happened, but stood lamenting afar off, not daring to go to the rescue. In
a short time the poor donkey ceased kicking, and swelled up in a manner
horrible to behold.

All nature now appeared to be baking. Even the blackberries, which I ate
by the handful to slake my raging thirst, were warm. A long, straight road
that I thought would never end brought me at length to Vayrac, where there
was a good inn. Oh, the luxury of rest at last in a shaded room, with the
companionship of a jug of frothing beer just brought up from the cool
cellar!

* * * * *

Months passed before I continued from this point my journey on foot. The
spring had come, and the face of nature was wondrously changed. Over the
valley that I had seen before so parched had spread the soft verdure of
young grass; hedges of quince were all abloom, and at their roots the
stitchwort mingled its white starry flowers with the matchless blue of the
Germander speedwell, so dear to English eyes. The roadsides were bright
with daisies and the gold of the ill-appreciated dandelion.

A lane from Vayrac led up to the escarped sides of the Puy d'Issolu--the
Uxellodunum of the Cadurci, according to Napoleon III. and others who have
made Caesar's battlefields in Gaul their study. It was April, and from near
and afar came the warbling of nightingales. They moved amongst the new
leaves of almost every shrub and tree. A very abrupt ascent through
thickets brought me to the tableland, where the turf was flashed with
splendid flowers of the purple orchids. From the waste land the sombre
junipers rose like scattered cypresses in a cemetery.