, gradually very near. It was now dazzling,
not to be looked at full; but its rate of approach was inappreciable,
and as it came on I was able to peer into it and see nothing but its
beauty. There was a core of intensity, intolerably bright; about that,
lambency but no flame, in which I saw leaves and straws and fronds of
fern flickering, spiring, heeling over and over. That it whirled as
well as floated was now clear, for a strong wind blew before and after
it as it rushed by. This happened as I sat there. Blinding but not
burning, heralded by a keen wind, it came by me and passed; a swift
wind followed it as it went. It swept out toward the hollow of the
eastern valley-head, seemed to strike upon that and glance upward;
thence it swept gladly up, streaming to the zenith, grew thin, fine
and filmy, and seemed to melt into the utmost stars. I had seen
wonders and went home full of thought.

II

I first saw an Oread in this place in a snow-storm which, driven by a
north-westerly gale, did havoc to the lowlands, but not to the folded
hills. I had pushed up the valley in the teeth of the storm to see it
under the white stress. It was hard work for me and my dog; I had to
wade knee-deep, and he to jump, like a cat in long grass, through the
drifts. But we reached our haven and found shelter from the weather.
High above us where we stood the snow-flakes tossed and rioted, but
before they fell upon us being out of the wind, they drifted idly
down, _come ... in Alpe senza vento_. The whole valley was purely
white, its outlines blurred by the slant-driving snow. There was not a
living creature to be seen, and my dog, a little sharp-nosed black
beast, shivered as he looked about, with wide eyes and quick-set ears,
for a friendly sight, and held one paw tentatively in the air, as if
he feared the cold.

Suddenly he yelped once, and ran, limping on three legs or scuttling
on all four, over the snow toward the great eastern escarpment, but
midway stopped and looked with all his might into its smoothed hollow.
His jet-black ears stood sharp as a hare's; through the white scud I
was conscious that he trembled. He gazed into the sweep of the curving
hill, and following the direction he gave me, all my senses quick, I
gazed also, but for a while saw nothing.

Very gradually, without alarm on my part, a blur of colour seemed to
form itself and centre in one spot, half-way up the concave of the
down; very pale yellow, a soft, lemo