fall of the river, and see those matchless mountains painting their blue ridge along the paler sky!"

He was resting deliciously at his full length under one of the noble oaks whose trembling shadows cooled the light breeze that stirred the silvery grasses beneath. His fingers touched the delicate points tenderly as he continued speaking. "If we would make our beds oftener of this soft bosom of Mother Earth, we would not so soon lie under it. I am tired of this eternal march of time that hustles us over the roughest roads.

We'll away to the mountains, Kate, when you are done with all your other trips. I wish I could travel with you everywhere, but that is impossible. You must go by easy stages though in this instance the expression is purely figurative, for who ever heard of a stage being easy- and stop over with friends of mine, who will gladly welcome you for my sake."

He had risen while he spoke, and we walked slowly toward the river, whose precipitous banks were overrun with a riotous

growth of wild grapes covering entire trees, through whose dense shade the sunlight, javelin-like, pierced the waters. A thirsty traveler might go for miles along the river and find no way to reach the stream. It is rarely you can make the descent of its channel unless you come to some ancient ferry, one of which is at Bonny View. This place. is worthy of an artist's pencil, and is the most luxuriant river scene one can imagine.

We drove off on a side road for several miles that brought us to a pleasant country

home, where we spent a couple of hours wandering around the romantic old orchard and garden. The latter reached to the river and was irrigated therefrom by means of a revolving wheel that carried the water up into cedar troughs. The apple and pear trees here are the largest I ever saw. One of the former bore as high as forty bushels of fine, large russets in one season; while they told us they had picked fifty bushels of pears from a single tree, not counting what fell on the ground. The Sacramento River is full of trout, and our hostess and her three sons caught one hundred cat-fish the day before within a few rods of the house. These people did not seem in danger of starving, even if they never looked beyond their own farm for supplies.

In the afternoon we drove lazily back toward Redding. Within a mile of town we turned in a scarcely discernible road that wound up a steep ravine feathered with Digger pines. Hal urged the horse across an old mining ditch, which is to be put in repair to run water over the prospective orchards below. We soon ascended to a level plateau on which grew stately trees and compact groups of manzanita, whose pink and white blossoms in spring make a universal garden of all the country for miles around.

"All this land hereabouts was owned by two Englishmen," Hal explained. "There was something about those boys that interested me greatly. They bought this tract of two hundred acres, and went to work themselves to clear off the underbrush and plant an orchard. I do not think they had been accustomed to manual labor, for there is no doubt they belonged to an English family who were above such a necessity. some unknown reason they began life here, and for the first year worked with as much gusto as though they had struck a bonanza. It is no easy thing to make a living off these table-lands and hills unless you have capital enough to wait until your vines and trees

For

are in bearing. Last spring they threw up everything in disgust, selling out for a mere song just when they should have had the business acumen to hold on a little longer. Over by the spring is their deserted cabin."

We tied our panting horse to an alder tree and turned our footsteps towards the hut, which was built with logs cemented with clay. Some one had appropriated the door, so we found an easy entrance. The single room was not more than twelve feet square, and was lighted by one small window, over which some long-legged spiders were industriously weaving a curtain of marvelous pattern. A lizard darted across the earthen floor and peered curiously at us from the wide-mouthed chimney, eloquent of the cheerful fires that had once blazed on the hearth. A pallet of straw moldy and stained with age, indicated what once had served as a bed, while a dilapidated table, covered with a confusion of worthless cooking utensils and old clothes, was the single article of furniture remaining. On the wall were pinned several strips of paper containing memoranda written in an elegant chirography, which seemed strangely incongruous with these surroundings.

"You see they were well educated," went on Hal, as I paused with interest before the lists. "One day the older brother got a little too full and raised such a row in town that the constable had him arrested and confined over night in jail. This summary treatment rankled in the breast of the young aristocrat, and some days after he remonstrated with the constable for having taken such severe measures, and declared that if it were not for the fear of being re-arrested he would 'pitch into him' then and there and pay him for the insult. After some parley the officer proved the eccentricity of members of his profession by promising to waive the rights of his office in this instance, and urged him to go ahead. He had reason to repent his decision, for the Englishman went at him scientifically and systemat

cally and put in so many telling blows that he constable finally drew his pistol, which had the effect of 'dispersing' the hot-blooded young fellow before a single shot was fired. A few weeks after, just when their financial difficulties had reached a crisis, these brothers received a handsome legacy and set sail for England almost immediately after. They gave the name of 'Desperation Point' to a place on the river, where I will take you before dark. I believe they visited it about the time when their affairs seemed hopelessly involved, and their own feelings might have suggested the name."

We climbed the orchard fence and enjoyed a magnificent tramp through the forest beyond the cabin. Returning merry as two children, we drove along the Sacramento, which is here dotted with groups of mimic isles of straight flags girt round with a curious water-plant, whose scalloped, freckled leaves were often as large as those of the palm. The absence here of high banks made this a natural place to establish a ferry, and this is the only one in this vicinity still used. We

wished to cross over, and Hal signaled to the boy in waiting, and almost immediately after the flat-boat swung out into the stream. On a wire cable suspended from one tree to another on opposite shores, there is a sliding block of peculiar construction, to which the boat is attached by a strong rope, the swift current giving it its motive power. As we reached the middle of the current we drank in the quiet beauty of the pastoral scene. The shadows of approaching evening dappled the full foliaged banks, and stretched long and cool over the garden of fruit trees and flowering shrubs that almost concealed

the cottage within. Groups of red-haired kine in a distant meadow shook their clear bells in a sweet and desultory assonance as they cropped the nodding heads of timothy. Climbing the mountain road to the right of the ferry, we looked down on the pasture lands and level fields of stubble falling away to the river. Some harvesters were driving home their creaking loads. Most of these were civilized Indians. No Chinaman is ever allowed to take up his patient labors in Redding's precincts. She deals with him. kindly, but peremptorily, carefully removing not only himself, but his stock in trade board the train, whence he must

on

HUNTER'S RIDGE.

seek other fields to ply his vocation. Some two miles down the river we reached the "Point" alluded to, and here alighted to get a better view. I was thrilled and inspired by the almost unearthly beauty of this place as it then appeared in the strange half light, half gloom. A flood of keenest splendor lit the majestic river, rolling straight from the glory in the west, and curving its resistless current around the red wall of its channel, on which we stood more than a hundred feet above. Through the purpling shades we could discern the distant. town, with its modest buildings standing out like ancient castles and turreted domes. A

tender radiance pressed through the gathering glooms, and for a moment longer revealed the far-off mountain shrines and cast in deeper shadow the solemn forest behind us. There was something terrifying in gazing down this perpendicular height into the deep mystery of this mighty river. I was penetrated to the soul, and Hal's fine eyes kindled with appreciation.

"We can never see this vision reproduced, though the memory of it be eternal," he said sadly, and turning our faces from the smoldering west, we saw above the pines the black silhouette of mountains running along the northern sky.

For some time we rode in silence until we were nearly at the great bridge that spans the Sacramento about a mile from town, when Hal pointed to the right: "Just across here is Fair View, the lovely home of one of my friends. It has a charming location, which he has taste enough to enjoy. It lies right in the bend of the river and has as fine a young orchard as one can find anywhere. He is planning all sorts of im

provements here."

At this same hour the night following, I was perched upon the stage beside the driver, en route for Fall River. I confessed to a slight feeling of dreariness in spite of my

RIVER BRANCH NEAR ANDERSON.

stout assurance to Hal that I did n't in the least mind going alone."

Our road over the Redding and Stillwater plains presented little variety from the interminable forest of manzanita and Digger pines until we reached Millville valley, a distance of fourteen miles. We had passed occasional farms all the way, but now we discerned through the waning light many homes situated on the various creeks that run from every small valley around.

Millville herself is built close to where the Clover and Cow Creeks unite. Next to Shasta she is the oldest town in the county. Her lumber, stock, and agricultural interests are large, and she is justly proud of her orchards and vineyards. Her nearest railroad is at Anderson, which is eleven miles distant. distant. Some thirty years ago an enterprising Shasta gentleman came down from that central town, and erected the first of her many mills, around which a village sprang up that has since steadily added to its population.

"In them early times the hay teams from here carried the mail to and from Shasta, and they were more regular than you may suppose, for there was no end of hay around these parts, and the teamsters were kept rattling busy, you bet!" remarked the driver,

emphasizing the ejaculation by a crack of his whip that sent the horses flying past the graveyard as though they had taken fright at a tall stone near the fence, which might easily be mistaken for a shrouded figure. "That thing always makes me feel chilly no matter how hot the night is," the driver declared, and I thought he might regard this as a fortunate circumstance if the nights were often as warm as this

one.

After a good rest at the pleasant hotel, I breakfasted early,