"There," he said, "there can't be anything worse than that, and
we'll soon be on green grass again.

They passed other smaller crevasses, but they could make their
way around the ends of these, and it was not long before they had
scrambled over the rocks at the glacier's edge and once more
stood on solid ground. Even Bello seemed to realize that their
troubles were now nearly over, for he barked and ran round them
in circles and leaped up with his paws on their shoulders to give
them dog kisses, and, as for his tail--he nearly wagged it loose
in his joy. The goats sprang forward to reach the grass, and when
the children drove them on, snatched greedy mouthfuls as they
passed. The children could see the farm-house growing from a mere
speck larger and larger as they came down the valley toward it,
and at last the little group of stragglers pattered into the door-
yard.

The noise of bleating goats and a barking dog brought the
farmer's wife to the door, and for a moment she stood there with
her baby in her arms and looked down at them in astonishment,
just as the old herdsman had done on the mountain.

"Where in the world did you come from?" she cried at last. "Who
are you? and what do you want here?"

Leneli opened her mouth to answer, but when she saw the woman's
kind face, and the baby sucking its thumb and looking at them
solemnly, it reminded her so of her mother and Baby Roseli that,
instead of explaining, she burst into tears.