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Updated: May 19, 2025
There is an unmistakable smell of sulphur, and the ground on which we stand, as well as the moor itself, is of a deep-yellow cast. This, then, is the azuferales a region of sulphur springs, a brimstone inferno, a volcano in the making. No hounds will follow us over that hideous heath and through that Stygian stream. "Can we get across and live?" I ask. "Will it bear?" "I think so.
If we are viewed we shall be lost; for if the blood-hounds catch sight of us not even the terrors of the azuferales will balk them of their prey. And to our dismay the fire does not seem to be taking hold. We can see nothing of it but a few faint sparks gleaming through the bushes. But where can we hide?
Our first proceeding was to take them off and wring them; our next, to look for fresh water for the azuferales was like the ocean-water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. As we picked our way over the smoking waste by the light of the full moon and the burning forest, I asked Carmen, who knew the country and its ways so much better than myself, what he proposed that we should do next.
Late in the afternoon we passed a hut and a maize-field, the first sign of cultivation we had seen since leaving the azuferales, and ascertained our bearings from an old peon who was swinging in a grass hammock and smoking a cigar.
"The baying of the hounds and the cries of the hunters. They are nearer than I thought. To the azuferales for our lives!" The moor, albeit in some places yielding and in others treacherous, did not, as I feared, prove impassable.
"Never mind," says Carmen, "we shall soon be out of this valley of stones, and the hounds will not find it easy to pick up the scent hereabout. If we only keep out of their jaws another half-hour!" "Of course, we shall and more I hope for ever. We can go on for another hour. But what is your point?" "The azuferales." "The azuferales! What are the azuferales" "I cannot explain now. You will see.
Nevertheless, they persevered, questing about all over the moor, except in the neighborhood of the sulphur mounds and the springs. While this was going on the horsemen had tethered their steeds and were following on foot, riding over the azuferales being manifestly out of the question.
The leafless trees that bordered the western side of the azuferales were all alight; sparks, carried by the wind, had kindled several giants of the forest, which, "tall as mast of some high admiral," were flaunting their flaring banners a hundred feet above the mass of the fire.
It was the most magnificent spectacle I had ever seen, so magnificent that in watching it we forgot our own danger, as, if the fire continued to spread, the forest would be impassable for days, and we should be imprisoned on the azuferales without either food or fresh water. "Look yonder!" said Carmen, laying his hand on my shoulder.
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