Nor was the improvisation much inferior to the
original.
It was still light when we finished dinner, a good three hours
till bedtime. And since there was nothing better to do, I called
to the arriero and asked him to conduct us on a tour of
exploration among the mass of boulders, gray and stern, that
loomed up on our right.
He nodded his head in his usual indifferent manner, and fifteen
minutes later we started, on foot. The arriero led the way, with
Harry at his heels, and Desiree and I brought up the rear.
Thrice I tried to enter into conversation with her; but each time
she shook her head without turning round, and I gave it up. I was
frankly puzzled by her words and conduct of an hour before; was
it merely one of the trickeries of Le Mire or--
I was interested in the question as one is always interested in a
riddle; but I tossed it from my mind, promising myself a solution
on the morrow, and gave my attention to the vagaries of nature
about me.
We were passing through a cleft between two massive rocks, some
three or four hundred yards in length. Ahead of us, at the end of
the passage, a like boulder fronted us.
Our footfalls echoed and reechoed from wall to wall; the only
other sound was the eery moaning of the wind that reached our
ears with a faintness which only served to increase its effect.
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