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Page 24
Six hours of waiting were nearly over when, without a single previous
hint of change, one descending spout was met by an ascending one, and a
vast column of hissing water rose, with a sound of continuous thunder,
one hundred feet in air; and stood there like a pillar of cloud in the
desert. The air throbbed as in a cannonade, and the sun brushed away
all clouds as if he could not bear to miss a sight he had seen perhaps
a million times. Then the top of this upward Niagara bent over like
the calyx of a calla, and the downward Niagara covered all that
elevated masonry with a rushing cascade. Shifting my position a
little, I could see that the sun was thrilling the whole glorious
outpour with rainbows. At such times one can neither measure nor
express emotions by words. In the thunder which anyone can hear there
is always, for all who can receive it, the ineffably sweet voice of the
Father saying, "Thou art my beloved son, and all this grand display is
for thy precious sake."
In sixteen minutes the flow of waters ceased, and a rush of saturated
steam succeeded. At the same time the fierce swish of ascending waters
and of descending cascades ceased, and a clear, definite note, as of a
trumpet, exceeding long and loud, was blown. No archangel could have
done better. As the steam rolled skyward it was condensed, and a very
heavy rain fell on about an acre at the east as it was drifted by the
air. It looked more like lines of water than separated drops. I found
it thoroughly cooled by its flight in the upper air.
I climbed the huge natural masonry, and stood on the top. I could have
put my hand into the hot rushing of measureless power. What a sight it
was! There were the brilliant colors of the throat, open, three feet
wide, and the dazzling whiteness of the steam. At thirty-two minutes
from the beginning the steam suddenly became drier, like that close to
the spout of a kettle, or close to the whistle of an engine. All pure
steam is invisible. At the same time the note of the trumpet
distinctly changed. The heavy rain at the east as suddenly stopped.
The air could absorb the present amount of moisture. One could see
farther down the terrible throat that seemed about to be rent asunder.
The awful grandeur was becoming too much for human endurance. The
contorted forms of rocks on the summit began to take the forms and
heads of dragons, such as the Chinese carve on their monuments. The
awful column began to change its effect from terror to fascination, and
I knew how Empedocles felt when he flung himself into the burning
Aetna. It was time to get down and stand further off.
[Illustration: Bee-Hive Geyser.]
The long waiting had been rewarded. "To patient faith the prize is
sure." The grand tumult began to subside. It was beyond all my
expectations. Nature never disappoints, for she is of God and in her
he yet immanently abides. The next day the sky and all the air were
full of falling rain. How could it be otherwise? It was the geyser
returning to earth. I sought the place. The awful trumpet was silent,
and the steam exhaled as gently as a sleeping baby's breath.
Only one more lesson will be recited at present. I had just arrived in
camp when they told me that the Splendid geyser, after two days of
quiet, was showing signs of uneasiness. I immediately went out to
study my lesson. There was a little hill of very gentle slopes, a
little pool at the top, three holes at the west side of it, with a
dozen sputtering hot springs scattered about, while in a direct line at
the east, within one hundred and forty feet, were the Comet, the Daisy,
and another geyser. The Daisy was a beauty, playing forty feet high
every two or four hours. All the slopes were constantly flowing with
hot water. This general survey was no sooner taken than our glorious
Splendid began to play. The roaring column, tinted with the sunset
glories, gradually climbed to a height of two hundred feet, leaned a
little to the southeast, and bent like a glorious arch of triumph to
the earth, almost as solid on its descending as on its ascending side.
No wonder it is named "Splendid."
Whoever has studied waterfalls of great height--I have seen nearly
forty justly famous falls--has noticed that when a column or mass of
water makes the fearful plunge smaller masses of water are constantly
feathered off at the sides and delayed by the resistance of the air,
while the central mass hurries downward by its concentrated weight.
The general appearance is that of numerous spearheads with serrated
edges, feathered with light, thrust from some celestial armory into the
writhing pool of agonized waters below. In the geyser one gets this
effect both in the ascending and in the descending flood.
Four times that first night dear old Splendid lured me from my bed to
watch her Titanic play in the full light of the moon. During all this
time not a hot spring ceased its boiling, nor a smaller geyser its
wondrous play, for this gigantic outburst of power that might well have
absorbed every energy for a mile around. Obviously they have no
connection. Then my beloved Splendid settled into a three-days' rest.
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