REAL DEL MONTE, 



n 



stay far longer than prudence should have permitted, the 

 more so, as a thunder storm was evidently in prepara- 

 tion. We had four leagues of road before us; and the 

 latter part of this, after entering the mountains, was ac- 

 knowledged to be extremely perilous for a nocturnal 

 ride. A melancholy proof had been given only a few 

 evenings before, when one of the gentlemen connected 

 with the mines, descending from Real del Monte, with 

 Mr. M., was precipitated in the darkness into a profound 

 barranca, and was then lying at the point of death. 



But whether in the shape of thunder storm, darkness, 

 barranca, or banditti, we seemed to have made up our 

 minds to dare the danger, and to sleep at an elevation of 

 two thousand feet higher up the country. In fine, just as 

 the thunder began to echo among the mountains of the 

 Rio del Chico, we might be seen issuing from the deep 

 ravine, and urging our horses across the plain in the di- 

 rection of the nearest chain, like men who knew that no 

 time was to be lost. 



Evening fell in early, under the lugubrious and prema- 

 ture shade cast over the brown plain and blue mountains 

 by the thunder clouds ; and by the time we reached a 

 small village at the foot of the latter, night had fairly set 

 in. The storm, however, seemed to spread itself more to 

 the northward, as the glare of lightning became less fre- 

 quent ; and it was now that such a darkness fell upon 

 us as baffles all description. I had been riding forty 

 yards in advance as a kind of scout, feeling the way, but 

 now I was compelled to come to a dead stop, and give 

 up the task of leader to Espindola. A momentary flash 

 from time to time showed us that we were at the entrance 

 of a mountain defile overhung with rocks, and at the 

 brink of a dashing torrent, rolling down a barranca to 

 the left ; but in our progress forward, our ears alone 

 gave token of the character of the locality. The danger 

 I have no scruple in saying was imminent, and increased 

 in a terrific degree, as we crawled forward step by step, 

 at the edge of a gulf, which increased momentarily in 

 depth, upon a road of no great breadth, undefended on 

 the side of the precipice, and conducted in several in- 



