry,” he said, hoping they would understand him, as he understood them.  “I will do my very best to be worthy of them both!”

The visitors and the monk did not know what Jan said, but the other dogs understood.  Bruno’s dim eyes beamed on the pup.

“You will be a credit to us all, Prince Jan!”

The strangers and Brother Antoine left the yard, and the dogs formed in little groups to talk among themselves, as they always did when new people came to see them.

“That man came from America,” Bruno said to Jan’s mother.

“Lots of people from America visit us,” she replied, trying not to yawn, for the storm had kept her awake.  All night, while she felt the warm little bodies of the puppies pressed against her side, she had stared into the darkness, thinking of the time when Prince Jan and his brother must go out, like their father, Rex, to do the work of the St. Bernards.

“Yes,” Bruno added in a queer voice, “but this man said he was from California, where they never have any snow!”

“What?” shouted all the dogs together.  “A place where they never have any snow?  Oh, what a funny place that must be!”

“What do they walk on?” asked Jan’s mother curiously.

Before Bruno could answer, Jan shoved up and said earnestly:  “But, mother, how do dogs save people where there is no snow?”

“I am sure I don’t know,” she told him.  “Ask Bruno.”

Neither Bruno nor any of the other dogs could explain this mystery, though Jan went to each in turn for an answer to his question.  At last he lay down, his nose wedged between his paws, his yellow forehead wrinkled with thought, and he stared across at the tops of the great white peaks above the enclosure until his soft eyes closed in sleep.  Soon he was dreaming that he was digging travellers from the snow and asking them, “Won’t you please tell me how a dog can save people in a land where there is no snow?”

But none of them could answer his question.

Chapter III

A NEW WORLD

The next morning Mr. Pixley and Brother Antoine returned to the kennel yard and Jan wagged his tail politely to show that he recognized the visitor, who leaned down and patted him while talking to the monk.

“You may be sure he will receive the very best care,” said the man from California.