202 ON THE FEONTIEE. 



roots for a couple of feet in depth, and soon had a roaring 

 fire, which the horse and mules seemed to enjoy as much as 

 we did. 



" There was nothing to tie the animals to, and the mules 

 were turned loose, but the horse was hobbled the mules 

 would be sure to stop with him. It was probably unneces- 

 sary to have done this, but the pangs of hunger might have 

 driven the tired- out beasts to stray. 



"Long before daylight we were roused up by the cold, and 

 saw with amazement there was no fire not only that, not a 

 vestige of the pine-tree was to be seen ; no doubt, the fire 

 having consumed its anchorage, it had slid bodily down the 

 side of the mountain into the abyss below. It was too 

 dark to travel, the moon had gone down some time, and 

 to keep still was to freeze, so we stamped up and down, 

 and beat our arms across our chests, until the first streak of 

 dawn. 



