some accident should have befallen him; for
the animal could not have strayed far enough
to detain him any great length of time; not
only because the spot that would afford the
poor beast nutriment was very circumscribed,
but because it was fastened by its fore legs.
The priest, however, did not partake of our
fears, but was more inclined to think that
the intensity of the mist had prevented the
man from discovering the horse, a circumstance
far from impossible, although he
might be within a few yards of h im; and,
to convince us of the probability of his conjecture,
he told us an anecdote of a person,
whom he knew, being, during the continuance
of an equally thick, but more durable,
fog, for two whole days engaged in a similar
search. The conjectures of the priest
respecting our guide were indeed well-
founded; for at twelve o’clock he returned
with tidings that he had not been able to
find the animal, and he therefore volunteered
his services to conduct us on foot beyond
the most intricate part of our route, an offer
that we gladly availed ourselves of, as to
have gone to the nearest neighbor to borrow
a horse would have occupied full three
hours. A glass of rum, with the flavor of
which our guide seemed scarcely to be acquainted,
and of the strength of which he
had no idea till he had drunk it, had such
an effect upon him, that he did not seem to
need a horse to carry him faster, and he
continued running for more than an hour
without once stopping; except, indeed, when
he was so unlucky as to strike his foot
against a stone, and fall, in consequence of
it, among the rocks. This circumstance
frequently happened, and at every time he
looked back and laughed, as if sensible of
the cause of his stumbling; always taking
care to tell us he was not hurt, and proceeding
immediately with his previous
speed. He several times forded rivers whose
waters reached as high as his waist, and
tried, by wading in different parts of the
stream, to find the shallowest and least
rocky places, so that we might be enabled
to pass with the greatest ease and security.
As often as we had to cross a morass,
he went before us with a long pole and
pointed out the unsound spots, which, however,
without this precaution, the sagacity
of Icelandic horses is almost sure of being