Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-06-05
you want TO shoot at the dog fori
What harm has he done your

What harm has he done your"
The youngman, very much abashed,
muttered somethingabout 'only want
ing 10 hsIea little fun and scare the
dog auG shccpishly returned his piS.
toll to ais pocket. The little incident
had the effect To raise the driver inmy
estimation, and the favorable impress.
sion was further heightened when the
Engli,mm offered him Il drink froma
flask Of whisky, which he refused in a
grulf manner.
The second morning we reached the
summit of the pass. The road was
steep, difficult, and in places very
dangerous. The driver seemed al
ways cool, and began To exact the con
iidsnce OF the passengers.
Ii was not quite light when we
reached the divide and began the de-
scent on the further side. The pass
was scarcely a pass in any proper
of the term. 1t was simply a
broken, ragged hollow, which cut
through the ridge at an elevation
many thousands of feet above the
level of the sea. The shadows Of night
were just sinking from the mountain
tops. and the scene was one Of grand
eur
Above us, to the left, rose a single
peak. clad in snow. and which, catch.
ing the earlier rays from the eastern
horizon. stood in the clear atmosphere
clear cut, massive, and g%littering with
a resplendcnt opalrScence. just below
us extended IA cloud formed ocean,
still dark with the shadows Of night,
which was a. level asa floor and which
extended Ia the distant horizon. The
high peak, wiki ill., brightness. seemed
a huge dome of light, as if a great
lamp to illuminate the cloud land he.
low.
AS we descended we entered the
ocean of clouds. which rcccdcd a little
way from H.. making it seem rs if we
We're droppingdow into AN enormous
well. Through the walls of this cloud
shaft we could see distorted objects
pines assumed fantastic shapes, and
great fragments of fallen rocks be.
came hideuu> monsters ready to spring
on us ont of the void. The compost.
ton Of this cean was something Won
derful. 1t was Of two colors-a ileecy
white and "A blue. These two were
not intermingled except in large
masses; there was clearly a defined
stratum of one, and then the other
everything il. They were like facin OF
the blue and white, all exhibiting a
superb striation.
Suddenly we passed through the
cloud masses, which left open the
view below. The hollow in which we
began to descend had sunk rapidly 10
a fathomless ravine, and we were seer
To be crawling a narrow shelf blasted
out from the side Of the mountain,
and which was but a few inches wider
than the space required for the wheels
of the coach. We were between what
seemed two parallel mountains.
glanced up; it was like looking out of
a deep slit in the earth. Hooked down
to the right, and withdrew my eyes
with a dizzy feeling of horror. 1t was
on the very edge of a precipice hat
we were moving, and SO close was its
outer edge that il seemed as if with
my extended hand | could have
dropped a pebble directly into the
abyss. In the momentary look | had
caught sight Of pines so far down that
they seemed like hot house plants
strewn along the walls of the chasm.
Not a sound Was heard save the
~querulous creaking of the leathern
hinges and springs of the coach, and
the dull grating Of the brakes on the
wheels. Even though the latter were
so fastened hat the hind wheels no
longer revolved, they were not suf.
ficient to control the speed; held by q
grasp of iron, the wheel horses were
almost on their launches, and were
Juggling at their pole straps till they
we're apparently about to be carried
from their feet. | glanced along the
road in our front with the hope that
there might be some visible termina-
ton of the appalling situation.
At this moment we entered on a com.
paratively straight line of road, which
appeared to run till it was cut off a
long distance down by a spur Of the
mountain that extended across the
track, and at which the road seemed
to end. We were descending at an
angle of not less than 80 degrees, and
at each step il seemed as If the horses
would be carried off their feet by the
tremendous pressure of the coach. The
wheels at m instant would sink into
the soft wash from the mountain side,
and the next strike a detached frag.
ment of rock, sending the vehicle now
to the walls ON the left, then over TO
the right, till the abyss yawned be.
meath me like the ravenous jaws Of
hell.
We had descended a short distance
down this straight piece Of road when,
in the midst Of a lurch from which