such barbarous places, and how you internally vow never to
leave home again. How inconsiderate of your companion to leave you so
far behind, as if you did not belong to his party. He seems to ignore
you, and you feel the slight. He ought to keep pace with you, not you
with him, you think.

How you hate him for his rude health and long wind; and should he so far
forget himself as to add insult to injury by bawling after you to "come
on," and not "lag behind;" or call you by some such name as "slow
coach," "stick-in-the-mud," or other choice epithet, oh, then it is not
to be borne. Your ire is raised beyond due bounds. You could stab him
if you only had him near enough, and a weapon handy.

If any of my friends who content themselves with taking their daily walk
of a mile or so on level ground fancy that this is an exaggeration of
the state of a man's feelings when the body is tired out and the nerves
on the stretch, I recommend him to try a trip in some mountainous
district when out of training, and to choose as companion some
well-trained son of the mountains.

As I observed before, gentlemen, my friend and I were not wont to fall
out in this way with one another, and we took our journey very easily,
chipping out a fossil here and a crystal there, conversing the while on
secondary and tertiary formations, volcanic eruptions, alluvial
deposits, debris, quartz, and marl, mica, slate, talc, calc, etc., etc.

Thus we journeyed on together day after day for weeks, until we found
that the face of the country changed suddenly. Two mountain ranges
branched off almost at right angles from one another.

My friend and I resolved to separate, and each to explore in a different
direction, and to meet again in about a fortnight.

We accordingly parted, and I commenced exploring a wild track of
mountainous country alone. Charmed with the wild beauty of the scene, as
well as interested in its geological structure, I suffered my footsteps
to lead me onward until hunger stole upon me. I had eaten nothing since
the morning, and it was now getting late. One day at home without food
is bad enough, but it is not to be compared with a day spent in the
mountains, walking and climbing all the time.

I looked out for a chalet, but there was none visible. Meanwhile it grew
dark, and I found myself benighted. There was not even a shed to rest
under, so I was obliged to repose my weary limbs upon the cold, damp,
rock, with such shelter from