348 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



of almost perpendicular cliff, had been left behind, 

 saddle and all, having disappeared from the scene 

 over the pony's tail, while that sagacious animal 

 performed the rest of the ascent unencumbered by 

 anything but his primitive bridle. His rider, whose 

 devotion to his pencil was inextinguishable by any 

 event short of absolute annihilation, had never re- 

 linquished his grasp of his portfolio, and took advan- 

 tage of his seat in the mud to sketch the romantic 

 scene of his disaster, and recover from the smart 



of his bruises. C was too much absorbed in a 



novel of " Alexander Dumas fils " to take heed to his 

 pony's steps, and, lost in admiration of the heroine 

 of his story, is to this day profoundly ignorant of the 

 magnificence of the scenery, the dangers he miracu- 

 lously escaped, and the debt of gratitude he owes to 

 his intelligent steed. His domestic, an exact repre- 

 sentative of Methley's Yorkshire servant, who looked 

 out for gentlemen's seats on his ride through Bulgaria, 

 obediently followed in a Circassian saddle, and a 

 state of general abrasion and misery. 



The interpreter L , who had secured the atten- 

 tions of a Circassian, brought up the rear; in that 

 position he had undergone several remarkable adven- 

 tures, unseen by the rest of the party. In fact, his 

 own account of his hairbreadth escapes was far more 

 marvellous than the whole of the others united, and 

 we only regretted that no one was present to witness 

 them. He proposed instantly returning to more 



