And so we're going, by way of Yellowstone Park. CHAPTER IV "You see," said Mr. Driscoll, when, after three days of independent wonder-gazing in the thirty square miles of the Lower Geyser Basin, his seven fares came together for departure, "as I told yeh, this trip is just gettin' good." "I have seen," said the Poet, "a spring from the bottom of which fires leap in lambent flames, to be quenched by the air when they reach the surface. Let me die, now!" "I have seen," said the Artist, "the Mammoth Paint Pots from which we may dip our colors in that day 'when earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted and dried.'" "I have seen," said the Bride, "a lake perched upon a marble platform, the slopes of which it drapes with a lace of runnels--like the web that was woven by the Lady of Shalott while she looked in her magic mirror." "In that day when we perfect our mythology," said the Poet, "we shall know of the nymph of this lake, who uses it as a mirror, and will die if she looks away from the image to gaze on the real knight as he passes." "I question that, really," said the Professor. "In an age of pure science--" "Scat!" said the Colonel. "I have seen a pool that goes mad when any passing idiot throws gross material into its pure idealism--and I sympathize with it." "I have seen," went on Professor Boggs, "a natural object--I refer to the Fountain Geyser--which gives us a valuable lesson in steady performance, with no eccentricities. Every four hours it plays for fifteen minutes, shooting its water to a height of sixty feet. Note the mathematical correspondence--the feet correspond to the minutes in the hour--the hours are four--four into sixty goes fifteen times, the number of minutes the geyser plays--I shall work this out in an essay--it seems very significant." "I have seen," said the Groom, "in the Great Fountain Geyser, a natural power installation. It throws its huge volume of water to a height of one hundred feet. It is on a pedestal like an emplacement for a monument, and its crater looks like the hole in which to set the shaft. That makes the matter of utilizing the power a cinch. I figure--" "Billy!" said the Bride. "Aren't you ashamed?" "The Professor and myself," answered the Groom, "represent the spirit of the age. We only are sane." "You, Billy Helmerston," said the Bride, "are a fraud!" * * * * *