was as transparent as air and but for
the millions of air bubbles caused by the falling water every inch of
bottom could be plainly seen by an observer at the brink of the pool.

The trout in these basins were almost as colorless as the water itself
(the light color of the fish is due to their chameleon-like power of
modifying their hue to imitate their surroundings)--this mimicry is so
perfect that after looking into one of these stone basins, the rounded
smooth sides of which offered no shade or nook where a trout might hide,
I was ready to declare the waters uninhabited but no sooner had my brown
hackel or professor settled lightly on the surface of the pool than out
from among the air bubbles a fish appeared and seized the fly.

My sprained ankle was now so much improved that upon discovering a
diagonal fracture in the face of the cliff, which looked as if offering
a foot hold, and feeling reckless, I determined to make the effort to
scale the wall at this point.

If the giant "fault" is of comparatively recent occurrence, geologically
speaking, it seemed reasonable that there would be trout in the streams
above the cliff and the memory of the fact that Pete had reported that
both Rocky Mountain sheep and goats were up there decided me to attempt
to scale the wall by the fracture. It was a long, hard climb and more
than once while I clung to the chance projections or dug my fingers into
small cracks and looked down upon the backs of some golden eagle sailing
in spirals below me, I regretted making the fool-hardy attempt, but when
the top was reached and I saw signs of sheep and had a peep at a white
object I took to be a goat, I felt repaid for my arduous climb.

The elevated prairie or table-land on which I found myself corresponded
in every important particular with the park below; there were the same
natural divisions of prairie and forests, the same erratic boulders, but
on account of the difference in elevation there was a corresponding
difference in plant life, and most interesting of all to me, there were
the trout streams. The tablelands above the park were comparatively
level in places where the stream ran almost as quietly as a meadow
brook, but these level stretches were interrupted at short distance by
foaming rapids, jagged rocks and roaring falls.

My angler's instinct told me that the biggest fish lurked in the deep
pools, to reach which it was necessary to creep and worm myself over the
open fla