218 BESIDE THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 



instantly. Then on through the big gate, down 

 a long lane, where we ran the gauntlet of the 

 family cows ; over or under bars, where awaited 

 us a tribe of colts with their anxious mammas ; 

 and at last to the tree and the nest. There our 

 guide met us and climbed up to explore. Alas ! 

 the nest robber had anticipated us. 



Slowly we took our way home, resolved to ask 

 no more help, but to seek for ourselves, for the 

 nest that is known is the nest that is robbed. 

 So the next morning, armed with camp-chairs 

 and alpenstocks, drinking-cups and notebooks, 

 we started up the mountain, where we could at 

 least find solitude, and the fresh air of the hills. 

 We climbed fill we were tired, and then, as was 

 our custom, sat down to rest and breathe, and 

 see who lived in that part of the world. With- 

 out thought of the height we had reached, we 

 turned our backs to the mountain, rising bare 

 and steep before us, and behold ! the outlook 

 struck us dumb. 



There at our feet lay the village, smothered in 

 orchards and shade-trees, the locusts, just then 

 huge bouquets of graceful bloom and delicious 

 odor, buzzing with hundreds of bees and hum- 

 rning-birds ; beyond was a stretch of cultivated 

 fields in various shades of green and brown; 

 and then the lake, beautiful and wonderful 

 Salt Lake, glowing with exquisite colors, now 



