Much surprised, for this was the first time during the journey that the
girl had ventured to attract his attention, the youth looked in the
direction indicated, and certainly the view that met his eyes was
calculated to banish not only the surprise, but all other feelings save
those of admiration of Nature and reverence for Nature's God.

They had just rounded one of those rocky bluffs which so frequently
interrupted their view during their upward journey, and had come upon a
scene which they could not find words adequately to describe. As
interjectional phrases alone could indicate something of their emotions
to each other, so fragmentary sentences alone will convey a faint
semblance of the truth to the intelligence of the reader.

Mountains, glens, and mighty cliffs; hideous precipices and yawning
gulfs; snow-clad summits high above them, and rock-riven gorges far
below. Distance upon distance ranging backward and upward to infinity,
where all was mingled with cloudland; sunlit here, darkest shadowed
there--wildness, weirdness, grandeur, and magnificence everywhere!

In the immediate foreground the serpentine path wound upward among
rugged rocks, and the riders, picking their steps, as it were, midway up
the face of a stupendous precipice, looked upward on the left at an
apparently summitless wall, and downward on the right into an almost
bottomless valley, through which a river roared as if mad with joy at
having escaped its glacier-prison; though its roaring was softened
well-nigh to silence by distance, while in appearance it seemed little
larger than a silver thread.

"I could almost believe that to be a giant's castle," remarked Lawrence,
pointing to the opposite side of the ravine, where a huge perpendicular
mountain of porphyry was so broken into turrets, towers, and
battlements, that it was difficult, except for its size, to believe it
other than the work of man. There were even holes and formations about
it that had the appearance of antique windows, gates, and drawbridges!

"Yes, it is a strange place," said the guide, checking his mule;
"moreover, we must spend the night under its shadow, for it is
impossible to reach a better place of shelter to-night; and, by good
fortune, yonder is something fresh for supper."

Pedro pointed to a spot about seven or eight hundred yards distant,
where a group of guanacos stood gazing at the intruders with profound
attention.

"How will you get near enough for