28o 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



to the unfailing oracle for advice in time of stress. And 

 presently we ourselves went in search of the oracle. Fol- 

 lowing the Sacred Way, we passed by the Treasury of the 

 Athenians, now restored to a semblance of its former beauty, 

 and came to the bare remains of the once great Temple of 

 Apollo. From its innermost chamber, according to tradi- 

 tion, arose the vapors that inspired the Pythian priestess. 

 Here we plucked blood-red poppies and paused to dream 

 of the by-gone days. In the gymnasium we could see the 

 youths of Delphi filling their bodies with harmonies of form ; 

 from the tiers of the theatre we beheld Apollo and Athena 

 judging between the matricide Orestes and the avenging 

 furies ; and all about us we saw in their former splendor and 

 beauty the master works of the ancient architects and sculp- 

 tors. When the evening came, and the Sun-god sank once 

 more in the west, we returned to our inn and lay down to 

 sleep and dream over again the fair dreams of the day. 



As soon as early dawn the "rosy-fingered" dispelled the 

 blackness of the night, we rose, and with Demos, our ven- 

 erable guide, started for the top of the mountain. Demos 

 proved an interesting companion. In spite of his sixty 

 years he could climb as fast as a mountain goat. Of such 

 trivial things as reading and writing he, of course, knevv^ 

 nothing. But he knew many a mountain song and story. 

 He told us of the dangers that hung over the people of the 

 region in the old days when bandits flocked free over the 

 mountain sides and how he himself once had a narrow 

 escape from the hands of a great robber. "Many things 

 mine eyes have seen," said he, "for then men were made of 

 iron and were fed with the anger of the earth." 



We climbed on and up, through pastures where shepherds 

 were leading out their flocks of sheep and goats for the 

 day's feeding, through sparse groves of evergreens and 

 over shoulders of ragged rock, until at length we came out 

 upon a great high plateau, covered with flowers : snow- 

 white and purple iris, blue and white asters dancing among 

 crimson poppies, daisies, white with yellow eyes, nodding 

 to amber crocuses, and dandelions couched among vetches 

 and lupines. After a slight descent into a mountain meadow, 



