I gave my horse the rein, and left the fellow uttering his
blessings both loud and deep.
We had ten miles of as bad a road as any I had yet seen in my travels.
The mud in some places was two feet deep. We followed the windings of a
stream called the Putna Patak, and came presently to a wayside inn
frequented by foresters. Here we made a short halt, got a bottle of
decent wine and a crust of bread. Immediately on quitting this place we
turned into a less frequented path, and began a stiffish ascent. It was
a superb day, and I enjoyed it immensely, not having been much favoured
by weather lately. Our route was through a thick forest, the trees, as
usual in these, magnificent, with their gigantic girth, and
widespreading branches. At times I got a glimpse of the snowy mountain
summits standing out against the intensely blue sky.
At mid-day I told the guide to look out for the next spring, for there
we would dine. We did not find a spring for some time, at least not by
the wayside, and I was reluctant to lose time by wandering about. At
length when we had secured a water-tap--viz., a little trickling rill
flowing between some stones and spongy moss--we found ourselves in a
difficulty about the fire. There was plenty of wood, but it was all
soaking wet and would not burn. Luckily a fir-tree was spied out, which
provided us with a good quantity of turpentine, and with this we
persuaded the fire to blaze up a bit.
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