Then the younger one, or the smaller one, or the older one, will whisk himself up a tree, perch on a branch and begin to scold, or he climbs to the top of a stump, or a rock, or merely stands upright without any foreign aid, and how he can “Chip, chip, chip, chip!” His piercing little shriek makes many a stranger to his voice and ways wonder what little bird it is that has so harsh a cry, and he keeps at it so persistently that again you say, How human! and you wonder whether it is husband scolding wife, or wife husband, or—­any of the thousand and one persons who, because they have the power, use it as a right to scold the other thousand and one poor creatures who have to submit, or think they have (which is pretty much the same thing).

These proceedings at Tahoe Tavern are diversified by the presence of a friendly bluejay.  He is one of the smartest birds in the world.  Some relation, no doubt, to the bird told of by Mark Twain in his Tramp Abroad.  This bluejay has watched the visitors and the chipmunks until he has become extra wise.  He has noticed that the latter toil not neither do they spin and yet neither Solomon Levi nor Kelly feed more sumptuously or more often than do they, simply because they have succeeded in beguiling the hearts of the guests who are so bored with each other that association with the “lower” animals is a great relief.  So he has started the “friendly chipmunk” role.  He stifles his raucous cry, he puts on a shy, timid and yet friendly demeanor.  He flies conveniently near, and gives forth a gentle note, asking, please, your kind and favorable attention to the fact that he is a bluejay.  As soon as he sees your eye upon him, he hops a little nearer; not too near, however, either to mislead you or to put himself in your hands, but just near enough to tempt you to try to tempt him.  You hold out a nut, and then, with a quick dart and a sharp peck with a bill trained to certain and sure work, your thumb and finger lose that which they held, and Mr. Bluejay is eating it in perfect security well beyond your reach.  Oh, he is a fascinating creature is this bunch of beautiful blue feathers decorating the harshest voice of all birddom in the region of Lake Tahoe.

But birds, squirrels, flowers, scenery, sports, worship, fine music, the best kind of food, “air the angel’s breathe,” and sleep recuperative enough to revivify the old and decrepit, fishing, rowing, swimming and the like are not all that need fill one’s days at Tahoe Tavern.

Hike[1] out, afoot or horseback.  Take the trails.  Get Bob Watson, or one of his under-studies, to pilot you to Watson Peak and lake, go to Ellis, Squaw or a score of other peaks, visit the various Sierran lakes, or take a camping out or hunting trip to Hell Hole, the Yosemite, or any one of the scenic spots, one, two, five, or ten days away.  Then, my word for it, you will return home “a new man,” life will put on a new meaning, and sensations long since lost will come back with unthought-of force, for you will have “regained your youth”—­that dream of the old of all the ages.