CHAPTER I
THE MOUNTAIN HOME
Far up on the mountain-side stood alone in the clearing. It was roughly
yet warmly built. Behind it jagged cliffs broke the north wind, and
towered gray-white in the sunshine. Before it a tiny expanse of green
sloped gently away to a point where the mountain dropped in another
sharp descent, wooded with scrubby firs and pines. At the left a footpath
led into the cool depths of the forest. But at the right the mountain fell
away again and disclosed to view the picture David loved the best of all:
the far-reaching valley; the silver pool of the lake with its ribbon of a river
flung far out; and above it the grays and greens and purples of the
mountains that climbed one upon another\'s shoulders until the topmost
thrust their heads into the wide dome of the sky itself.