"Here is the fountain," said I; "and now our path to the right—"
"Lies through a gap in these rocks."
"An ugly place!"
"Is your rifle loaded, Dick?"
"Yes,—and capped too," said I.
Passing through a gorge in the piles of rock that rose on our right, we found ourselves in a large and rugged ravine, through which, under masses of creepers, there brawled a rough black mountain torrent, and by its side there wound a narrow path.
This ravine had been formed by that convulsion of nature which took place during the visit of Alphonso de Albuquerque and Tristan de Cunha, when the famous diamond was said to have first become visible.
The stupendous cone of the great Piton rose before us at the end of the ravine. In some places the latter was dark as blackest night could be, while the former, for some thousand feet of its height, below even the region of laurels, was bathed in a pure white flood of silver sheen, for a splendid moon had now arisen from the sea.
After proceeding with our horses at a walk for about a mile, looking carefully for the next landmark mentioned by the hostalero, Hislop drew up and dismounted, saying,—
"Here it is, Dick."