"It is not necessary to look farther for Maso's acquaintance with your
features," returned Pierre, laughing; "for of all who live in Italy, there
is not a man who has more frequent occasions to know the
authorities; but we linger, in this gossip. Urge the beasts upwards,
Etienne--presto!--presto!"
The muleteers answered this appeal by one of their long cries, which has a
resemblance to the rattling that is the well-known signal of the venomous
serpent of this country when he would admonish the traveller to move
quickly, and which certainly produces the same startling effect on the
nerves of the mule as the signal of the snake is very apt to excite in
man. This interruption caused the dialogue to be dropped, all riding
onward, musing in their several fashions on what had just passed. In a few
minutes the party turned the crag in question, and, quitting the valley,
or sterile basin, in which they had been journeying for the last half
hour, they entered by a narrow gorge into a scene that resembled a crude
collection of the materials of which the foundations of the world had been
originally formed.
Pages:
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533