The times., 1897-05-23
THE INCA'S BEARD

/ It happened 80 long, long ago, that was
| only scrap of girl all innocence and
| lemon-ycllow hair. 1t was way up In the
| mountains OF Pennsylvania and Just In ;he
| heart of a hazy, lazy, may july day. that
! my Caiista-stretched out with summer
novel in room fun Of cool breezes -
| commanded me in that stand not on the
| order of your going style peculiar to
eldersisters,to to goaownstairs and be m!Sed.
| Downstairs meant the hotel paTior and
| piazza, with q tennis net stretched On one
/ side of the lawn and croquet maIlets and
| balls sprawled about on the other. Then
| cametEe mountains. They stood like green
+, grenadiers at every turn, each with its
name and history, and it was only that
| nature had made one OF the big fellows
| break ranks that we were able 10 zee
| through the gap it made, the little Lehigh
| rushing by withthe tremendous Importance
| characteristic of shallow streams, and the
| spidery iron bridge anching IL, over which
the cars tore Tnadly every hour ia the day.
| Usually, the rockers and hammocks, and
balls and raquets were all going sogether-
hut this was 1 O'Clock, with the sun in ;he
mi'k!le of the sky.
TWAS easy guessing that my Calista Rose
was not the only sOjourner of Cloud Top,
! WHO was given over to books and cool
9reezes, and as l had only the choice be-
tween staying in the big silent house, 3r
prowlng up the big. silent mountain 1t
| the back of il, why in less than two minutes
| | was out on the one path accessible to
| amateur cIimbers-a path SO narrow, 50
steep, and 80 crooked that it renrG1ed me
1 more OF the cat steps leading TO an old
] fashioned attic than anything else l can
| think of Just now, though the proprietor
| had set it down in the prospectus as the
Brook tTail'' Just as he mad set down the
mountain itself as The Ineas Beard -
It was a persuadipg little trsil, 10 begin
| with. At every turn there was "A white
board with black painted hand to point
the way, and the unkempt little paths that
| Zigza gged themselves out OF the interior
| OF the mountain darted across its beaten
| track aud out OF sight, if they were
afraid Then the GBdulatiOns grew into
| perpendiculars and showed such demoraI-
| iZing symptoms OF dallying with the zig
| zsgs that enc needed 70 keep sharp eye
| on the boards and another on the trail
] 10 get safely TO the stream that gushed
OUT Of wall Of rock high UP on the NOUN
I tain and gave the way its name
| There are mountains and mountains
! The IDca's Peard makes no more show
than a caterpillar On the map, but juSJ
| you try to climb it once, with every step
| dozen inches higher than the last, with
| every yard creeping in and out or The
| scrubby pines, and with sudden heaps OF
| clods or stones, and sometimes faggOts,
/ that send you stumbling down and down
| if only you chance to touch them The
faggots mean traInps You never catch
! them making fires, bat you come across
| hot embers sometimes and smell the rOSlR
in the pines OF course, you never catch
| the tranips, because there's the law TO
| catch tiiem--jails with yawning jaws, Ike
| Jouab's whale, and fines dare say, as
| big It was lonely sort of mountain,
| for the sun seemed so il awe of the
scrubby pines that it only peeped thro lgh
them in treInuloUs, haifhearted glances,
! and you never once heard buzZiHGs IN he
grass nor cbiTpings in the leaves, for there
was no grass, there Were ne leaves; only
| long green needles overhead andiong brown
| needles 70 walk on, and all around you the
! steaIthy breathing OF the pines. Some Of
the hotel folks complained that The Inca
! reminded them too much of a great empty
church Gu week day: but like great
empty church. on a week day, so up nd
iTNuEtur llht tfit 4lANttcANA nOs VIC
all know about, until. just as l was think
ing the next turn would end MY sOalings
at the stream, why, there came the turn,
/ and there was no stream at ali, but
great yawning chasm as black and deep
as Dante's he'll
have never considered myself brave 10
| eccentricity, but I never scream when n
I good, wholesome ejaculation will 90 as
- faA
I've Just wound myself up IN these med
! dlesome sheep trGtS," 1 philosophical,
when l had left off calculating, and now
III bave to unwind myself the best way
that l can"
II was a very bad way, I concluded, when
1 had plodded and stumbled around all
afternoon to find myself fronted at last
by worse pit than the first one: deeper,
blacker, more Danteisb-such a very bad
way that l felt within me that the time
had come for screaming SO 1 screamed
Then an awful tale of panthers flashed
across my consciousness, and l stood as
ricidly silent as that NEUROLOGICAL un-
fortunate that Jupiter turned into stone.
But was it panthers or bears that the
chanbermaid told me infested the n.oun-
tain sides? Panthers spring from the
many shadows creeping around Ine-and
bears jog up with merry eyes and lollinG
tongues, and they hug one tight. ught-and
then l couldn't help myself l had to
scream again.
Apparently some one had heard me IN
China for up from the blackness of he
pit there merged head, body, man!
was in such a state Of panic that L
I bax ofr rlfit 10 n n
pearance of that other person name un-
rnentionable-wbo lives all the year round
in a spiritual pit of his own; so up l
boltedfrom The chaff whereI had collapsed
like ridtIled balloon, and ran toward him,
explaining with voluble incoheTenee as
went, that / was lost, and please would
be show me the right way home
While | was wailing out my tTibulation
he vaulted 10 the surface, leaned against
tree and folded his blue flannel arms.
| Such a man and such a look he gave me!
..Stop yer bowlin','' be interrupted in a
roumh bass with brogue to it, land tel
lie where's yer pals; hid in the bushes, eh?''
/ 1t seemed very ridiculous In him TO think
| would scream with folks around, so
plunged into family history deep enough to
explain how Calista and myself had come
| to Cloud Top for a week, and how had
slipped I'D the mountain this one time by
myself because she was tired from our trip
up the switchback and wanted to read her
self TO sleep.
so We came up alone and got lost?''
Certainly came up alone and got lost