CHAPTER HI 



AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 



OUR tent was pitched upon a level spot, 

 with a thinly timbered grassy slope ris- 

 ing behind. Before us the cold, clear 

 river, winding through a deep gulch, poured 

 down with much noise over a rocky bed. On 

 the opposite side of the river— it was only a 

 creek here, for we were not far from its head— 

 a steep, forest-clad mountain rose from the 

 water's edge. The atmosphere, dry and in- 

 vigorating, at an altitude of above eight thou- 

 sand feet, was redolent with the perfume of the 

 great pine wilderness, stretching far away in 

 every direction, and, with the noisy stream, of- 

 fered delightful contrast to the waterless and 

 barren tracts we had traversed in the lower 

 country. 

 Our horses hobbled and turned into knee-deep 



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