wind blasts from the snow-fields and glaciers and
waterfall, I was chilled through and through. As I felt about for my
vanished clothes, my teeth chattered. Soon I gave up the search and
sought shelter in the spruces; I found a leaning slab of rock and crept
beneath it as a wild animal would have done. Through the remaining
hours of the night I shivered and shook there; my imagination dulled,
my ambition dampened. I decided to break camp as soon as it was light.

But it is marvelous what sunshine will do. When at last the tardy sun
came up, and the wind died down and I had recovered my clothes and
warmed myself at a leaping fire, my heart too leaped up with renewed
courage. All was serene. It seemed impossible that I could have been
so miserable in the night.

As soon as I had eaten I dragged the tent back among the spruces where
I set it up and anchored it securely. Lesson Number One had sunk in.
It would not need repeating.

When camp was at last secure, I climbed slowly to the ridge top above.
Its crest was above timberline. On all sides rose lofty mountains,
many of them patched with snowbanks. Deep canyons cut sharply between
the ridges and shoulders. Ice fields indicated possible glaciers. I
wanted to explore everything at once; wanted to climb the peaks, and
delve into the canyons; hunt out the game and explore the glaciers.

At timberline I stopped in silent wonder. Broken trees were scattered
about upon the ground like soldiers after a battle. I didn't quite
comprehend its significance, but Parson Lamb had described it to me. I
had seen other timberlines in my rambles, but none so impressive as
this. Here was the forest frontier. How dauntless, how gallant, these
pioneers were! How they strove to hold the advantage gained during the
brief summer respite! Here a canny stripling grew behind a sheltering
bowlder, but whenever it tried to peep above its breastworks, the wind,
with its shell-shot of sand and gravel and ice bullets, cut off its
protruding limbs as neatly as a gardner might have done. Consequently
its top was as flat as a table.

In the open, other trees trailed along the ground like creeping vines,
their tops pointing away from the wind. It seemed as if they banded
together for mutual protection, for they formed a dense hedge or
"bush." Here was the deadline established by altitude. The forests
were commanded to halt; this line of last defense was not unlike the
sweeping