dian or a hound could have trailed me. The timber was small and rough
brush grew everywhere. Presently I saw light ahead, and I came to an
open space. It was a wide swath in the forest. At once I recognized the
path of an avalanche. It sloped up clean and bare to the gray cliffs far
above. Below was a great mass of trees and rocks, all tangled in black
splintered ruin. I pushed on across the path, into the forest, and up
and down the hollows. The sun had gone down behind the mountain, and the
shadows were gathering when I came to another large canyon. It looked so
much like the first that I feared I had been travelling in a circle. But
this one seemed wider, deeper, and there was no roar of rushing water.

It was time to think of making camp, and so I hurried down the slope.
At the bottom I found a small brook winding among boulders and ledges
of rock. The far side of this canyon was steep and craggy. Soon I
discovered a place where I thought it would be safe to build a fire. My
clothes were wet, and the air had grown keen and cold. Gathering a store
of wood, I made my fire in a niche. For a bed I cut some sweet-scented
pine boughs (I thought they must be from a balsam-tree), and these I
laid close up in a rocky corner. Thus I had the fire between me and
the opening, and with plenty of wood to burn I did not fear visits from
bears or lions. At last I lay down, dry and warm indeed, but very tired
and hungry.

Darkness closed in upon me. I saw a few stars, heard the cheery crackle
of my fire, and then I fell asleep. Twice in the night I awakened cold,
but by putting on more firewood I was soon comfortable again.

When I awoke the sun was shining brightly into my rocky bedchamber. The
fire had died out completely, there was frost on the stones. To build up
another fire and to bathe my face in the ice-water of the brook were my
first tasks. The air was sweet; it seemed to freeze as I breathed, and
was a bracing tonic. I was tingling all over, and as hungry as a starved
wolf.

I set forth on a hunt for game. Even if the sound of a shot betrayed
my whereabouts I should have to abide by it, for I had to eat. Stepping
softly along, I glanced about me with sharp eyes. Deer trails were
thick. The bottom of this canyon was very wide, and grew wider as I
proceeded. Then the pines once more became large and thrifty. I judged I
had come down the mountain, perhaps a couple of thousand feet below
the camp in the gorge. I flushed man