St. Aubert, after some hesitation, determined to take the latter
course, and Michael, having finished his meal, and harnessed his
mules, again set forward, but soon stopped; and St. Aubert saw him
doing homage to a cross, that stood on a rock impending over their
way. Having concluded his devotions, he smacked his whip in the air,
and, in spite of the rough road, and the pain of his poor mules,
which he had been lately lamenting, rattled, in a full gallop, along
the edge of a precipice, which it made the eye dizzy to look down.
Emily was terrified almost to fainting; and St. Aubert, apprehending
still greater danger from suddenly stopping the driver, was compelled
to sit quietly, and trust his fate to the strength and discretion of
the mules, who seemed to possess a greater portion of the latter
quality than their master; for they carried the travellers safely
into the valley, and there stopped upon the brink of the rivulet that
watered it.
Leaving the splendour of extensive prospects, they now entered this
narrow valley screened by
Rocks on rocks piled, as if by magic spell,
Here scorch'd by lightnings, there with ivy green.
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