I looked up to a mountain side, so steep that
towards the summit it appeared precipitous, and there upon the
height, dimly illumined with a last reflex of after-glow, my eyes
distinguished something which might be the outline of walls and
houses. This, I knew, was the situation of Catanzaro, but one could
not easily imagine by what sort of approach the city would be
gained; in the thickening twilight, no trace of a road was
discernible, and the flanks of the mountain, a ravine yawning on
either hand, looked even more abrupt than the ascent immediately
before me.
There, however, stood the _diligenza_ which was somehow to convey me
to Catanzaro; I watched its loading with luggage-merchandise and
mail-bags--whilst the exquisite evening melted into night. When I
had thus been occupied for a few minutes, my look once more turned
to the mountain, where a surprise awaited me: the summit was now
encircled with little points of radiance, as though a starry diadem
had fallen upon it from the sky. "_Pronti_!" cried our driver. I
climbed to my seat, and we began our journey towards the crowning
lights.
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