194 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



breath, and all the rude severity of the scene, so striking 

 during the sunny mid-day, was transformed into a 

 sheltering softness, the tall tree trunks guarded our 

 tents, warding off untoward storms and cruel blasts, 

 the stream below murmured gently of the snow peaks 

 above, from which it had been liberated by the soft 

 touch of spring, the rustling of the grass as the ponies 

 moved slowly about gave a feeling of outside fellowship, 

 the tents on the other side had an added importance 

 from the illuminating touch of the moon, and cheered 

 with an assurance of near companionship. Better than 

 all those, as the night hours passed, was the sense of 

 brotherhood with all life never enjoyed except by those 

 who have slept out o' nights and, freed from the fetters 

 of brick walls and constraining roofs, have known what 

 it is to inhale the midnight air with no barriers between 

 them and the stars, and have been given a tiny key to 

 the full understanding of nature's language. Who has 

 not felt the strange languor closelv allied to natural 



O O \j 



death that comes on all things towards the midnight 

 hours, the breathlesness of supreme exhaustion, followed 

 by the half-awakening of the " false dawn " as the 

 Eastern writers call that curious radiance which causes 

 all nature " to turn in her sleep "- so that trees rustle, 

 ferns and flowers sway together, the cattle bestir them- 

 selves to take a few mouthfuls of herbage, watching 

 dogs give an anxious bark, and then, with the dying of 

 the radiance of the misleading light, all turn to rest 

 again with a lighter sleep and more broken breathing, 

 till the true herald of the dawn gently blots out the 

 stars and sweeps the skies in preparation for the grand 

 procession of the dawn, the glorious lever du rideau of 

 each new day's toil ? On such a night it is but a loss of 



