still in the forest, and the mountain
seemed as far off as ever.

"I am lost, that is all there is to it!" he burst out with a groan. "I
am lost, and perhaps I'll never get out!"

The sun shone down directly on his head, and even though still wet he
was glad enough to seek the shelter the stately trees afforded. Here and
there he saw some berries of various hues, but they were strange to him,
and he did not dare touch them for fear of being poisoned.

Toward the middle of the afternoon he reached a tiny brook, flowing
between the rocks, and here he again rested. He reached the conclusion
that the brook came down from the mountain side and by following it up
he must sooner or later run across the lost trail.

"I'll follow it, anyway," he told himself, and, hungry and footsore, set
out along the water-course.

Here the walking was somewhat better, for he had no brushwood and vines
to tear aside. The brook was clear, and he often saw trout and other
fish darting hither and thither. This gave him an idea, and, picking
some berries he had seen, he dropped them in. At once some of the fish
darted forward and swallowed the berries.

"Hurrah, a good bait!" he cried, and quickly made himself a line out of
threads from his clothing. To this he attached a pin bent into shape
with infinite care. Then he baited with the berries, and dropped the
line in over a rock near a cottonwood.

Hardly had his bait touched the water when a good-sized fish seized it,
and in a twinkling he had his catch landed. His heart gave a bound, for
here was the material for at least one square meal.

"I'll cook it right away," he told himself, after feeling to see if he
had any matches. His hunger was beginning to make him desperate, and he
did not much care even if the desperadoes did see his camp-fire.

With some trouble he got together a few sticks of wood and some moss
which the sunshine had dried out, and soon he had a respectable blaze
between two rocks. With his jackknife he cleaned the fish as best he
could, and then broiled it on a green twig. When done the meat was
slightly burnt on one side and underdone on the other, but to the
half-famished lad nothing had ever tasted sweeter, and he continued to
eat until the whole fish was gone.

"Now I feel like myself," he muttered, after washing down the repast
with a drink from the brook. "On a pinch that meal ought to last me
until to-morrow noon, and surely I ought to find my way back to the