en torn asunder by some
stupendous explosion, it could not have presented a rougher or more
chaotic aspect. To look at it was like beholding the secret places of
the earth. The rocky walls were of different colors, yellow, blue,
and red, in many shades and gradations. They towered ruggedly upwards,
sharply shadowed and brightly lighted, mounting in regular pinnacles,
parting in black crevices; here and there vast masses hung poised on
bases seemingly insufficient, ready to topple over on the unwary passer
beneath. A short distance to the northward the ravine had a turn, and a
projecting promontory hid its further extreme from sight. Freeman made
up his mind to follow it up on foot, after the descending sun should
have thrown a shadow over it. The indications, in his judgment, were
not without promise that a system of judiciously-applied blastings might
open up a source of water that would transform this dreadful barrenness
into something quite different.

The shade of the great pyramid fell upon him as he lay, but the
tumultuous wall opposite was brilliantly illuminated: the sky, over it,
was of a peculiar brassy hue, but entirely cloudless. The radiations
from the baked surface, ascending vertically, made the rocky bastion
seem to quiver, as if it were a reflection cast on undulating water.
The wreaths of tobacco-smoke that emanated from Freeman's mouth also
ascended, until they touched the slant of sunlight overhead. As the
young man's eyes followed these, something happened that caused him to
utter an exclamation and raise himself on one arm.

All at once, in the vacant air diagonally above him, a sort of shadowy
shimmer seemed to concentrate itself, which was rapidly resolved into
color and form. It was much as if some unseen artist had swept a mass
of mingled hues on a canvas and then had worked them with magical speed
into a picture. There appeared a breadth of rolling country, covered
with verdure, and in the midst of it the white walls and long, shadowed
veranda of an adobe house. Freeman saw the vines clambering over the
eaves and roof, the vases of earthenware suspended between the pillars
and overflowing with flowers, the long windows, the steps descending
into the garden. Now a figure clad in white emerged from the door and
advanced slowly to the end of the veranda. He recognized the gait and
bearing: he could almost fancy he discerned the beloved features. She
stood there for a moment, gazing, as it seemed