When I had recovered, I could see
that we were come to a halt, for in all that stupenduous chasm no sooner
stay were possible, so sheer and slippery was it. There my Guide allowed
me once more to rest; and during that respite it chanced that the thunder
and the fierce whirlwinds were a little hushed, and above the roar of the
foaming cataracts, {71a} I could hear from afar, louder than all, the
noise of such awful shrieks, wails, cries, and loud groans, of swearing,
cursing and blaspheming, that I would rather have set a bargain upon my
ears than listen. And before we had moved an inch, we heard from above
such hip-drip-drop that had we not straightway stepped aside, there would
have fallen upon us hundreds of unhappy men whom a host of fiends were
hurling headlong, and too hurriedly to a woful fate. "Ho, slowly sir!"
quoth one sprite, "lest you displace your curly lock;" and to another
"Madam, will you have your soft cushion? I fear me you will be much
disordered before you reach your resting-place."
The strangers were most reluctant to advance, insisting that they were on
the wrong road; still, onward they went, up to the bank of a wide, dark
torrent, whilst we followed in their wake and crossed over with them, my
companion, meanwhile, holding the water to my nostrils to protect me from
the stench rising out of the river.
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