A NIGHT ON SHASTA'S SUMMIT 



on one side and by shattered precipices on the 

 other. Apprehensive of this coming darkness, 

 I had taken the precaution, when the storm 

 began, to make the most dangerous points clear 

 to my mind, and to mark their relations with 

 reference to the direction of the wind. When, 

 therefore, the darkness came on, and the be- 

 wildering drift, I felt confident that we could 

 force our way through it with no other guid- 

 ance. After passing the "Hot Springs" I 

 halted in the lee of a lava-block to let Jerome, 

 who had fallen a Uttle behind, come up. Here 

 he opened a council in which, under circum- 

 stances sufficiently exciting but without evinc- 

 ing any bewilderment, he maintained, in oppo- 

 sition to my views, that it was impossible to 

 proceed. He firmly refused to make the ven- 

 ture to find the camp, while I, aware of the 

 dangers that would necessarily attend our 

 efforts, and conscious of being the cause of his 

 present peril, decided not to leave him. 



Our discussions ended, Jerome made a dash 

 from the shelter of the lava-block and began 

 forcing his way back against the wind to the 

 "Hot Springs," wavering and struggling to 

 resist being carried away, as if he were fording 

 a rapid stream. After waiting and watching in 

 vain for some flaw in the storm that might be 

 urged as a new argument in favor of attempt- 

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