"Chinook struck us in the night.

Didn't yuh hear it ?" Thurston pulled open the door and stood face to face with the miracle of the West.

He had seen Mother Nature in many a changeful mood, but never like this.

The wind blew warm from the southwest and carried hints of green things growing and the song of birds; he breathed it gratefully into his lungs and let it riot in his hair.

The sky was purplish and soft, with heavy, drifting clouds high-piled like a summer storm.