A DAY IN JUNE 139 



So I said to myself as I turned to look about 

 me at the summit. It was only half past 

 two, the day was gloriously fair, the breeze 

 not too strong, yet ample for creature com- 

 forts, — coolness and freedom, — and the 

 place all my own. If I had missed Selkirk's 

 violet, I had found his solitude. The joists 

 of the little open summer-house were scrawled 

 thickly with names and initials, but the scrib- 

 blers and carvers had gone with last year's 

 birds. I might sing or shout, and there 

 would be none to hear me. But I did 

 neither. I was glad to be still and look. 



There lay Echo Lake, shimmering in the 

 sun. Beyond was the hotel, its windows still 

 boarded for winter, and on either side of it 

 rose the mountain walls. The White Cross 

 still kept something of its shape on Lafay- 

 ette, the only snow left in sight, though al- 

 most the whole peak had been white ten 

 days before. The cross itself must be fast 

 going. With my glass I could see the water 

 pouring from it in a flood. And how plainly 

 I could follow the trail up the rocky cone of 

 the mountain ! Those were good days when 

 I climbed it, lifting myseK step by step up 



