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ashes with a blaze: this, I supposed, had both given me my dream and
robbed me of it. I was bitterly disappointed, and sitting up on my
elbow, came back to reality and my strange surroundings as best I could.

I was thoroughly aroused--moreover, I felt a foreshadowing as though my
attention were arrested by something more than the dream, although no
sense in particular was as yet appealed to. I held my breath and waited,
and then I heard--was it fancy? Nay; I listened again and again, and I
_did_ hear a faint and extremely distant sound of music, like that of an
AEolian harp, borne upon the wind which was blowing fresh and chill from
the opposite mountains.

The roots of my hair thrilled. I listened, but the wind had died; and,
fancying that it must have been the wind itself--no; on a sudden I
remembered the noise which Chowbok had made in the wool-shed. Yes; it
was that.

Thank Heaven, whatever it was, it was over now. I reasoned with myself,
and recovered my firmness. I became convinced that I had only been
dreaming more vividly than usual. Soon I began even to laugh, and think
what a fool I was to be frightened at nothing, reminding myself that even
if I were to come to a bad end it would be no such dreadful matter after
all. I said my prayers, a duty which I had too often neglected, and in a
little time fell into a really refreshing sleep, which lasted till broad
daylight, and restored me. I rose, and searching among the embers of my
fire, I found a few live coals and soon had a blaze again. I got
breakfast, and was delighted to have the company of several small birds,
which hopped about me and perched on my boots and hands. I felt
comparatively happy, but I can assure the reader that I had had a far
worse time of it than I have told him; and I strongly recommend him to
remain in Europe if he can; or, at any rate, in some country which has
been explored and settled, rather than go into places where others have
not been before him. Exploring is delightful to look forward to and back
upon, but it is not comfortable at the time, unless it be of such an easy
nature as not to deserve the name.




CHAPTER V: THE RIVER AND THE RANGE


My next business was to descend upon the river. I had lost sight of the
pass which I had seen from the saddle, but had made such notes of it that
I could not fail to find it. I was bruised and stiff, and my boots had
begun to give, for I had been going on rough ground for more than three
weeks; but, as the day wore on, and I found myself descending without
serious difficulty, I became easier. In a couple of hours I got among
pine forests where there was little undergrowth, and descended quickly
till I reached the edge of another precipice, which gave me a great deal
of trouble, though I eventually managed to avoid it. By about three or
four o'clock I found myself on the river-bed.

From calculations which I made as to the height of the valley on the

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