Page:Dawn and the Dons.pdf/246

DAWN AND THE DONS 224 road or trail emerges from the forest to skirt some elbow or promontory, views of surpassing beauty are obtained. Yonder is the crescent shore of that incomparable bay whose miles of sweeping curve stretch out to Santa Cruz in the hazy distance. Here are the white beaches that Carmel so jealously guards, neighboring the famous Pebble Beach whose fascination lures the childish fancy and invites the serious study of the inquiring mind. There jutting headlands and rocky cliffs are half hidden by ancient cypress groves and enriched by the emerald beauty of the Monterey pine. Eastward the Gabilan Mountains tower above the valley of the Salinas, while westward the Pacific stretches in liquid miles to far Cathay. Below us, from ocean shore to forest heights, we have a panoramic view of this peninsula playground. The scene, at first bewildering, gradually becomes clearer,