of the canyon and
over the rocks that bordered a green-white waterfall. The wind blowing
the spray in first one direction and then another, they got well wetted,
though the clear California sunshine soon dried them again. But the most
curious part of their climb past the falls was the rainbow that persisted
in following them till they seemed to be at the hub of a huge semi-circle
of opalescent tints.

Above, (perhaps eight hundred feet higher than their camp at the hot
spring), they came to where the river slid green and transparent over
granite slopes just bordered by a fringe of pine. The water ran deep and
swift, though, and as Ted stooped to drink, he found that, rhythmically,
a larger swell, (call it a wave), would slap him in the face, till once,
blinded by the unexpected onslaught, he all but lost his balance. It
would have been inevitable, had he done so, that he should almost
instantly go hurtling over that eight hundred foot drop, whose waters
roared till the boys had to shout at each other to be heard even a few
paces away. But the water was deliciously icy, from its fountain-head in
the glacier above.

Wide slopes just steep enough to make climbing demand considerable
sure-footedness widened this hanging valley on either side, with no
greenery save the picturesque bits that grew along the weathered cracks.
Beyond this, the canyon walls continued to rise abruptly.

Trailing along beside the river till it had widened out and quieted its
song, they found one of the typically open, parklike, forests of silver
firs, jeweled with occasional emerald meadows fragrant with purple lupin
and gay with crimson columbine and golden buttercups. Under foot were
white violets and wee, monkey-faced mimulus, with occasionally a rare
scarlet monkey-flower.

They passed one of the tributaries of the river, crossed it on a log, and
paused to drink deep of its sweet fluid. They found a huge fallen log
with a mushroom growth that Pedro pronounced edible and which they found
not unlike cooked crab meat. They crossed other brooklets, paused at noon
to eat a dry lunch, and to their amazement spied a doe and her half-grown
fawn in the edge of the clearing watching them wistfully as they threw
their scraps away. Pedro, approaching softly, and casting peace offerings
before him, was able to approach to within several paces of the mother,
though her young hopeful was less trustful. Having probably never seen a
biped before, both anim