A Midzmnter Trip. 



255 



gradually made a grate in the pit large enough to sit on 

 and then long enough to lie on, by kicking a cavern for 

 his feet in the wall of the pit. Then he stretched himself 

 on his grated bed, with back turned to the glowing embers 

 and face to the sky, with no blanket, but with a sense of 

 warmth exceeding that of his companions in the bed. At 

 three the botanist was uneasy again ; the new bed caught 

 his fancy, and on it he rested until, toward morning, the 

 fire sank into the depths of the snow. 



Memorable was the day that succeeded. It began at 

 sunrise and continued until 4:30 o'clock the next morn- 

 ing, when the party lay down again to rest. Variations, 

 however, diversified the day, so that sun yielded to moon 

 all too quickly, and the latter sank in the west like some 

 speeding hour hand on the dial of the heavens. And all 

 the time lay the broad expanse of Lake Tahoe before us — 

 near and yet interminably far — its approach guarded by 

 valleys and cornices which defied the sled and lured the 

 toilers to loiter. 



Beautiful nooks, from which long white vistas through 

 green timber and mountain crags led the eye to wander 

 as the body rested — great reservoirs of nature from which 

 should come streams of springtime and fruits of summer. 

 Into the last of these we slid and rolled to cook the second 

 meal of the day in the bed of a rivulet that here cut its 

 channel deeply in the snow. As we ate, large veils of mist 

 came sailing over the mountain rim into the valley and 

 the great forest around us grew gloomy as at twilight. 

 The storm had returned once more. 



Only a single mountain rim now intervened between us 

 and the lake. If we must, we could tumble down this, 

 even in the storm, and reach the water's edge. But Brock- 

 way still lay far west along the rim and down a long 

 point that ran far out into the lake. 



As we reached the summit of the rim a scene baffling 

 description met our eyes. A fierce gale was sweeping 

 over the lake. From our elevation of 3,000 feet above its 

 waters the waves seemed not to rise in individual crests, 



