t anxious. Lawrence began to
recall the fate of previous travellers in that very hut, and his
countenance became unusually grave, whereupon Quashy--whose nature it
was to conform to the lead of those whom he loved, and, in conforming,
outrageously to overdo his part--looked in his young master's face and
assumed such an aspect of woeful depression that his visage became
distinctly oval, though naturally round.

Observing this, Lawrence could not restrain a short laugh, whereupon,
true as the compass to the Pole, the facile Quashy went right round; his
chin came up, his cheeks went out, his eyes opened with hopeful sheen,
and his thick lips expanded into a placid grin.

"There is no cause for alarm," observed Pedro, who had risen to assist
in preparing breakfast. "No doubt it is the worst storm I ever met
with, or even heard of, at this season of the year, but it cannot last
much longer; and whatever happens, it can't run into winter just now."

As if to justify the guide's words, the hurricane began to diminish in
violence, and the pauses between blasts were more frequent and
prolonged. When breakfast was over, appearances became much more
hopeful, and before noon the storm had ceased to rage.

Taking advantage of the change, without delay they loaded the
pack-mules, saddled, mounted, and set forth.

To many travellers it would have been death to have ventured out on such
a trackless waste, but Pedro knew the road and the landmarks so
thoroughly that he advanced with his wonted confidence. At first the
snow was very deep, and, despite their utmost care, they once or twice
strayed from the road, and were not far from destruction. As they
descended, however, the intense cold abated; and when they came out upon
occasional table-lands, they found that the snow-fall there had been
much less than in the higher regions, also that it had drifted off the
road so much that travelling became more easy.

That night they came to a second hut-of-refuge, and next day had
descended into a distinctly warmer region on the eastern slopes of the
great range, over which they travelled from day to day with ever
increasing comfort. Sometimes they put up at outlying mountain farms,
and were always hospitably received; sometimes at small hamlets or
villages, where they could exchange or purchase mules, and, not
unfrequently, they encamped on the wild mountain slopes, with the green
trees or an overhanging cliff, or the open sky to c