ppeared like silver straws. Nothing could
check the mad carousal of the sparks and flames, which danced,
leaped, whirled, reversed, and intertwined, like demons waltzing with
a company of witches on Walpurgis Night. A few adventurous men
climbed to the roofs of the adjoining structures, and thence poured
buckets of water on the angry holocaust; but, for all the good they
thus accomplished, they might as well have spat upon the surging,
writhing fire, which flashed up in their faces like exploding bombs,
whenever portions of the buildings fell. Meantime huge clouds of
dense smoke, scintillant with sparks, rolled heavenward from this
miniature Vesuvius; the neighboring windows, as they caught the
light, sparkled like monster jewels; two telegraph poles caught fire,
and cut their slender forms and outstretched arms against the jet
black sky, like gibbets made of gold. How fire and water serve us,
when subdued as slaves; but, oh, how terribly they scourge us, if
ever for a moment they can gain the mastery! Too interested to
exchange a word, we watched the struggle and awaited the result. The
fury of the fire seemed like the wild attack of Indians, inflamed
with frenzy and fanaticism, sure to exhaust itself at last, but for
the moment riotously triumphant. Gradually, however, through want of
material on which to feed itself, the fiery demon drooped its shining
crest, brandished its arms with lessening vigor, and seemed to writhe
convulsively, as thrust after thrust from the silver spears of its
assailants reached a vital spot. Finally, after hurling one last
shower of firebrands, it sank back into darkness, and its hereditary
enemy rushed in to drown each lingering spark of its reduced
vitality.

[Illustration: FLAGSTAFF STATION.]

[Illustration: PACKING WOOD.]

[Illustration: A MEXICAN HOME.]

[Illustration: OUR CAR AT FLAGSTAFF.]

[Illustration: THE HEAVENS FROM THE OBSERVATORY, FLAGSTAFF.]

[Illustration: TWILIGHT.]

Upon a hill near Flagstaff stands an astronomical observatory from
which distinguished students of the midnight skies search for the
secrets of the moon and stars. Few better sites on earth could have
been chosen for this purpose, since Arizona's atmosphere is so
transparent that the extent of celestial scenery here disclosed is
extraordinary. We visited the structure at the solemn hour that marks
the hush between two days, when the last sound of one has died away,
and before the first stir of the o