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A VISION OF SUDDEN DEATH 289
running in a direction opposite to that of the coach.
It looked as though they would drag us over the preci-
pice, but we made the turns with only a bad shaking.
On we went in our mad rattling downward course into
uncanny depths, a perpendicular rocky wall on one side,
with the precipice on the other. The coach was an old
one; the brake did not work; the mayoral could control
only the wheel-animals. The others were guided only
by shouts. They ran as they willed, squeezing them-
selves against the cliff or edging over to the precipice to
dodge the missiles of the zagal.
It was about a thousand feet, perhaps fifteen hun-
dred, to the bottom of the cliff. The figure is a matter
of indifference, for the result would have been the
same. But, strangely enough, I should prefer to be
dashed to pieces at a depth of one thousand feet rather
than at fifteen hundred. After all I am a Dane, and
the small nations do not do things in a large way. An
Englishman would have desired the other figure. Far
below us the gully ended sharply and rose on the op-
posite side, being only a few hundred feet away, to
such a height that the sunlight did not reach us, al-
though it was nearly noon. Goats hung in breakneck
positions on the tremendous bluish wall staring after
us, shaking their beards, and making crooked leaps
over the sheer surface.
We smiled at each other with rather forced smiles
and sought a peculiar consolation in taking firm grasp
of the carriage-cushions and looking as brave as we
could. The fat woman on the outside would surely
have caused the vehicle to turn turtle if I should have
offered to exchange places with her. J don’t mean that
I ought to have changed places with her. I bore the
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