above. Many an evening after a day with the 

 moraines and the forests, or with the eagles and 

 the crags, I have gone down to one of these ideal 

 camping-places. Here through the night my 

 fire blazed and faded in the edge of a meadow 

 before a templed cluster of spruces on a rocky 

 rim above the lake. 



Many times camp was so situated that 

 splendid sunsets or the lingering pink and silver 

 afterglow were at their best behind a broken 

 sky-line ridge. My camp-fire was reflected in 

 the lake, which often sparkled as if enamel- 

 filled with stars. Across one corner lay softly 

 the inverted Milky Way. Shooting stars passed 

 like white rockets through the silent waters. 

 The moon came up big and yellow from behind 

 a crag and in the lake became a disc of gold. 

 Many a night the cliffs repeated the restlessness 

 of the wind-shaken water until the sun quieted 

 all with light. During the calm nights there 

 were hours of almost unbroken silence, though 

 at times and faintly a far-off waterfall could be 

 heard, the bark of a fox sounded across the lake, 

 or the weird and merry cries of the coyote were 



159 



