ghs overhead, I caught a glimpse of the evidences of human labor.
This odd passage, crooked and intricate, at times so steep as to
require the chiselling of steps in the solid rock, wound in and out
along the side of the cliff, then ran back into the very face of the
precipice, for more than a hundred and fifty yards. Suddenly we
emerged, fifty yards back from the crest, in the heart of a great
circular hole resembling the crater of a burned-out volcano, having
great ragged points of rock, blackened as if incased with lava, jutting
up upon every side, and forming as desolate and barren a picture as
ever eyes looked upon.

I was completely fagged by this time, the climb being a heavy one, and
I noticed De Noyan was ghastly of face, his body trembling like that of
a palsied man. But our relentless drivers permitted no halting to
recruit strength. The Chevalier was evidently in greater distress than
I, so from pity I bade him lean on my shoulder; but as he sought to
draw near, the merciless brute on guard struck him savagely, and there
was such shaking of spears and fierce uproar on the part of our escort,
we could do naught else than set our teeth to it, and go staggering on.
The slight path, if it might be named a path, led in and out among the
black lava cones in such labyrinthine fashion that no man could hope to
retain memory of its course, while the floor being of irregular stone,
the passing feet left no trail for future guidance. We travelled
blindly, and reckless through suffering and exhaustion, some distance,
until, perhaps a mile above the spot where we had surmounted the cliff,
a sudden twist was made to the right, our company creeping on all fours
through a narrow opening, having a great tree-trunk on one side and a
huge black bowlder on the other. We came forth high in air above the
swift, deep water, footing the insecure bark of a rude tree-bridge
spanning the current. Once safe on the other bank, our path merely a
narrow shelf of stone, we wormed around a sharp projection of the
cliff, rising to even greater height than in the gorge below. A dense
mass of interlaced and overshadowing cedars was partially pressed
aside, partially crawled under, and from this we finally emerged into
an open space, containing, I imagine, not far from five hundred acres
of land, having vast towering precipices of black frowning rock on
every side, with no outlet apparent, save to one blessed with wings.
Saint Andrew! 't