48 UNDER THE TREES. 



more precipitous. In the dusky light that sifted 

 down through the great trees I felt the delicious re 

 lief of low tones after the glare of the summer day. 

 It was another world into which I had come ; a 

 world of unbroken repose and silence, a world of 

 sweet and fragrant airs cooled by the mountain 

 rivulet and shielded by the mountain summits and 

 the arching umbrage. 



The path vanished at last and nothing remained 

 but the narrow channel of the brook itself, the 

 smooth stones making a precarious and uncertain 

 footing for the adventurous explorer. How sooth 

 ing was the ceaseless plash of that little stream, 

 fretting its moss-grown banks and dashing in minia 

 ture surge against the stones in its path ! What 

 infinite peace reigned in this place, around which 

 the brotherhood of mountains had gathered, to hold 

 it inviolate against all comers ! The great rocks 

 were moss-covered, the steep slopes on either side 

 were faintly flecked with light, and one saw here 

 and there, through the clustered trunks of trees, a 

 gleam of blue sky. Sometimes the brook narrowed 

 to a tiny stream, rushing with impetuous current 

 between the rocky walls that formed its channel ; 

 then it spread out shallow and noisy over some 

 broader expanse of white sand and polished pebble ; 

 then it loitered in the shadow of a great rock and 

 became a deep, silent pool, full of shadows and the 

 mysteries which lurk in such remote and dusky 

 places. 



