"This was good advice, and I remembered it, at any rate, most of the time. Once I forgot myself when the mule stumbled on a ladera, and for a few seconds was balanced on one foot on the edge of a fearful abyss. The side of the mountain was almost perpendicular for five or six hundred feet below me, and there was a wild torrent dashing along its base. Instinctively I threw out my hands to grasp the reins. Federico was just behind, and shouted for me to sit still; his voice recalled what he had told me, and my hands dropped to my side as though I had lost all strength. One foot of the mule actually went over the edge of the rock, but the other held its position, and I was safe! [Illustration: SNOW-SLIDE ON THE TRAIL.] "One of the perils of the road are the snow-slides. Masses of snow accumulate on the slopes of the mountains, and suddenly, without a moment's warning, sweep downward into the valley below. Men and animals on any part of the trail crossed by the avalanche are carried along with it; sometimes they are crushed to death and buried far out of sight, and sometimes they escape without serious injury. Generally, however, the snow-slides are fatal to those who happen to be caught in them, and the arrieros naturally hold them in great dread. "I think I hear some one asking why I did not get off and walk in the perilous places. The arrieros say it is more dangerous to walk than to ride, and certainly they ought to know. In the first place, I was ignorant of the road, and that is a very important consideration; and, secondly, the mule is accustomed to this kind of travel and I am not. He never takes a step without determining beforehand exactly where his feet are to be planted, and not until one foot is firmly in position does he venture to lift another. Besides, he has twice as many feet as I have, and, therefore, should be doubly sure-footed. [Illustration: HANGING BRIDGE IN THE ANDES.] "Some of the torrents have been spanned with rope-bridges, which are secure enough, but very shaky. The mules hesitate to cross these structures, but they generally do so after a great deal of persuasion, which is mostly physical. "The second night of our mountain journey was spent at the 'Casucha de las Puquios,' at the edge of a marsh where there was fairly good pasturage for our weary animals. We had a supper of charqui soup, made in the manner I have described, together with a partridge and a rabbit broiled over the coals. The rabbit was shot within a hundred yards of our camp, and the partridge about a couple of hours before we reached it. Game is not abundant in this region; rabbits, partridges, guanaco, and foxes are the principal products of the chase around Uspallata, and Federico says he has frequently made the journey without seeing a single wild bird or beast.