on after reaching the summit. And then there are
so many spurs and offshoots and changes of direction, added to the
impossibility of making any generalization by the aid of the eye,
that before one is aware of it he is very wide of his mark.

I remembered now that a young farmer of my acquaintance had told me
how he had made a long day's march through the heart of this region,
without path or guide of any kind, and had hit his mark squarely. He
had been bark-peeling in Callikoon,--a famous country for bark,--and,
having got enough of it, he desired to reach his home on Dry Brook
without making the usual circuitous journey between the two places. To
do this necessitated a march of ten or twelve miles across several
ranges of mountains and through an unbroken forest,--a hazardous
undertaking in which no one would join him. Even the old hunters who
were familiar with the ground dissuaded him and predicted the failure
of his enterprise. But having made up his mind, he possessed himself
thoroughly of the topography of the country from the aforesaid
hunters, shouldered his axe, and set out, holding a straight course
through the woods, and turning aside for neither swamps, streams, nor
mountains. When he paused to rest he would mark some object ahead of
him with his eye, in order that on getting up again he might not
deviate from his course. His directors had told him of a hunter's
cabin about midway on his route, which if he struck he might be sure
he was right. About noon this cabin was reached, and at sunset he
emerged at the head of Dry Brook.

After looking in vain for the line of marked trees, we moved off to
the left in a doubtful, hesitating manner, keeping on the highest
ground and blazing the trees as we went. We were afraid to go down
hill, lest we should descend too soon; our vantage-ground was high
ground. A thick fog coming on, we were more bewildered than ever.
Still we pressed forward, climbing up ledges and wading through ferns
for about two hours, when we paused by a spring that issued from
beneath an immense wall of rock that belted the highest part of the
mountain. There was quite a broad plateau here, and the birch wood was
very dense, and the trees of unusual size.

After resting and exchanging opinions, we all concluded that it was
best not to continue our search encumbered as we were; but we were not
willing to abandon it altogether, and I proposed to my companions to
leave them beside the spring wit