been reached, where they look to see if any person is waiting. It is not
unusual for the dogs to stay out all night in a hard storm. There have
been many instances of their remaining away for two days and nights,
without food or shelter, though at any time they could have come home."

"Our guide showed us the cabin," interrupted the older man. "The
footprints of the dogs proved they had been there a short time before
us. We followed their tracks until the storm covered them. It was a
lucky thing the storm did not break earlier."

"The dogs would have found you, Mr. Pixley," the monk replied. "You see,
since we have had a telephone from the Hospice, each time travellers
start up the trails, we know when they leave Martigny or Aosta and how
many are on the way. If they do not reach here in reasonable time, or a
storm breaks, we send out the dogs at once. It was much harder in the
other days, before we had telephones, for we could not tell how many
poor souls were struggling in the snow. The dogs seemed to understand,
too, and so they kept on searching until they believed they had found
all."

"I would not have attempted this trip had I not been assured that it was
too early for a bad storm," said Mr. Pixley. "It is foolhardy, not
courageous, to face these mountains in a winter storm. I cannot imagine
any one being so rash as to try it, but I suppose many do?"

"During the winter only poor peasants travel the Pass," was Brother
Antoine's answer. "They cross from Italy to seek work in the vineyards
of France or Switzerland for the summer. When summer is over they return
home this way, because it would mean a long and expensive trip by rail,
which would take all they have earned for a whole year. An entire family