and
scoop out these flinty rock faces, as the carpenter's forming plane
flutes a board!

When we were half-way up this wonderful bay the sun burst through a rift
of cloud. "Look, look!" exclaimed Muir. "Nature is turning on the
colored lights in her great show house."

Instantly this severe, bare hall of polished rock was transformed into a
fairy palace. A score of cascades, the most of them invisible before,
leapt into view, falling from the dizzy mountain heights and spraying
into misty veils as they descended; and from all of them flashed
rainbows of marvelous distinctness and brilliance, waving and dancing--a
very riot of color. The tinkling water falling into the bay waked a
thousand echoes, weird, musical and sweet, a riot of sound. It was an
enchanted palace, and we left it with reluctance, remaining only six
hours and going out at the turn of the flood tide to escape the
dangerous rapids. Had there not been any so many things to see beyond,
and so little time in which to see them, I doubt if Muir would have quit
Yosemite Bay for days.

THE DOG AND THE MAN

MY FRIENDS

Two friends I have, and close akin are they.
For both are free
And wild and proud, full of the ecstasy
Of life untrammeled; living, day by day,
A law unto themselves; yet breaking none
Of Nature's perfect code.
And far afield, remote from man's abode,
They roam the wilds together, two as one.

Yet, one's a dog--a wisp of silky hair,
Two sharp black eyes,
A face alert, mysterious and wise,
A shadowy tail, a body lithe and fair.
And one's a man--of Nature's work the best,
A heart of gold,
A mind stored full of treasures new and old,
Of men the greatest, strongest, tenderest.

They love each other--these two friends of mine--
Yet both agree
In this--with that pure love that's half divine
They both love me.

VI

THE DOG AND THE MAN

There is no time to tell of all the bays we explored; of Holkham Bay,
Port Snettisham, Tahkou Harbor; all of which we rudely put on the map,
or at least extended the arms beyond what was previously known. Through
Gastineau Channel, now famous for some of the greatest quartz mines and
mills in the world, we pushed, camping on the site of what is now
Juneau, the capital city of Alaska.

An interesting bit of history is to be recorded here. Pushing across the
flats at the head of the bay at high tide the next morning (for the