1," and "Funnel No. 2," but with the tails
torn away. The window, sashless of course, was choked with the
green and sweetly smelling foliage of a bay; and through a chink in
the floor, a spray of poison oak had shot up and was handsomely
prospering in the interior. It was my first care to cut away that
poison oak, Fanny standing by at a respectful distance. That was
our first improvement by which we took possession.
The room immediately above could only be entered by a plank propped
against the threshold, along which the intruder must foot it
gingerly, clutching for support to sprays of poison oak, the proper
product of the country. Herein was, on either hand, a triple tier
of beds, where miners had once lain; and the other gable was
pierced by a sashless window and a doorless doorway opening on the
air of heaven, five feet above the ground. As for the third room,
which entered squarely from the ground level, but higher up the
hill and farther up the canyon, it contained only rubbish and the
uprights for another triple tier of beds.
The whole building was overhung by a bold, lion-like, red rock.
Poison oak, sweet bay trees, calcanthus, brush, and chaparral, grew
freely but sparsely all about it. In front, in the strong sunshine,
the platform lay overstrewn with busy litter, as though the labours
of the mine might begin again to-morrow in the morning.
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