Then I came upon a large
patch of old snow, in which I could distinctly trace the half-melted
tracks of goats--and in one place, as it seemed to me, there had been a
dog following them. Had I lighted upon a land of shepherds? The ground,
where not covered with snow, was so poor and stony, and there was so
little herbage, that I could see no sign of a path or regular
sheep-track. But I could not help feeling rather uneasy as I wondered
what sort of a reception I might meet with if I were to come suddenly
upon inhabitants. I was thinking of this, and proceeding cautiously
through the mist, when I began to fancy that I saw some objects darker
than the cloud looming in front of me. A few steps brought me nearer,
and a shudder of unutterable horror ran through me when I saw a circle of
gigantic forms, many times higher than myself, upstanding grim and grey
through the veil of cloud before me.
I suppose I must have fainted, for I found myself some time afterwards
sitting upon the ground, sick and deadly cold. There were the figures,
quite still and silent, seen vaguely through the thick gloom, but in
human shape indisputably.
A sudden thought occurred to me, which would have doubtless struck me at
once had I not been prepossessed with forebodings at the time that I
first saw the figures, and had not the cloud concealed them from me--I
mean that they were not living beings, but statues.
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