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PASSAGE ACEOSS 



the eddy suddenly caught the great load which was 

 upon his back, and turned him completely over ; 

 down went his head with all the baggage, and as 

 he was carried down the stream, all I saw were his 

 hind quarters, and his long, thin, wet tail, lashing 

 the w^ater. As suddenly, however, up his head 

 came agahi ; but he was now weak, and went down 

 the stream, turned round and round by the eddy, 

 until, passing the corner of the rock, I lost sight of 

 him . I saw, however, the peons, with their lassos 

 in their hands, run down the side of the torrent 

 for some little distance; but they soon stopped, and 

 after looking towards the poor mule for some se- 

 conds, their earnest attitude gradually relaxed, and 

 ■when they walked towards me, I concluded that all 

 was over. I walked up to the peons, and was just 

 going to speak to them, when I saw at a distance a 

 solitary mule walking towards us ! 



We instantly perceived that he was the Phaeton 

 whose fall we had just witnessed, and in a few mo- 

 ments he came up to us to join his comrades. 

 He was of course dripping wet; his eye looked 

 dull, and his whole countenance was dejected: how- 

 ever, none of his bones were broken, he was very 



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