"Yes. I have taken one lady on it this year beside you. She was German, however, not English. They were a large party; four gentlemen and one lady. She was stout—oh, very stout. At first she was frightened, and said she could not ride thus; and, indeed, it was difficult to get her on. She had great fear at first; but she soon got used to it, and said she liked it."
"Better than the mule did, perhaps?" we asked.
Colonna looked at us stolidly. The comprehension of a joke, however mild, was not in his nature.
But having finished the last scrap of bread and cheese, and searched our pockets for the last raisin, for the frosty mountain air made us hungry, we called to our recumbent friend, and leaving the two poor mules dinnerless, and fastened by their bridles to a felled trunk upon the lonely plateau, we commenced our descent upon the other side.
The view was magnificent; we were surrounded on all sides by precipitous walls of snow rising abruptly from the lofty valley into which we were entering. Monte Cinto was on the one side, and Monte Artica on the other; and dense forest clothed the slopes on either hand, and on into the valley far below for many miles.
The main road here was again completely blocked up by snow, so the guide led us across the valley by a short cut, to emerge lower down where the route would be clear.
Our descent, however, though shorter, was covered by deep snow, whereas the Bocca from which we started above was free. As it was also excessively steep and invaded by one or two treacherous little streams, burrowing underneath false snow arches, our steps were somewhat eccentric, and we had some difficulty in keeping up with the guide's long strides, as, at almost every footstep, we buried ourselves in snow up to the knees.
We had just reached the little clearing at the bottom, preparatory to turning aside to the now clearer main route, when it began to rain.
"Will you turn back?" asked the guide promptly; "it is going to rain all the rest of the day."
"It is only a mountain shower," said we; "why should we turn back? It will clear up directly."