“We have far to go,” said Death to our friend, as soon as they had left the villa. “I will order my chariot.” He tapped the ground with his foot, and a rumbling noise, like that which precedes an earthquake resounded beneath the ground.
The two friends were soon enveloped in an ash-colored vapor, in the midst of which there appeared a sort of ivory coach, in the style of those we see in the bas-reliefs of pagan times. The most casual observer would have seen at a glance that the chariot was not of ivory, but of human bones, cleansed and joined with exquisite workmanship, but without having lost their original form.
Death gave his hand to Tito, and they entered the carriage, which rose in the air with the lightness of a balloon, the single difference being that it was guided by the will of the occupants.
“Although we have far to go,” continued Death, “we have more than enough time; for this chariot will fly as rapidly as I desire, and as quickly as the imagination; we can go alternately fast and slow, making the circuit of the globe in the three hours at our disposal. It is now nine o’clock at night in Madrid. We will travel toward the northeast, and so avoid meeting the sunlight immediately.”
Tito remained silent.
“Magnificent! Thou art determined to maintain silence,” continued Death, “then I alone must talk. But all that thou art about to contemplate will distract, and soon make thee break that silence. Onward!”
The chariot, which had oscillated in the air, without direction, from the time our travellers had entered it, then put itself in motion, just grazing the earth with an indescribable velocity.
Tito saw at his feet, mountains, trees, ruins, precipices, plains, all in quick succession.
From time to time some bonfire revealed a simple shepherd’s hut; but more frequently the carriage passed rather slowly over the tops of great rocky masses, piled up in rectangular forms, between which, great shadows crossed, preceded by a light; and at the same time they heard the ringing of bells, tolling for death or striking the hour (which is about the same), and the song of the watchman who repeated it. Death then laughed, and the carriage again flew extremely fast. As they advanced toward the east, the darkness was more intense, the quietness of the cities more profound, and the silence of nature greater.