THE CRATER. 
43 
lonely ledge of rock, ever toiling onward with the same noise¬ 
less, steady, unwearying tread. A weather-beaten, grizzled, 
manly fellow was Pedro, the guide ; rough as the winds, and 
rains, and smoke of old Etna could make him; dirty and 
shaggy like his tattered capote; but, with a strong pair of 
legs and an unflinching will (in the way of climbing), he had 
a childlike nature and a heart that filled well his capacious 
breast. As we neared the summit of the mountain the air 
became so rarefied and the cold so piercing that I felt as if 
there was not an ounce of blood in me, and it was only by 
hard walking I could keep up any thing like a circulation. 
“Pedro,” said I, “it’s getting mighty cold; don’t you think 
so ?” “ Si, signore, un jpoco—ma pilliare quest a” pulling off 
his capote. “ No, no, thank you, keep it on.” Pedro said 
nothing, but casting his capote around me, fastened it on in 
such wise that it was no use to struggle against his kindness: 
a moment after he was striding up on a ridge of lava, far 
above, looking like a great black giant that had come sud¬ 
denly out of the earth. 
We reached the last station, or Casa degV Inglesa , about 
three o’clock in the morning. The cold was not so intense 
as I had often experienced before, but much more penetrating 
from the decreased power of resistance in the blood. My 
friend, the Englishman, who had ridden nearly all the way, 
was as stiff as a piece of buckram when he dismounted, though 
not disposed to admit that he felt at all “ uncomfortable.” 
There was not much in the Casa Inglesa to cheer us, save 
the shelter afforded by its dilapidated walls. Originally the 
house consisted of three rooms, a kitchen, and stable, but 
now the stable is in ruins, and we found but one of the rooms 
at all habitable. Into this we betook ourselves, with a couple 
of the mules that were half famished by cold and hunger; 
and, thus quartered, awaited the proper time to commence 
our ascent to the crater. Pedro, taking pity upon us, broke 
off a piece of the door, which, together with a small contri¬ 
bution from the window-frame, and the remains of an old 
bench, made a very tolerable fire; and if there had been a 
chimney we might have been rather comfortable. Wrapped 
