One after one
Away across the valley , where night still brooded , Kalatope ridge , serrated and majestic of outline , made a massive incident of shadow amid the tenderer tints around . The great hushed world seemed holding its breath in expectation of a miracle -- the unconsidered miracle of dawn . A Himalayan dawn is brief , as it is beautiful . One after one , the snow-peaks passed from the pallor of death to the glow of life . Then , sudden as an inspiration , the full splendour of morning broke , sublime as the eternity from which it came . Rapier-like shafts of light pierced the purple lengths of shadows that engulfed the valley . Threading their way through fir and deodar and pine , they flung all their radiant length across a rock-studded carpet of fir-needles and moss , and rested , like a caress , upon Quita 's face and figure .