Morning came, and showed us all the minutiæ of hill-tops far and near, above the sea of clouds; but no carpenter. Again we made a great fire, with green wood now, so that its white smoke rising in a high pillar, might enable the lost seaman, unskilled in wild mountain lore, to recognise the top of Guajara. Several wide circles were swept around the station, and one of the Spaniards descended into the crater, and coasted along, as it were, by the foot of Guajara, reascending on the other side; but no trace of our wanderer was found.

Had he merely miscalculated the distance, and his walking powers, the previous night, and then lain down to rest,—on finding himself benighted by the rapid closing of an almost tropical twilight,—it would have been the safest and best course to pursue; for, in darkness, a precipice might easily be stumbled over; while on the other hand, in this warm summer season, and in a land without large wild animals of any description, a man could take no harm during a night's repose under a sheltering rock. But then thought we, in such case he would surely have started again soon after day-break, and would have returned to the tents at an early hour. Here however, eleven o'clock in the forenoon had arrived, and there was no appearance of him yet.