These woods are full of panthers,
but in day time the only precaution necessary is to take no dog,
- a dainty they cannot resist. The air was exquisite with the
sun-warm scent of pines, and here and there the trees broke away
disclosing mighty ranges of hills covered with rich blue shadows
like the bloom on a plum, - the clouds chasing the sunshine over
the mountain sides and the dark green velvet of the robe of
pines. I looked across ravines that did not seem gigantic and yet
the villages on the other side were like a handful of peas, so
tremendous was the scale. I stood now and then to see the
rhododendrons, forest trees here with great trunks and massive
boughs glowing with blood-red blossom, and time went by and I
took no count of it, so glorious was the climb.
It must have been hours later when it struck me that the sun was
getting low and that by now we should be nearing The House in the
Woods. I said as much to Ali Khan. He looked perplexed and
agreed. We had reached a comparatively level place, the trail
faint but apparent, and it surprised me that we heard no sound of
life from the dense wood where our goal must be.
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