The rest of the party had arrived before May; and her cousin Kate had met her at the Clifton House station with an enthusiastic welcome and a torrent of information as to their future plans, scarcely half of which May could take in, being quite happy enough in the sense of being _really at the Falls_ at last, and of getting her first glimpse of them. She only vaguely heard, in an unreal sort of way, Kate's eager account of her cousins--how "nice" and amiable Flora was, and how well she could sketch; and how Hugh, though very quiet, was very clever, too,--had taken honors at college, had somewhat injured his health by over-study, so that he was obliged to take a rest, and had even written a little book of poems which was soon to be published,--indeed, was now in the press. "And I shouldn't wonder if he were to write another about his travels here, and put us all into it," she added.
May had no particular desire to "be put into a book," but, just then, the interest of the scene before her, with the thunder of "many waters" in her ears, was strong enough to exclude all other ideas. Her eager, watching eye just caught a glimpse of what seemed a giant's caldron of milky spray, and behind it a dazzling sheet of snow; but her cousin hurried her on into the hotel and up to her room, which, to her delight, commanded a splendid view of the Horse-shoe Fall, on which she could feast her eyes at leisure to her heart's content. And now, indeed, anticipation and faith were swallowed up in sight! She had, of course, frequently seen photographs of the great cataract, so that the outlines of the view were familiar enough; but the exquisite coloring, the ceaseless motion, the sense of infinite power, no picture could possibly supply. As she Lay dreamily back in a lounging chair, on the veranda, scarcely conscious of anything but the grandeur of the scene, a line or two from Wordsworth's "Yarrow Visited" flitted across her mind:
----"this is the scene Of which my fancy cherished So faithfully a waking dream!"
"No!" she mentally decided, "no 'waking dream' could picture Niagara."
"Well, dreaming as usual?" May looked up with a start, as she felt Mrs. Sandford's plump hand on her shoulder. "Kate wants you to make haste and get ready for an expedition. Here are the Scotch cousins. This is Flora, and this is her brother Hugh. You don't need any formal introduction. Kate will be down in a moment, and you are all going for a long stroll, she says, for which I don't feel quite equal yet after my journey, though it _is_ a charming afternoon; so I shall stay here and rest. Kate has promised me not to let you run into any sort of danger, and I am sure you'll find her a capital _cicerone_."