reathed; nor did any forest yet cloak the shapes
of the tawny hills among which they were ascending. Twice the steepness
loosened the pack ropes, and he jumped down to tighten them, lest the
horses should get sore backs. And twice the stream that they followed
went into deep canyons, so that for a while they parted from it. When
they came back to its margin for the second time, he bade her notice how
its water had become at last wholly clear. To her it had seemed clear
enough all along, even in the plain above the town. But now she saw that
it flowed lustrously with flashes; and she knew the soil had changed to
mountain soil. Lower down, the water had carried the slightest cloud
of alkali, and this had dulled the keen edge of its transparence. Full
solitude was around them now, so that their words grew scarce, and when
they spoke it was with low voices. They began to pass nooks and points
favorable for camping, with wood and water at hand, and pasture for the
horses. More than once as they reached such places, she thought he must
surely stop; but still he rode on in advance of her (for the trail
was narrow) until, when she was not thinking of it, he drew rein and
pointed.

"What?" she asked timidly.

"The pines," he answered.

She looked, and saw the island, and the water folding it with ripples
and with smooth spaces The sun was throwing upon the pine boughs a light
of deepening red gold, and the shadow of the fishing rock lay over a
little bay of quiet water and sandy shore. In this forerunning glow of
the sunset, the pasture spread like emerald; for the dry touch of summer
had not yet come near it. He pointed upward to the high mountains which
they had approached, and showed her where the stream led into their
first unfoldings.

"To-morrow we shall be among them," said he.

"Then," she murmured to him, "to-night is here?"

He nodded for answer, and she gazed at the island and understood why he
had not stopped before; nothing they had passed had been so lovely as
this place.

There was room in the trail for them to go side by side; and side by
side they rode to the ford and crossed, driving the packhorses in front
of them, until they came to the sheltered circle, and he helped her down
where the soft pine needles lay. They felt each other tremble, and for a
moment she stood hiding her head upon his breast. Then she looked round
at the trees, and the shores, and the flowing stream, and he heard her
whispering