rm altitude of its four peaks, rising
nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea, have long made them
famous. Moreover, they are memorable for having cast a lurid light
upon the development of this portion of our planet. Cold, calm, and
harmless though they now appear, the time has been when they
contained a molten mass which needed but a throb of Earth's uneasy
heart to light the heavens with an angry glare, and cover the
adjoining plains with floods of fire. Lava has often poured from
their destructive cones, and can be traced thence over a distance of
thirty miles; proving that they once served as vents for the volcanic
force which the thin crust of earth was vainly striving to confine.
But their activity is apparently ended. The voices with which they
formerly shouted to one another in the joy of devastation have been
silenced. Conquered at last, their fires smolder now beneath a
barrier too firm to yield, and their huge forms appear like funeral
monuments reared to the memory of the power buried at their base.
Another fascinating sight upon this drive was that of the Painted
Desert whose variously colored streaks of sand, succeeding one
another to the rim of the horizon, made the vast area seem paved with
bands of onyx, agate, and carnelian.

[Illustration: THE LUNCH STATION.]

About the hour of noon we reached a lunch-station at which the
stages, going to and from the Canon, meet and pass. The structure
itself is rather primitive; but a good meal is served to tourists at
this wayside halting-place, and since our appetites had been
sharpened by the long ride and tonic-giving air, it seemed to us the
most delicious of repasts. The principal object of one of the members
of our party, in making the journey described in these pages, was to
determine the advisability of building a railroad from Flagstaff to
the Canon. Whether this will be done eventually is not, however, a
matter of vital interest to travelers, since the country traversed
can easily be made an almost ideal coaching-route; and with good
stages, frequent relays of horses, and a well-appointed
lunch-station, a journey thus accomplished would be preferable to a
trip by rail.

[Illustration: HANCE'S CAMP.]

[Illustration: OUR TENT AT HANCE'S CAMP.]

Night had already come when we arrived at our destination, known as
Hance's Camp, near the border of the Canon. As we drove up to it, the
situation seemed enchanting in its peace and beauty; for it is
lo