Elliot
murmured to Miss Allan.
But Miss Allan returned, "I always like to get to the top"; and it was
true, although she was a big woman, stiff in the joints, and unused to
donkey-riding, but as her holidays were few she made the most of them.
The vivacious white figure rode well in front; she had somehow possessed
herself of a leafy branch and wore it round her hat like a garland. They
went on for a few minutes in silence.
"The view will be wonderful," Hewet assured them, turning round in his
saddle and smiling encouragement. Rachel caught his eye and smiled too.
They struggled on for some time longer, nothing being heard but the
clatter of hooves striving on the loose stones. Then they saw that
Evelyn was off her ass, and that Mr. Perrott was standing in the
attitude of a statesman in Parliament Square, stretching an arm of stone
towards the view. A little to the left of them was a low ruined wall,
the stump of an Elizabethan watch-tower.
"I couldn't have stood it much longer," Mrs. Elliot confided to Mrs.
Thornbury, but the excitement of being at the top in another moment and
seeing the view prevented any one from answering her. One after another
they came out on the flat space at the top and stood overcome with
wonder. Before them they beheld an immense space--grey sands running
into forest, and forest merging in mountains, and mountains washed by
air, the infinite distances of South America.
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