pidly, having but one idea, one object.
They soon buried themselves among the almost impracticable passes of the
Cordilleras. Difficult pathways circulated through these reddish masses,
planted here and there with cocoanut and pine trees; the cedars,
cotton-trees, and aloes were left behind them, with the plains covered
with maize and lucerne; some thorny cactuses sometimes pricked their
mules, and made them hesitate on the verge of precipices.

It was a difficult task to traverse the Cordilleras during these summer
months; the melting of snows beneath the sun of June often made
unforeseen cataracts spout from beneath the steps of the traveler; often
frightful masses, detaching themselves from the summits of the peaks,
were engulfed near them in fathomless abysses!

But they continued their march, fearing neither the hurricane nor the
cold of these high solitudes; they traveled day and night, finding
neither cities nor dwellings where they might for a moment repose; happy
if in some deserted hut they found a mat of _tortora_ upon which to
extend their wearied limbs, some pieces of meat dried in the sun, some
calabashes full of muddy water.

They reached at last the summit of the Andes, 14,000 feet above the
level of the sea. There, no more trees, no more vegetation; sometimes an
_oso_ or _ucuman_, a sort of enormous black bear, came to meet them.
Often, during the afternoon, they were enveloped in those formidable
storms of the Cordilleras, which raise whirlwinds of snow from the
loftiest summits. Don Vegal sometimes paused, unaccustomed to these
frightful perils. Martin Paz then supported him in his arms, and
sheltered him against the drifting snow. And yet lightnings flashed from
the clouds, and thunders broke over these barren peaks, and filled the
mountain recesses with their terrific roar.

At this point, the most elevated of the Andes, the travelers were seized
with a malady called by the Indians _soroche_, which deprives the most
intrepid man of his courage and his strength. A superhuman will is then
necessary to keep one from falling motionless on the stones of the road,
and being devoured by those immense condors which display above their
vast wings! These three men spoke little; each wrapped himself in the
silence which these vast deserts inspired.

On the eastern slope of the Cordilleras, they hoped to find traces of
their enemies; they therefore traveled on, and were at last descending
the chain of moun