Towards the south and east, as far as we could see, was spread the dazzling white carpet, pierced in a thousand places by the mountain peaks which lay like islands on a shining sea. Nowhere else on the continent, I should think, can there be so vast a number of mountains crowded into so small a space; and nowhere else are they more inextricably jumbled together. It seems as though the mountain-chains which radiate from this common centre have here been pressed together and crumpled up; the symmetry of their lines destroyed. This confused and intricate mass of mountains might very well be called “The Cradle of the Rivers,” for from the snows which crown their heads issue three of the longest rivers of the United States: the Missouri, the Colorado, and the Snake. The rain-drops now falling from the clouds spread out beneath us might eventually find their way to the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of California, or the Pacific Ocean.
But while we were admiring the scene the clouds had gathered more heavily, and now we were treated to the interesting phenomenon of a smart thunder-storm going on beneath our feet. We could see the flashes of lightning illumine the clouds, we could hear the booming and the banging of the thunder, and knowing no reason why we should descend into this turmoil only to be wet through, we dismounted, and sat down in the sunshine to wait till it was over; a novel situation for all of us.
In the course of half an hour the storm began to break, and great rifts appeared in the clouds through which we could look down into the wet valleys below. It reminded me of pictures illustrating the spots on the sun. We were still sitting in the sun looking down through these rents in the cloud-carpet as they softly opened and closed, when Percy, seizing Jack by the arm, hastily exclaimed:
“Look, Jack! Look! Get your glass, quick!”
He pointed downwards, and there we saw, going at a brisk trot across one of the little valleys a bunch of horses with two men riding behind them.
Jack’s glass was out in a moment.
“Is it—?” Percy began.
“I believe it is,” interrupted Jack, knowing very well what the question was going to be. “Have a look yourself, and see if you recognise them.”
“That’s the pair, I believe,” said Percy. “Here, Tom, look quick, before they disappear. Should you know the horses again?”
The gap in the clouds was closing rapidly, but I had time to get a good look at the cavalcade.