;:::::::3a TWO BIRD -LOVERS IN MEXICO W=^ 



Waiting at the station for the early morning train, 

 we saw nothing bnt lofty mountains on all sides. At 

 the first rays of the sun, the cold night mists drifted 

 away, or, glacier-like, streamed slowly into the deeper 

 valleys, leaving each depression and hollow of the 

 mountain forest overflowing with an intercepted cloud- 

 pool, which in the increasing warmth soon sank into 

 the foliage or was drawn upward into invisibility. 



Orizaba's cap of snow, which forever hangs above 

 this little town, — its namesake, — was not visible in 

 the early morning, owing to the mists which filled the 

 upper air. The mountain directly facing the station was 

 not a large one and was near at hand, and when the 

 dense clouds suddenly cleared away, Ave were astonished 

 to see its blunt summit capped with a dazzling mass of 

 snow. Every detail stood out clear-cut ; it seemed as 

 if we might almost walk to the summit, throw a snow- 

 ball into the streets of the town, and return in time for 

 the train. But the mystery of this small, low moim- 

 tain, thus snow-covered, was not solved until we walked 

 a few hundred yards to one side and, to our amazement, 

 the cap of snow had slid a little off the mountain ! 

 The explanation was then clear. Orizaba, although 

 over forty miles away, was directly in a line with the 

 small mountain near the station, and at that place the 

 snow-cap fitted so exactly upon the lesser mass that 

 closest scrutiny with the glass failed to show the decep- 

 tion, while the clearness of the atmosphere mocked 

 «4 22 ^ 



