1 1 4 Fish Stories 



Such a fish did not whet the appetite for smaller game, 

 so we descanted on its beauties; and as the sun was drop- 

 ping behind the old volcano of Pitt with its gleaming gla- 

 ciers, we turned and rowed slowly in, while there settled over 

 bay and lake the marvelous vestments of approaching night. 



The sun was sinking behind the peaks to the west; the 

 Modoc cliffs to the east were bathed in old rose that deep- 

 ened every instant into vermilion, scarlet, pink, in varied 

 shades, until they seemed to blaze in the dazzling effulgence. 

 Lower dropped the sun behind the great snow-capped moun- 

 tain that hung nearly ten thousand feet in air, like a crystal 

 suspended from the sky, and as it passed, a strange, marvel- 

 ous blue, the deepest purest blue ever seen by human eyes, 

 blue born, it might be, in the heart of some sapphire or 

 flashed from a giant tourmaline, settled on all the moun- 

 tains that encircled the lake. Myriads of phantom forms 

 seemed to come stealing, creeping silently from every forest 

 glade until all were encompassed, all but the eastern Modoc 

 hills, which still blazed in old rose and vermilion tints, while 

 the surface of the water was a kaleidoscope of color, inde- 

 scribable, a medley of tints that seemed to reflect, not the 

 blues, but the pinks and yellows. Darker grew the blue, 

 until the hills and mountains were set in bands of deepest 

 sapphire, then, slowly across the lake the deep-blue shadows 

 of the mountains began to move — sapphire peaks, over seas 

 incarnadine. 



On they went, each mountain clear and distinct, racing 

 over this sea of dreams, staging the lake of Klamath with 

 unwonted and marvelous effects. On and on they moved, 

 widening, growing as they passed, until the tourmaline-like 

 surface was encompassed. Far across the lake we traced 

 them ; saw them climb the distant crimson cliffs, ever grow- 

 ing, deepening in an ecstasy of color, until they reached the 

 very summit, and poured over the edge of the world to 

 leave the silent waters a gleaming, pulsating sapphire of 

 hazy light. 



