484 MERGE TO GYRENE.

sued a different track were discovered on the opposite side of a ravine, and we flattered ourselves that they had succeeded in finding the right path ; it was impossible however for us to join them without retracing our steps, and we knew that we should never have been able to get our horses down the hill, which had cost them so many leaps and heavy falls to ascend ; nothing therefore was left but to push on as well as we could, and after four hours’ labour, such as we never experienced, and have certainly no wish to encounter again, we reached the top of the range and stopped a few minutes to refresh our horses, who were covered with foam, and trembling so much with terror and fatigue that a halt had become unavoidable.

They had been, like ourselves, for nearly two days without water, and the heat of the weather, joined to the exertions which were necessary, had rendered thirst doubly annoying. On arriving at the summit of the range our view was still impeded by wood, and though we climbed several trees, to look out for an object which might guide us on the way which still remained for us to take, we could not succeed in overtopping the forest which lay between us and Gyrene. Our course was therefore still doubtful, and in a short interval which we devoted to rest, it was proposed that some of us should push on in advance, leaving the horses in charge of the others, and endeavour to find some opening : this was accordingly done, till our voices could scarcely be heard by each other, but still without any success.

Beyond this distance it would not have been prudent to go, as we should scarcely have found one another again, had we ventured to ramble out of hearing. As it was, we experienced some difficulty in