A MAGNIFICENT SCENE. 



trot, the eyes of the guides being intently fixed on 

 something evidently in or near the river. One of 

 the men now asked Mr Stanley if he saw a dark 

 speck at the foot of the left-hand precipice ; and 

 being answered in the affirmative, 



" Monsieur," said he, " the waters are rising 

 rapidly by the increased melting of the snows; and 

 if that dark stone is covered when we reach the 

 fissure, our passage through the torrent will be 

 hazardous, if not impracticable." 



From that instant the fragment was eagerly 

 watched ; but instead of becoming more marked 

 and visible as it was more nearly approached, it 

 diminished in size, and, notwithstanding every 

 effort to urge on the horses, it soon dwindled to a 

 speck, and was almost immediately after entirely 

 lost under the ripple of white foam which broke 

 over its highest point. 



" It is all over," exclaimed the guides ; and they 

 reined in their panting horses. Alighting from 

 his animal, Mr Stanley proceeded, in despair, to 

 attempt securing, in a sketch, a reminiscence of 

 the magnificent scene before him. 



While thus engaged, he observed the two men 

 in earnest conversation, walking to arid fro, now 

 looking back on the road they had travelled, and 

 then casting their eyes towards the right ; the 

 only words he could distinctly hear for they were 



