Dracula

that goitre was painfully prevalent. By the roadside were many
crosses, and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves.
Here and there was a peasant man or woman kneeling before a shrine,
who did not even turn round as we approached, but seemed in the
self-surrender of devotion to have neither eyes nor ears for the outer
world. There were many things new to me: for instance, hay-ricks in
the trees, and here and there very beautiful masses of weeping
birch, their white stems shining like silver through the delicate
green of the leaves. Now and again we passed a leiter-wagon- the
ordinary peasant's cart- with its long, snake-like vertebra,
calculated to suit the inequalities of the road. On this were sure
to be seated quite a group of home-coming peasants, the Cszeks with
their white, and the Slovaks with their coloured, sheepskins, the
latter carrying lance-fashion their long staves, with axe at end. As
the evening fell it began to get very cold, and the growing twilight
seemed to merge into one dark mistiness the gloom of the trees, oak,
beech, and pine, though in the valleys which ran deep between the
spurs of the hills, as we ascended through the Pass, the dark firs
stood out here and there against the background of late-lying snow.
Sometimes, as the road was cut through the pine woods that seemed in
the darkness to be closing down upon us, great masses of greyness,
which here and there bestrewed the trees, produced a peculiarly
weird and solemn effect, which carried on the thoughts and grim
fancies engendered earlier in the evening, when the failing sunset
threw into strange relief the ghost-like clouds which amongst the
Carpathians seem to wind ceaselessly through the valleys. Sometimes
the hills were so steep that, despite our driver's haste, the horses
could only go slowly. I wished to get down and walk up them, as we
do at home, but the driver would not hear it. "No, no," he said;
"you must not walk here; the dogs are too fierce;" and then he
added, with what he evidently meant for grim pleasantry- for he looked
round to catch the approving smile of the rest- "and you may have
enough of such matters before you go to sleep." The only stop he would
make was a moment's pause to light his lamps.
When it grew dark there seemed to be some excitement amongst the
passengers, and they kept speaking to him, one after the other, as
though urging him to further speed. He lashed the horses
unmercifully with his long whip, and with wild cries of
encouragement urged them on to further exertions. Then through the
darkness I could see a sort of patch of grey light ahead of us, as
though there were a cleft in the hills. The excitement of the
passengers grew greater; the crazy coach rocked on its great leather
springs, and swayed like a boat tossed on a stormy sea. I