I-III

Meanwhile, they drew steadily over the
plain; the mountains before them gradually
lost their aspect of mere silhouette;
depths were discernible; the blue dissolved to green,
to towering slopes dense with foliage. Directly before
them a dark shadow steadily grew darker, until
it was resolved into a cleft through the range. They
drew nearer and nearer to the pierced barrier, the
road mounted perceptibly, the trees thickened by the
wayside. A covey of dun partridge fluttered out of
the underbrush.

The sun was high in a burning grey vault, and
flooded the plain with colorless, bright light. The
stage paused before entering the opening in the
rocky wall; the stranger in the rear seat turned for
a comprehensive, last survey. Simmering in a calorific
envelope the distant roofs and stacks of Stenton
were visible, isolated in the white heat of the
pitiless day. Above the city hung a smudge, a
thumbprint of oily black smoke, carrying the suggestion
of an intolerable concentration, a focal
point of the fiery discomfort. In the foreground a
buzzard wheeled, inevitable, depressing.

[[17]]

p016 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p017w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p018

v?