82 
THUNDER-STORMS. 
away from among the peaks. The getting wet 
was not so bad as the getting dry again. Of 
course, as soon as there was any sign of a shower, 
they would start for the tent ; but, if they were 
any distance away, could only reach it in time to 
change their drenched clothing, and if possible 
warm their chilled and shivering bodies. If they 
were out in two showers in one day and had both 
suits wet, they were obliged to go to bed. A fire 
was frequently impossible upon these damp 
occasions, as the same shower that drenched 
them wet their fuel also. 
The getting up in the morning after such an 
adventure is what tests one’s amount of “ clear 
grit.” Clothes damp, boots hard and stiff, frost 
a quarter of an inch thick on everything outside 
the tent, and no hope of warmth and breakfast, 
till, from under sheltering rocks and logs, enough 
fuel can be gathered for a fire. 
Late one evening they were startled by a deep 
growl coming from behind a tree close to the 
tent. The child shuddered and turned pale; but 
Mrs. Maxwell, with her characteristic coolness 
and determination, grasped her gun and prepared 
to secure a new specimen, or at least defend her- 
self and child from harm. The growl was re- 
peated. The California or mountain lion was not 
uncommon in the neighborhood. One must be 
in or behind the tree, and she put her gun — one 
