In this
way we went up hill and down dale, by towers and cities, all buried in
deep sleep, and across mountains, and plains, and rivers, just
glimmering in the starlight.
"To make a long story short, and not to fatigue your excellency, the
trooper suddenly pulled up on the side of a mountain. 'Here we are,'
said he, 'at the end of our journey.' I looked about, but could see no
signs of habitation; nothing but the mouth of a cavern. While I looked
I saw multitudes of people in Moorish dresses, some on horseback, some
on foot, arriving as if borne by the wind from all points of the
compass, and hurrying into the mouth of the cavern like bees into a
hive. Before I could ask a question the trooper struck his long
Moorish spurs into the horse's flanks, and dashed in with the
throng. We passed along a steep winding way, that descended into the
very bowels of the mountain. As we pushed on, a light began to glimmer
up, by little and little, like the first glimmerings of day, but
what caused it I could not discern. It grew stronger and stronger, and
enabled me to see every thing around. I now noticed, as we passed
along, great caverns, opening to the right and left, like halls in
an arsenal. In some there were shields, and helmets, and cuirasses,
and lances, and cimeters, hanging against the walls; in others there
were great heaps of warlike munitions, and camp equipage lying upon
the ground.
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