FOUNTAINS AND STREAMS 205 



His belief in the existence of a mysterious abyss, 

 into which the suspended floor of the valley and 

 all the domes and battlements of the walls might 

 at any moment go roaring down, mightily 

 troubled him. To cheer and tease him into 

 another view of the case, I said : " Come, cheer 

 up ; smile a little and clap your hands, now that 

 kind Mother Earth is trotting" us on her knee to 

 amuse us and make us good." But the well- 

 meant joke seemed irreverent and utterly failed, 

 as if only prayerful terror could rightly belong to 

 the wild beauty-making business. Even after all 

 the heavier shocks were over, I could do nothing 

 to reassure him. On the contrary, he handed 

 me the keys of his little store, and, with a com- 

 panion of like mind, fled to the lowlands. In 

 about a month he returned ; but a sharp shock 

 occurred that very day, which sent him flying 

 again . 



The rocks trembled more or less every day for 

 over two months, and I kept a bucket of water 

 on my table to learn what I could of the move- 

 ments. The blunt thunder-tones in the depths 

 of the mountains were usually followed by sudden 

 jarring, horizontal thrusts from the northward, 

 often succeeded by twisting, upjolting movements. 

 Judging by its effects, this Yosemite, or Inyo 

 earthquake, as it is sometimes called, was gentle 

 as compared with the one that gave rise to the 

 grand talus system of the range and did so much 



