had gone a mile i heard a shrill whistle and suddenly from behind these sprang a number of men quite fifty of them all we could note at the time was that they were savage looking fellows for the most part red haired and bearded although their were rather dark who wore of white goat and carried and i should imagine that they were not unlike the ancient and as they appeared to the at us they came uttering their shrill whistling cries evidently v ith intention of us on the spot ir f i now for it said drawing his sword for escape was impossible they were all round us good bye good bye i answered rather faintly understanding what the and the old had meant when they said that wc should be killed before we ascended the first slope of the mountain meanwhile our ghastly looking guide had slipped behind a great and even then it occurred to me that her part in the tragedy being played she if it were a woman at all was withdrawing herself while we met our miserable fate but here i did her injustice for she had i suppose come to save us from this very fate which without her presence we must most certainly have suffered when the savages were within a few yards suddenly she appeared on the top of the looking like a second witch of and stretched out her arm not a word did she speak only stretched out her draped arm but the effect was remarkable and at the sight of her down on to their faces went those wild men every one of them as a lightning stroke had in an instant swept them out of existence then she let � her arm fall and beckoned whereon a great fellow who i suppose was the leader of the band rose and crept towards her with bowed head as a beaten dog to him she made signs pointing to us pointing to the far off peak crossing and her white wrapped arms but so far as i could hear speaking no word it was evident that the chief understood her however for he said something in a language then he uttered his shrill whistle whereon the band rose and departed thence at full speed this way and the other so that in another minute they had vanished as quickly as they came now our guide to us to proceed and led the � way upward as calmly as though nothing had happened for over two hours we went on thus till our path the messenger brought us from the on to a grassy across which it wound its way here to our astonishment we found a fire burning and hanging above the fire an pot which was on the boil we could see no man tending it the figure to me to pointing to the pot in token that we were to eat the food which doubtless she had ordered the wild men to prepare for us and very glad was i to obey her provision had been made for the horse also for near the fire lay a great bundle of green m the beast and spread the proved der for it taking with me a spare vessel that lay v ready i went to the edge of the torrent to drink and steep my wounded arm in its ice cold stream this relieved it greatly though by now i was sure from various symptoms that the brute master s had fortunately only broken or injured the small bone a discovery for which i was thankful enough having finished attending to it as well as i was able i filled the jar with water on my way back a thought struck me and going to where our mysterious guide stood still as lot s wife after she had been turned into a pillar of salt i offered it to her hoping that she would her face and drink then for the first time she showed some of being human or so i thought for it seemed to me that she bowed ever so little in acknowledgment of the courtesy if so � and i may have been mistaken � this was all for the next instant she turned her back on me to show that it was declined so she would not or for aught i knew could not drink neither would she eat for when tried her afterwards with food she refused it in like fashion meanwhile he had taken the pot off the fire and as soon as its contents grew cool enough we fell on them eagerly for we were starving after we had eaten and drunk re dressed my arm as best he could and we rested awhile indeed i think that being very d ft beg n to for i was awakened by a shadow falling on us and looked up to see our corpse like guide standing close by and pointing first to the sun then at the horse as though to show us that we had far to travel so we up and went on again somewhat refreshed for at least we were no longer all the rest of that day we on up the grassy slopes seeing no man although occasionally we heard the wild whistle which told us that we were being watched by the mountain savages by tlie character of the country had for the grass was replaced with rocks amongst which grew we had left the lower slopes and were beginning to climb the mountain itself the sun sank and we went on through the twilight the twilight died and we went on through the dark our path lit only by the stars and the faint radiance of the glowing pillar of smoke above the peak which was reflected on to us from the mighty mantle of its forward we toiled whilst a few paces 