224 



IN A UTUMN. 



sounds the muffled roar of the lake as it beat 

 upon the narrow beach nearly two hundred 

 feet below me. At last I was in a strange 

 country ; one that bore not the remotest resem- 

 blance to any I had seen before. 



There was no time to tarry, however at- 

 tractive any spot might prove ; and next in 

 order, having seen the uplands, was to descend 

 to the foot of the cliff and stroll along the beach. 

 I was assured that Fortune favored us, as near 

 by was a well-worn path. Never was a path 

 better described it was well worn. Smooth 

 as a toboggan-slide and with few shrubs or 

 sturdy weeds to seize in case of accident, my 

 steps were clogged with fear ; each foot weighted 

 with a painful doubt. I hate to run a risk, and 

 fear so strained my nerves that when the base 

 was reached every muscle ached through sym- 

 pathy. 



If we limit the localities to sand and water, 

 the lake was an ocean on a small scale, and not 

 a very small scale either. Sky and water closed 

 in the earth's boundary upon three sides ; but 

 the water lacked life. Not a shell, not an insect, 

 not a fish had been tossed upon the sand 

 nothing but sand. This want was a disap- 

 pointment, for the gathering of flotsam along 

 our sea-coast is a never-ending source of pleas- 

 ure. Perhaps, had there been recently a vio- 



