Between Snow and Fire — page 254: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

_- 7 ' ~ ‘= | _ . == S ~~. ‘wa a. 2% ane 5a aoe oe la = , 2, ~. ae 2S : aa se , sd SF a r *_ . ¢ 246 | ‘TWEEN SNOW AND FIRE. ~ and equally at home in the saddle when her steed was pick- ing his way along some dizzy mountain path on the side of a grass slope as steep as the roof of a house with a series of perpendicular £rantzes below, or when pursuing some stony and rugged bush track where the springy spekboem boughs threatened to sweep her from her seat every few yards. ““We,are partners now, you know, dearest,” she would say gaily, when he would sometimes urge the fatigue and occasionally even the risk of these long and toilsome rides. ‘‘ While that law business still hangs fire the partner- _ ship can’t be dissolved, I suppose. Therefore I claim my right to do my share of the work.” It was winter now. The clear mountain air was keen and crisp, and although the nights were bitterly cold, the days were lovely. ‘Thesky was a deep, cloudless blue, and the sun poured his rays down into the valleys with a clear, genial warmth which just rendered perceptible the bracing ex- hilaration of theair. Thanks to the predominating spekboem and other evergreen bushes, the winter dress of Nature suffered but little diminution in verdure ; and in grand con- trast many a stately summit soared proudly aloft, capped with a white powdering of snow. Those were days of elysium indeed, to those two, as they rode abroad among the fairest scenes of wild Nature ; or, returning at eve, threaded the grassy bush-paths, while the crimson winged louris flashed from tree to tree, and the francolins and wild guinea fowl, startled by the horses’ hoofs, would scuttle across the path, echoing their grating note of alarm. And then the sun, sinking behind a lofty ridge, would fling his parting rays upon the smooth burn- ished faces of the great red cliffs until they glowed like molten fire. Yes, those were indeed days to look back upon. Gomiilchboo cS (E(o)