They found a flat stone, and when Festing leaned against another Helen resumed:  “We meant to try the Stairs, but have had a hard day and Alison is lame.”

“I hurt my foot,” Miss Jardine explained.  “Besides, I’m from the level Midlands and we have been walking since breakfast.  That doesn’t matter to Helen; she is never tired.”

Festing thought Helen looked remarkably fresh.  Exertion and the mountain air had brought a fine color to her face, her eyes were bright, and there was a hint of vigor in her resting pose.  Moreover, he had studied the Stairs, which led behind the shoulder of the crag to the summit.  One could get up, if one was thin enough to squeeze through a gap between two rocks, but nerve and agility would be required.

“But you must climb pretty well, if you meant to get up the Stairs,” he said.

“I know the Carnarvon range, but only go there now and then, and one needs some training to keep pace with people born among the fells who walk like mountain goats.”

Had she said a mountain deer, Festing would have approved, for he had noted Helen’s easy balance and fearless grace as she crossed the ragged blocks of stone.  Then a rumble of distant thunder rolled among the crags and Miss Jardine resumed:  “We ought to fix upon the best way down.”

“The best is a rather elastic term,” Helen rejoined.  “The easiest would be to go back by the way we came.”

“It’s much too far.”

“The shortest is up the crag by the Stairs or the gully on the other side.  The regular track takes us down near the bottom of the next dale, and then back over the top.”

“That’s unthinkable,” Miss Jardine declared.

“Well,” said Helen thoughtfully, “there’s a short line down the scree and across the shoulder of the fell below, but it’s steep and rough.  There are some small crags, too, but they’re not much of an obstacle when they’re dry.”

They set off and Festing noticed Helen’s confidence on the scree.  The descent was safe, but looked daunting, because their figures made a sharp angle with the gravel slope, and now and then a mass of dislodged stones rushed down hill.  Sometimes the girl allowed herself to slide, sometimes she ran a few yards and sprang, but she did not stumble or lose her balance.  Miss Jardine was cautious, and Festing kept near her, carrying her sack.

At the bottom they came to a wide belt of massive stones, fallen from the heights above, and their progress was slow.  One had to measure the gaps between the blocks and step carefully across, while the stones were ragged and had sharp corners.  Festing was unable to look up and followed Helen, but after a time Miss Jardine stopped, and he saw that the crags were smothered in leaden cloud and all the sky was dark.

“I must have a few minutes’ rest,” the tired girl declared.

As they sat down on the edge of a ponderous slab there was a crash of thunder that rolled from rock to rock, and a few big drops fell.  Then as the echoes died away the hillside was hidden by a curtain of driving rain.  One end of the slab was tilted and they crept into the hollow underneath.