ld see the procession of their lost companions, just
rounding a sharp corner. They were an admirable cavalcade in khaki, the
men wearing sombreros, the girls with brilliant blue or green veils tied
over big hats, and scarlet silk handkerchiefs knotted at their necks. The
gaily coloured figures on horse or mule back fitted the picture as
appropriately as if they had been Indians; and Angela gazed at them with
pleasure; but she felt no wish to join the band.

Nick led; she rode close behind, sometimes mounting, sometimes descending
the narrow trail toward Glacier Point. By and by Hall Dome, one of the
great granite mountains, began to dominate the world; but though the
cascades were in his kingdom they could not be governed by him, because
spirits are not ruled by earthly kings. There was Vernal Fall, gentle in
majesty; and Nevada, a wild and untamed water spirit; and retrospect
glimpses of the Yosemite Falls.

Close to Nevada, they reached a famous viewpoint, and Nick took Angela off
her pony that she might stand near the edge and see the white torrent
plunge over an unthinkable abyss. Always she had hated to look down from
heights, because they made her long to jump and end everything. But to-day
she was in love with life, and the leap of the waters quickened her heart
with a sense of power. On the pony again, as they went up and up, or down
steep rocky ways on the verge of sheer abysses, she had no fear. She
seemed to be learning a lesson of peace, a lesson such as only unspoiled
nature can teach.

[Illustration: "_The world was a sea, billowing with mountains_"]

From the high levels they had reached, they looked down on clouds that
glittered silver-white as snow-capped mountain-heads. Among the rocks,
where the ponies' hoofs picked their way, wild flowers sprang, strange and
lovely blossoms such as Angela had never seen; but Nick knew most of them
by name. Bird notes dropped like honey from fragrant shrubs and trees that
hid the singers. Squirrels with plumed tails, and chipmunks striped white,
gray, and brown, raced across the trail, or peered with the bright beads
they had for eyes from piles of dead wood that lay gray as skeletons among
the living green of the mountain forest. Far below, Silver Apron Fall
splashed into the Emerald Pool and turned its green jewels to diamonds.
The near forests and faraway waters sang in the different voices the same
song other waters and forests had sung yesterday; but this song