d men, who seeing how useless was
everything of that nature, turned about and soon passed from view.

The incident was typical of the futility of the red man struggling
against his inevitable doom at the hands of his white brother.

Half way between the bottom of the canyon and the lower fringe of the
vast mantle of snow, a waterfall tumbled over the edge of a rock, and
with many a twist and eddy found its way to the small stream, which
rippled along the bottom of the gorge, until its winding course
carried it beyond sight. Now and then a rift of wind blew aside some
of the foam, like a wisp of snow, and brought the murmur more clearly
to the ear of the listener, shutting out for the time, the faint
hollow roar that was wafted from the region of pines and cedars. It
was a picture of lonely grandeur and desolation, made all the more
impressive by the tiny bits of life, showing in the few spots along
the mountain wall.

[Illustration: THE TEACHER HAD MARKED ON THE DARK FACE OF THE ROCK WITH A
SPECIES OF CHALK ALL THE LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET.--PAGE 71.]

At the rear of the row of cabins, and elevated perhaps fifty feet
above, was the comparatively smooth face of a rock, several square
rods in extent. At the base was abundant footing for two persons,
Parson Brush and Nellie Dawson. The teacher had marked on the dark
face of the rock with a species of chalk, all the letters large and
small of the alphabet. They were well drawn, for the parson, like
others in the settlement, was a man of education, though his many
years of roughing it had greatly rusted his book knowledge.

Standing to one side of his artistic work, like a teacher of the olden
time, the parson, with a long, trimmed branch in his hand, pointed at
the different letters in turn and patiently waited for his little
pupil to pronounce their names.

It never would have done to make the child keep her feet like an
ordinary mortal. With great labor, three of the miners had carried a
stone of considerable size to the spot, which served her as a seat,
while receiving instruction. It is true that she never sat still for
more than three minutes at a time, but that was enough to establish
the indispensable necessity of a chair.

"You are doing very well, my dear," said the parson, encouragingly;
"you have received only a few lessons, but have mastered the alphabet.
I notice that the 'd's' and 'b's' and 'h's' and 'q's' puzzle you a
little now and then, but you have