In the Shadow of St. Helena [pp. 366-372]

IN THE SHADOW OF ST. HELENA.
and burrow like a coyote, nor climb a
tree like a gorilla, is wrestling with his
fate at a terrible disadvantage.
If ydu have never seen Clear Lake,
do not babble about Como and Geneva.
Here are eighty square miles of water,
lifted fifteen hundred feet above the sea,
and encompassed by mountains whose
flaming forges were put out but yesterday' if a thousand years may be taken
as one day. One may see Clear Lake
from the top of St. Helena, twenty miles
distant, on a bright day. We saw it
first from Lukonoma-an intervening
mountain, about fifteen hundred feet
high; a ribbon of blue water stretching
away between the hills, with a solitary
white sail-recognized only by bringing
a tree in the range. There was the
droning of the pines on the mountaintops in the afternoon trade - wind; a
broad valley opening to the south, which
swallowed up two or three mountain
streams, and then opened its ugly, adobe
lips for more; smaller valleys toward
the north, encircled with tall firs, and
the slumberous dome of Uncle Sam,
lifting itself up grandly three or four
thousand feet, hard by the lake.
Along this Lukonoma ridge there is
a well -defined Indian trail for miles.
The Clear Lake Indians were accustomed to exchange visits with a tribe in
the Lukonoma Valley, ten miles below.
The tops of the highest mountain ridges
were selected for trails, rather than the
valley. The Indian does not like to be
surprised, even by his friends. Along
these ridges he could look off on either
side, and a long way ahead. If not molested, he might drop down to the hot
springs just at the base of the mountain;
take a mud-bath'to make his joints a little more supple; and if he found an ant's.nest to add to his dietary stores, so much
the better. You need not overhaul the
Indian's cook-book. He ate the ants
alive. No shrimp- eater ought to quarrel with him on that score.
We shall have a nearer view of Lower
Lake another day. It is better to have
the first view of some old and famous
city from the hill-tops. That revelation
ripens into a picture which ever afterward we hasten to set over against the
squalor and ugliness disclosed by a nearer view. One need not be wholly disgusted, if, in place of a trout, he has
caught a mud-turtle from the lake which
opened its sheen of waters to him first
from the mountain summit.
The shadows had stretched nearly
across the narrow valleys when it occurred to us, that, in climbing to the
highest and baldest peak, the Indian
trail had run out, and that the hot springs
-the point of departure-were eight
miles distant, and were shut out of view
by an intervening spur. Either a shortcut was to be made, trusting to luck to
find a trail, or there was to be a night on
the mountain. There were two intervening canons to be crossed before there
was any prospect of striking a trail. It
is not pleasant to slide a horse on his
haunches down into one of these chasms
without knowing where one is to bring
up. If the most obscure cattle-trail can
be found leading in, one may trust to
the instincts of horse-sense to find it,
and also the one which will most certainly lead out on the other side. The
tinkling of a cow-bell on the table-lands
beyond, was a welcome sound. The
horses wound into the first cai'ioz, and
went out without much hesitation. The
trail for the next, by good luck, had been
found. But it was a suspicious circumstance that these ponies accustomed to
those defiles, and now heading for home
-hesitated, snuffed, snorted, and turned about. The rein was given to them,
but, hungry as they were, they seemned
disposed to turn back. The little Cayuse pony trembled, threw his ears forward, advanced and retreated, and blew
out a column of vapor from each nostril
as he kept up his aboriginal snort. Ei
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