There, However, Stood The Diligenza Which Was Somehow To Convey Me
To Catanzaro; I Watched Its Loading With Luggage-Merchandise And
Mail-Bags - Whilst The Exquisite Evening Melted Into Night.
When I
had thus been occupied for a few minutes, my look once more turned
to the mountain, where a surprise awaited me:
The summit was now
encircled with little points of radiance, as though a starry diadem
had fallen upon it from the sky. "Pronti!" cried our driver. I
climbed to my seat, and we began our journey towards the crowning
lights.
By help of long loops the road ascended at a tolerably easy angle;
the horse-bells tinkled, the driver shouted encouragement to his
beasts, and within the vehicle went on a lively gossiping, with much
laughter. Meanwhile the great moon had risen high enough to illumine
the valley below us; silvery grey and green, the lovely hollow
seemed of immeasurable length, and beyond it one imagined, rather
than discerned, a glimmer of the sea. By the wayside I now and then
caught sight of a huge cactus, trailing its heavy knotted length
upon the face of a rock; and at times we brushed beneath overhanging
branches of some tree that could not be distinguished. All the way
up we seemed to skirt a sheer precipice, which at moments was
alarming in its gloomy depth. Deeper and deeper below shone the
lights of the railway station and of the few houses about it; it
seemed as though a false step would drop us down into their midst.
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