HEIDERB AGc 
178 
was able to afford. After three hours passed in 
anxious expectation of the return of our guide. 
We at length began to fear lest some accident 
should have befallen him; for the animal could 
not have strayed far enough to detain him any 
great length of time; not only because the spot 
that would afford the poor beast nutriment was 
very circumscribed, but because it was fastened 
by its fore legs. The priest, however, did not 
partake our fears, but was more inclined to think 
that the intensity of the mist had prevented the 
man from discovering the horse, a circumstance 
far from impossible, although he might be with¬ 
in a few yards of him; and, to convince us of 
the probability of his conjecture, he told us an 
anecdote of a person, whom he knew, being, du¬ 
ring the continuance of an equally thick, but 
more durable, fog, for two whole days engaged in 
a similar search. The conjectures of the priest 
respecting our guide were indeed right, for at 
twelve o’clock he returned with tidings that he 
had not been able to find the animal, and he 
therefore desired to conduct us on foot beyond 
the most intricate part of our route, an offer that 
we gladly availed ourselves of, as to have gone to 
the nearest neighbour to borrow a horse would 
have occupied full three hours. A glass of rum, 
with the flavor of which our guide seemed 
scarcely to be acquainted, and of the strength 
