The situation was unprecedented.  Never before in the history of the Great Northern had there been so heavy a snowfall in the Cascades; the sudden thaw following an ordinary precipitation must have looked serious, but the moving of this vast accumulation became appalling.  All through that day, the second night the cannonading of avalanches continued, distant and near.  At last came an interlude.  The warm wind died out; at evening there was a promise of frost; and only the voice of the river disturbed the gorge.  Dawn broke still and crisp and clear.  The mountain tops shone in splendor, purple cliffs stood sharply defined against snow-covered slopes, and whole companies in the lower ranks of the trees had thrown off their white cloaks.  It was a day to delight the soul, to rouse the heart, invite to deeds of emulation.  Even Frederic was responsive, and when after breakfast Marcia broached a plan to scale the peak that loomed southeast of the pass, he grasped at the diversion.  “We’re pretty high up already, here at Scenic,” he commented, surveying the dome from his chair on the hotel veranda.  “Three or four thousand feet ought to put us on the summit.  Have the chance, anyhow, to see that stalled train.”

“Of course it wouldn’t be an achievement like the ascent of Rainier,” she tempered, “but we should have chances enough to use our alpenstocks before we’re through; and it should be a magnificent view; all the great peaks from Oregon to British Columbia rising around.”

“With the Columbia River below us,” said Elizabeth, “and all those miles of desert.  We might even catch a glimpse of your new Eden over there, Beatriz.”

Mrs. Weatherbee nodded, with the sparkles breaking in her eyes.  “I know this is the peak we watched the day I drove from Wenatchee.  It rose white and shining at the top of Hesperides Vale, and it may have another name, but I called it the Everlasting Door.”

Once since their arrival at Scenic Hot Springs they had followed, skeeing, an old abandoned railroad track, used by the Great Northern during the construction of the big tunnel, to the edge of the desired peak, and, at Marcia’s suggestion, Frederic invited Lucky Banks to join the expedition in the capacity of captain and guide.  The prospector admitted he felt “the need of a little exercise” and, having studied the mountain with field-glasses and consulted with the hotel proprietor, he consented to see them through.  No doubt the opportunity to learn the situation of the Oriental Limited and the possibilities of getting in touch with Tisdale, should the train fail to move before his return from the summit, had influenced the little man’s decision.  A few spikes in his shoes, some hardtack and cheese with an emergency flask in his pockets, a coil of rope and a small hatchet that might serve equally well as an ice-ax or to clear undergrowth on the lower slopes, was ample equipment, and he was off to reconnoiter the mountainside fully an hour in advance of the packer whom Morganstein engaged for the first stage of the journey.