A CHANCE FRIEND. 17 



while on the summit of the mountain the 

 weather remained perfectly clear and calm. 

 Under a blue sky they watched the light- 

 ning, and listened to the thunder in the dark 

 clouds, which were pouring torrents of rain 

 upon the plain and the Lake of Lucerne. 

 The storm lasted long after night had closed 

 in, and Agassiz lingered when all his com- 

 panions had retired to rest, till at last the 

 clouds drifted softly away, letting down the 

 light of moon and stars on the lake and land- 

 scape. He used to say that in his subsequent 

 Alpine excursions he had rarely witnessed a 

 scene of greater beauty. 



Such of his letters from Zurich as have 

 been preserved have only a home interest. In 

 one of them, however, he alludes to a curious 

 circumstance, which might have changed the 

 tenor of his life. He and his brother were 

 returning on foot, for the vacation, from Zu- 

 rich to their home which was now in Orbe, 

 where their father and mother had been set- 

 tled since 1821. Between Neuchatel and 

 Orbe they were overtaken by a traveling car- 

 riage. A gentleman who was its sole occu- 

 pant invited them to get in, made them wel- 

 come to his lunch, talked to them of their 

 student life, and their future plans, and drove 



VOL. I. 



