A Dark Night at Tusis.

183

After supper Mr. Becham lit his cigar, and with his companion strolled out into the only street that Tusis could boast. The moon had not risen, and the sole light cast upon the rough roadway was the feeble glimmer derived from dim lamps shining through the windows of the houses. They thought when they cleared the little village and got upon the highway, that their eyes would prove accustomed to the obscurity, and, undazzled by streaks of fitful light, they would be able to distinguish objects immediately surrounding them. This, however, was not the case. The darkness was too complete for any efforts to penetrate it; so, having walked on till the way seemed barred by a huge black mass, which Mr. Becham conjectured rightly was the entrance of the giant Via Mala Pass, and their ears were almost deafened by a great fall of water, he deemed it most prudent to retrace their steps before they came to grief. So, guided by the specks of light which showed the position of the village, they strolled back again, and shortly after retired to rest.

S the journey marked out for the day following that of their arrival at Tusis was to be a long and arduous one, our travellers were up before six; and having made a good breakfast, started with rather a misty sky, that bore about it, however, the promise of a fine day, which was not belied.

Within a quarter of a mile of the last straggling house, they reached the entrance of the pass, which they had noticed as so threatening in aspect the night before, and then perceived that the rush of water was occasioned by the emptying of the Nolla into a huge basin from the defile into which they were about to penetrate.

The defile itself presented the grandest appearance as they approached it. Two vast mountains, made up of rock and stunted trees savagely but splendidly intermingled, rose up nearly perpendicular on either side; and through the gap thus left rushed the foaming river, with a narrow roadway

The Via Mala.

185

beside it, protected by a strong but low parapet wall. A turn in the road shut out the sight of the village they had just left, and they soon found themselves climbing a steep ascent fenced in by the lofty mountains, and every minute increasing the distance between their carriage and the roaring torrent, which, pent within the narrowest dimensions, rolled, tumbled, and dashed over rocks that it had worn smooth, and round projecting spurs which it had scooped into frightful caverns. Originally perhaps a bridle-path, the road, with enormous labour, had been widened so as to allow the passage of two vehicles at a time. In order to effect this object, it had been necessary to entrench occasionally upon the precipice, and build up solid masonry to support it from below. At other times the rocky side of the mountain had been hollowed to a sufficient height to enable a high-piled diligence or waggon to pass along, leaving but a few feet between their tops and the jutting cliff. And in other cases it had been necessary to bore through some unwieldy mass that stood right in the way, and could not be otherwise disposed of. And thus the road continued, following every inequality of the mountain-side, still climbing upwards, with the shaggy mountain walls constantly increasing in height and shutting out more and more of the blue sky, and with the roaring torrent now thundering some hundred or more feet below. It was inconceivably grand, and the few human beings. and a solitary carriage they met upon their way greatly increased the savage aspect of the defile.

About midway through-the pass being nearly five miles in extent, and occupying on account of its steepness a full hour and a half in the traversing— it had been found necessary for the second time to carry the road along the precipitous side of the opposing mountain. To do this, a tunnel had been first driven through a vast spur, on emerging from which the chasm was crossed by a stone bridge, at a height of four hundred feet from the level of the river, though the space from side to side was barely twelve yards. Here they descended to view the better one of the most awfully grand pictures they had ever beheld; and surely only Salvator Rosa could do justice to a scene whose features were so stupendous.

'I don't know,' observed Mr. Becham, 'what portion of this landscape is most remarkable. If the chasm beneath our feet has a horror and a fascination due to the aspect of the rushing water, boiling and seething at so vast a depth, with nothing but this little parapet intervening, the threatening sides of these huge mountains, which must at this point be nearly two thousand feet in height, threatening to collapse and crush us, are no less wonderful. The gallery, too, whence we have just emerged, by concealing the road in one direction, and yonder projecting mass of rock hiding it on the other, we appear to be caught by the malignant power of some mighty magician, and enclosed within this narrow space, whence there is no outlet but to destruction.'

An Awe-inspiring Chasm.

187

'Is this the magician, sir, upon the bridge?' inquired Gerald, with a smile, pointing to a peasant who stood apparently waiting their pleasure.

'Perhaps so,' answered Mr. Becham, though for a sorcerer he looks a very mild one. However, there is no trusting to appearances, so we had better go and propitiate him.'

The man had by him, on the parapet of the bridge, three or four flat fragments of rock; and as they leaned over the wall, he hurled one of the rough flagstones into the air.

They watched it spinning in its descent till, reduced to their eyes, on account of the vast depths, to the size of the hand, it struck the surface of the boiling caldron below.

The effect was indeed magical. They saw as it reached the water the vast splash caused by the collision, which appeared as though the rock had splintered into a thousand fragments; and a second or two afterwards their ears were assailed by a noise like thunder, which rolled up the mountain-sides and growled itself away in distant caverns. Again and again he repeated the operation, which, childlike, they observed with unflagging interest, till, mindful of the flight of time, Mr. Becham 'propitiated,' as he said, the 'country magician,' and reseating themselves in their carriage, passed on to fresh wonders.

Having crossed a third bridge, they emerged from the Via Mala defile, and traversing the valley of 'Schams,'-though, as Gerald ventured to remark,