SOMETHING STARTLING. 
83 
feared his browsers would not last such jolting many 
days; hut his dolefulness, like a hit of minor in a 
sparkling melody, only made our jollity more radiant. 
In about half-an-hour Sigurdr gave the signal for 
a start; and having caught, saddled and bridled the 
three unridden ponies, we drove Snorro and his com¬ 
panions to the front, and proceeded on our way 
rejoicing. After an hour’s gradual ascent through a 
picturesque ravine, we emerged upon an immense 
desolate plateau of lava, that stretched away for miles 
and miles like a great stony sea. A more barren desert 
you cannot conceive. Innumerable boulders, relics of the 
glacial period, encumbered the track. We could only 
go at a foot-pace. Not a blade of grass, not a strip 
of green enlivened the prospect, and the only sound we 
heard was the croak of the curlew and the wail of the 
plover. Hour after hour we plodded on, but the grey 
waste seemed interminable, boundless; and the only 
consolation Sigurdr would vouchsafe was that our 
journey’s end lay on this side of some purple mountains 
that peeped like the tents of a demon leaguer above the 
stony horizon. 
As it was already eight o’clock, and we had been 
G 2 
