Harold Lamb

“ About twilight we came out of a winding trail to the edge of the gorge again, and a cluster of tents.
It was really one tent with a scattering of huts, but the tent was more like a pavilion. Some native servants came from the shacks and helped us carry in our bags. Captain Dixon ran the car under some of the thickest foliage—the whole place was a grove of big pines, visible in the glare of the headlights—and I heard him swearing at the natives because they didn't rig a tarpaulin over it properly. ”

“ Again Dixon drove as if he never wanted to reach the hotel alive. I've been at the wheel in one or two transcontinental sprints, and I know that mountain driving isn't as bad as it looks, when the road bed is dry. But we were skidding up to bridges and slithering down drops that might have ended in a washout.
Miss Carnie gasped once or twice and even the youthful Arnold called a halt when the trail forked. ”

“ The thing was divided up into rooms and passageways like a bungalow; oriental rugs covered every inch of the floorboards, and the lamps were queer affairs, with a big Chinese lantern painted like a dragon, hung from the silk top of each of the two main compartments. ”