Having Finished Our Meal, I And My Uncouth Companion
Went Forth And Prepared To Ascend The Mountain.
We stopped to examine a small dismantled fort or battery facing the
bay; and whilst engaged in this examination, it more than once
occurred to me that we were ourselves the objects of scrutiny and
investigation:
Indeed I caught a glimpse of more than one
countenance peering upon us through the holes and chasms of the
walls. We now commenced ascending Finisterra; and making numerous
and long detours, we wound our way up its flinty sides. The sun
had reached the top of heaven, whence he showered upon us
perpendicularly his brightest and fiercest rays. My boots were
torn, my feet cut, and the perspiration streamed from my brow. To
my guide, however, the ascent appeared to be neither toilsome nor
difficult. The heat of the day for him had no terrors, no moisture
was wrung from his tanned countenance; he drew not one short
breath; and hopped upon the stones and rocks with all the provoking
agility of a mountain goat. Before we had accomplished one half of
the ascent, I felt myself quite exhausted. I reeled and staggered.
"Cheer up, master mine, be of good cheer, and have no care," said
the guide. "Yonder I see a wall of stones; lie down beneath it in
the shade." He put his long and strong arm round my waist, and
though his stature compared with mine was that of a dwarf, he
supported me, as if I had been a child, to a rude wall which seemed
to traverse the greatest part of the hill, and served probably as a
kind of boundary.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 440 of 809
Words from 121404 to 121683
of 222596
