light; or it would have been difficult even for the well-trained horses
of the caravan to have kept their footing along the dangerous way,
encumbered as it was with fallen masses of rock.

Like chamois, however, they scrambled up the steep mountain-side, and
safely carried their riders round frightful projections and past
dangerous, dizzy precipices. So wild, so romantic was the scene, with
its shifting lights and shadows, its sudden bursts of silvery lustre
where the valley lay open to the moon, and its depths of darkness in many
a winding recess, that even Madame Pfeiffer's uncultured companions were
irresistibly moved by its influence; and as they rode along not a sound
was heard but the clatter of the horses' hoofs, and the fall of rolling
stones into the chasm below. But all at once thick clouds gathered over
the moon, and the gloom became so intense that the travellers could
scarcely discern each one his fellow. The leader continually struck fire
with a flint, that the sparks might afford some slight indication of the
proper course. But this was not enough; and as the horses began to miss
their footing, the only hope of safety consisted in remaining immovable.
With the break of day, however, a gray light spread over the scene, and
the travellers found themselves surrounded by a circle of lofty
mountains, rising one above the other in magnificent gradation, and
superbly dominated by one mighty snow-crowned mass.

The journey was resumed. Soon the travellers became aware of the fact
that the path was sprinkled with spots of blood. At last they came to a
place which was crimsoned by a complete pool; and looking down into the
ravine, they could see two human bodies, one lying scarcely a hundred
feet below them, the other, which had rolled further, half hidden by a
projecting crag. From this scene of murder they gladly hastened.