Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1902-03-29

| for following these abstruse studies.
During that voyage home from Yucca
tan 1 had communed with them with
growing insight; but now my mind
| was not my own. Nais had a lien upon
it, and refused to be ousted; and, in
truth, her sweet trespass was nv
chief solace.
But at last my longing could no
further be denied. Through one of
the arrow-slit windows of nv tree
house I could see far away a great
mountain-top whitened with perpet-
ual snow, which our Lord the Sun
dyed with blood every night of His
setting. Night after night 1 used to
watch that rudy light with wide
straining eyes. Night after night I
used to remember that in days agone
when / was entering upon the priest
hood it had been my duty to adore
our great Lord as He rose for His day
| behind the SHOWS of that very noun
tain. And always the thought fol-
| lowed on these musings that from
| that distant crest l could see across
| the continent to the Sacred Mount
which had the city below it where I
had buried my love alive.
| So at last 1 gave way and set out,
and a perilous journey 1 made of it.
In the heavy mists which hung always
on the lower ground, my way lay blind
before me, and | was constantly los
ing it. Indeed, to say that I trav-
ersed three times the direct distance
is setting low estimate. Through
out all those swamps the great lizards
hunted, and rs the country was new
to me | did not know places of har-
Dor, and a hundred times was within
an ace of being spied and devoured at
mouthful. But the high gods still
desired me for their own purposes,
| and blinded the great beasts eyes
when I skunk to cover as they passed.
| Twice rivers of scalding water roared
boiling across my path, and 1 had
| to delay till / could collect enough
| black timber from the forests to build
RATS that would give me dry ferri-
| age.
1t will be seen then that my jour
ney was in a way infinitely tedious, but
to me, after all those years of wait
ing, the time passed on winged feet. I
had been separated from my love till
l could bear the strain no longer; let
me but see from a distance the place
where she lay, and feast my eyes upon
it for awhile, and then I could go back
| to my abode in the tree and there re-
main patiently awaiting the will of
/ the gods.
The air grew more chilly as began
| to come out above the region of trees,
on to that higher ground which glares
down on the rest of the world, and l
made buskins and a coat of woven
grasses to protect my body from the
cold, which began to blow upon me
keenly. And later on, where the snow
lay eternally, and was blown into gull
lies and frozen into solid banks and
bergs of ice, l had hard work to make
any progress among it's perilous mazes,
and was, moreover, so numbed by the
chill that my natural strength was
vastly weakened. Overhead, too, fol-
lowing me up with forbidding swoops,
and occasionally coming so close that
[ had to threaten it with my weapons,
WAS one OI IuOSc HuSc IIdu-edIln DlTQS
which live by pulling down and carry
ing off any creature that their in
stinct tells them is weakly and likely
soon to die.
But the lure ahead of me was strong
enough to make these difficulties seem
small, and though the air of the noun
tain agreed with me i'll, causing sick
ness and painting, i pressed on with
what speed [ could muster towards
the elusive summit. Time after time
l thought the next squirt would surely
bring me out to the view for which my
soul yearned, but always there seemed
another bank of snow and ice yet to be
climbed. But at last l reached the
crest, and gave thanks to the most
high gods for their protection and
favor.
Far, far away I could see the Sacred
Mountain with its ring of fires burning
pale under the day, and although the