high Sierras to the east overtopped 

 the wondrous plumy forests of their 

 pines with blocks of sculptured blue. 

 Back of the house was a noble river 

 of water from the hills r fouled and 

 chained by sluice and dam, but still a 

 noble stream whose earliest parent rill 

 had gushed from grim old Tallac's 

 slope. 



Things of beauty, life, and color were 

 on every side, and yet most sordid of 

 the human race were the folk about 

 the ranch hotel. To see them in this 

 setting might well raise doubt that any 

 "rise from Nature up to Nature'sGod." 

 No city slum has ever shown a more 

 ignoble crew, and Jack, if his mind 

 were capable of such things, must have 

 graded the two-legged ones lower in 

 proportion as he knew them better. 



Cruelty was his lot, and hate was 

 his response.. Almost the only amus- 



