worked the lever too fast; and was trying to decide just what make and
calibre of rifle he would buy with the money now in his pocket; and he
was grinning in his sleeve at the ease with which he had "stung" this
young tenderfoot, who was unsuspectingly going up against a
proposition which Hank, with all his love for the wild, would never
attempt of his own free will.

At first sight, the odd little glass observatory, perched upon the
very tip-top of all the wilderness around, fascinated Jack. He had
never credited himself with a streak of idealism, nor even with an
imagination, yet his pulse quickened when they topped the last steep
slope and stood upon the peak of the world--this immediate, sunlit
world.

The unconcealed joy on the face of the lookout when they arrived did
not mean anything at all to him. He stood taking great breaths of the
light, heady air that seemed to lift him above everything he had ever
known and to place him a close neighbor of the clouds.

"This is great!" he said over and over, baring his head to the keen
breeze that blew straight out of the violet tinted distance. "Believe
me, fellows, this is simply _great!_"

Whereupon the fireman who had spent two weeks there looked at him and
grinned.

"You can have it," he said with a queer inflection. "Mount Lassen's
blowing off steam again. Look at her over there! She's sure on the
peck, last day or so--you can have her for company. I donate her along
with the sun-parlor and the oil stove and the telescope and the view.