ound in time. You just
wait, and you will see whether I know what I am about.

XXVII.

SCENERY IMPROVED.

The next day we drove to a farmhouse which had annexed some rather
decent fields for that region. On one side was tolerably level ground,
on the other a cut between two savage mountains. Down this we made our
way, taking presently the bed of a small brook: woodroad or footpath
never can be there. For a while there was room to walk on dry land: soon
the cliffs closed in upon us, on the right rising sheer, on the left
sloping, but steeper than I would want to climb. At first the stream was
very shallow and narrow, and the fish small and scarce; but think of the
creatures that must come there to drink at night! It was the only
watercourse for miles, Jim said. He pointed out the tracks of a bear or
two, and he thought of a panther; but it is not here I should choose to
hunt--your game might have you at a disadvantage. He tried to make me
believe that even now some of these beasts might catch us; but that was
simply to discourage me from going after them, later on: Jim does not
like the chase. _My_ jokes are in better taste: as he is now, I believe
the bears could beat him in manners. Near noon we found a place to sit
down, where we could see a little of the crags, and proceeded to
assimilate our frugal lunch.

"Hartman," said I, "I should think you would want to live up to your
scenery, as the ladies do to their blue china. Look at this majestic
cliff, whose scarred and aged front, frowning upon these lonesome trout
since the creation, has never been profaned by mortal foot."

"Probably not. People very seldom come here, and when they do, they
wouldn't be fools enough to try to climb up. They couldn't do it, and it
wouldn't pay if they could."

"Well, it is grand, anyway, and it ought to quicken your soul to grand
thoughts. In such a scene you ought to feel stirring within you noble
sympathies and resolves."

"I can't see much grandeur in human nature, Bob, nor any in myself. If
you had thought yourself a gentleman, and suddenly awaked to the fact
that you were a cad and a scoundrel, you would be apt to change your
tune, and drop the high notes."

Oho, I thought, he is coming to the point. While I was meditating how to
utilize this confidence, a small piece of rock fell from above upon the
edge of my toes: if it had been a large piece, and fallen on my head,
you would have missed this moral tale. When