Alfonso began sketching, but Mariposa motioned him
to put his paper aside, and the six Indian ponies with their burdens
carefully picked their way into the paradise below.
Red Cloud, Mariposa, Alfonso, and the braves were received with
expressions of joy unusual for the stolid red men, and Alfonso was given
a tent to himself near the chief's big tepee, close by a broad clear
stream, and in the shadow of large old oaks. Here for several days
Alfonso tarried, grew stronger, and often walked with pretty Mariposa.
She taught him a novel method of trapping trout which thronged the river.
She had him sketch the reflection in Mirror Lake of cathedral spires and
domes, of overhanging granite rocks, and tall peaks of wildest grandeur.
He also sketched several waterfalls fed by melting snow. Mariposa's
favorite falls at the entrance to the valley made a single leap of
hundreds of feet, and when the white spray was caught by the breezes and
the sun, the lace-like mist, sparkling like diamonds, swayed gracefully
in the winds like a royal bridal veil. "The highest of a series of
cascades," Mariposa said, "was called 'The Yosemite Falls.'"
Here eagles soar above the Cap of Liberty and other granite peaks.
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