So that you can hardly be at a loss for a word to express
the character of any elevation. Meanwhile, let us hasten up this
_Montezhino_, for both the sun and our night's quarters are on the
other side of it, and the former will not wait for us there."
They presently caught sight of what seemed at first to be a very tall
woman; but they soon perceived that it was a friar, who, with the hood
of his black cloak thrown back on his shoulders, and the skirts of his
dingy grey frock girded up under St. Francis' cord, was making such
good time on his up-hill path, that they overtook him with difficulty
at the top of the hill. He grasped in his hand what had a marvelous
resemblance to the _cajado_, a seven-foot staff, pointed at one end,
and with a heavy knob at the other, with which the Portuguese peasant
always goes armed; and a formidable weapon it is in his skillful
hands. The shortened skirt of the friar exposed a pair of muscular
calves, that bore him well over the mountain road.
He turned to look at them as they drew near, and they saw that he was
a young man, not much over twenty, tall and strong, and remarkably
well made and good-looking.
Pages:
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155