ing clouds by noon, or even sooner. A fog may settle
below the summits of the peaks, and cloak all objects more than a few
yards distant, distorting and magnifying those mistily discernible. A
turn or a detour to survey the vicinity and attempt to get one's
bearings almost invariably brings disaster. A fall that dazes one even
for a few minutes is liable to befuddle one as to direction and cause
one to lose one's way.

Few persons lost in the mountains travel in a circle. The typography
of the country prevents them, high ridges confine them to limited
areas. They are as apt to travel in one direction as in the opposite,
but they may usually be looked for and found in a shut-in valley or
canyon.

I was lost one day within a mile of home, almost in sight of the home
buildings, upon a slope I knew well. It came about through my
following a band of deer on my skis. The day was windy the snow
blowing about in smothering clouds. I came upon the deer in a cedar
thicket. At my approach they retreated to a gully and started up the
slope. The snow grew so deep that after floundering in it a few yards,
they deserted the gully, tacked back close to me, and cut around the
slope about level with my position. I gave chase on skis, which almost
enabled me to keep up with them. When they altered their direction and
headed down hill, I easily outran them. Soon I was in their midst, but
had difficulty in keeping my balance.

All at once the animals indulged in queer antics. One lay upside down,
his feet flailing the air; another stood on his head in space; two does
on my left whirled round and round as though dancing with a phonograph
record for a floor. The next instant I joined their troupe. In the
flash that followed I remembered seeing the tops of small trees beneath
me, remembered my skis whipping across in front of my face.

In their panic to escape me, the deer's instinct had deserted them, and
they had dashed full speed across a slope where a spring overflowed and
froze, and the ice was coated with snow.

When I regained my feet I was lost. Everything was unfamiliar. I set
my course toward a prominent thumb of rock, but when I reached it, it
had either changed its shape or moved. The whole valley was strange.

After skiing for several hours, I topped an utterly foreign ridge.
Below me were houses. I coasted down to the nearest that had smoke
rising from its chimney. A neighbor, living just a mile from ho