Muir of the Mountains 



21 



three seconds of doubt and trepidation, Muir realized what was 

 happening and enthusiastically welcomed such an opportunity 

 for close observation of the swaying trees, and the piling up of 

 the talus by the torrent of rocks from the cliffs, forming a lu- 

 minous bow as they fell. His intense interest and forgetfulness 

 of self were not assumed, but the natural expression of a spirit 

 all eager to observe and interpret, if he could, the shaking earth 

 and allied phenomena. He was probably the one man in the Val- 

 ley who kept his head while these unnerving events were in 

 progress. 



He had many stirring adventures while climbing and roam- 

 ing. One in particular was in later years somewhat joculary re- 

 ferred to as "a personally conducted ride on an avalanche," al- 

 though at the time it was anything but a jocular matter. Here 

 again Muir showed remarkable presence of mind. And how he 

 exulted in the mountain storms ! Nothing of their majesty and 

 might escaped his notice. He knew them well, from the tower- 

 ing cumulo-nimbus, whose slow upbuilding foretold the coming 

 thunder, to the wild rush and wrestling of the blast with the 

 forest monarchs. Sprung from a long line of Highland fore- 

 bears, he scanned with critical eye the gray low-flying scud and 

 the fast falling flakes that blotted out the landscape and bewil- 

 dered men. To Muir these were never-to-be-forgotten and ever- 

 to-be-enjoyed manifestations of Nature's might and her thou- 

 sand ways of casting forth her strength. 



Or turning from scenes of elemental strife to those of ele- 

 mental calm, we can picture him keeping lonely vigil on the 

 summit of Whitney. Wandering as night falls, near the crest of 

 the range, the solitary figure looms large against the sky-line. 

 Out of the world, yet in it ; no human hand within touching dis- 

 tance, no human habitation within a day's march; serene and 

 self-poised, like one of the prophets of old he strays from men. 

 And as the sun passes below the farther peaks, and darkness 

 broods o'er the vast stretch of earth, he holds communion with 

 the friendly stars, nor knows nor feels his loneliness. 



Of all the mountains he had visited, and he had climbed many 

 in all parts of the world, his heart ever turned to and yearned 

 most for the Sierra, or, as he called them, the Mountains of 

 Light. They were his constant inspiration, and all their varying 



