BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 55 



suppose it had, somewhere or other — and until 

 that early morning ride we cannot be said to have 

 properly known what the word heat might mean. 

 The pine-clad hills were storehouses of it, and 

 gave it forth, fragrantly, after their kind, but 

 suffocatingly. We had no umbrellas, no lessening 

 of our apparel was possible ; we were pitiable be- 

 yond all parties of pleasure. In stupor we emerged 

 from the wooded country, and followed the long 

 beckonings of a mountain -road, a lonely streak 

 that climbed and climbed on the back of a green, 

 tremendous hill. Other hills, sons of Anak, stood 

 all about, w^ith that same lucent, beryl greenness 

 spread in smooth simplicity on their sweeping 

 contours. Grey cottages lying far below and far 

 apart in the great hollows, were as specks no 

 larger than sheep. The sheep themselves had 

 abandoned all attempt at grazing, and had essayed 

 to hide from the sun in the cracks and crannies of 

 the more broken ground at the top of the pass. 

 From these they looked forth on us, dignified as 

 Dons in their stalls at Oxford, but ready at an 



