:::::::::m TWO BIRD -LOVERS IN MEXICO B-"--" 



Waiting at the station for tlie early morning train, 

 ^ we saw nothing but lofty mountains on all sides. At 

 the first rays of the sun, the cold night mists drifted 

 away, or, glacier-like, streamed slowly into the deeper 

 valleys, leaving each depression and hollow of the 

 mountain forest overflowing with an intercepted cloud- 

 pool, which in the increasing warmth soon sank into 

 the foliage or was drawn upward into invisibility. 



Orizaba's cap of snow, which forever hangs above 

 this little town, — its namesake, — was not visible in 

 the early morning, owing to the mists which filled the 

 upper air. The mountain directly facing the station was 

 not a large one and was near at hand, and when the 

 dense clouds suddenly cleared away, we were astonished 

 to see its blunt summit capped with a dazzling mass of 

 snow. Every detail stood out clear-cut ; it seemed as 

 if we might almost walk to the summit, throw a snow- 

 ball into the streets of the town, and return in time for 

 the train. But the mystery of this small, low moun- 

 tain, thus snow-covered, was not solved until we walked 

 a few hundred yards to one side and, to our amazement, 

 the cap of snow had slid a little off the mountain ! 

 The explanation was then clear. Orizaba, although 

 over forty miles away, was directly in a line with the 

 small mountain near the station, and at that place the 

 snow-cap fitted so exactly upon the lesser mass that 

 closest scrutiny with the glass failed to show the decep- 

 tion, while the clearness of the atmosphere mocked 



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