rippling under the west wind. If we could only reach
that mystical plateau, our horses would be safe from all disease.

We crossed the Cheweax, a branch of the Nasse, and after climbing
briskly to the northeast along the main branch we swung around over a
high wooded hog-back, and made off up the valley along the north and
lesser fork. We climbed all day, both of us walking, leading our
horses, with all our goods distributed with great care over the six
horses. It was a beautiful day overhead--that was the only
compensation. We were sweaty, eaten by flies and mosquitoes, and
covered with mud. All day we sprawled over roots, rocks, and logs,
plunging into bogholes and slopping along in the running water, which
in places had turned the trail into an aqueduct. The men from Duluth
had told no lie.

After crawling upward for nearly eight hours we came upon a little
patch of bluejoint, on the high side of the hill, and there camped in
the gloom of the mossy and poisonous forest. By hard and persistent
work we ticked off nearly fifteen miles, and judging from the stream,
which grew ever swifter, we should come to a divide in the course of
fifteen or twenty miles.

The horses being packed light went along fairly well, although it was
a constant struggle to get them to go through the mud. Old Ladrone
walking behind me groaned with dismay every time we came to one of
those terrible sloughs. He seemed to plead with me, "Oh, my master,
don't send me into that dreadful hole!"

But there was no other way. It must be done, and so Burton's sharp
cry would ring out behind and our little train would go in one after
the other, plunging, splashing, groaning, struggling through.
Ladrone, seeing me walk a log by the side of the trail, would
sometimes follow me as deftly as a cat. He seemed to think his right
to avoid the mud as good as mine. But as there was always danger of
his slipping off and injuring himself, I forced him to wallow in the
mud, which was as distressing to me as to him.

The next day we started with the determination to reach the divide.
"There is no hope of grass so long as we remain in this forest," said
Burton. "We must get above timber where the sun shines to get any
feed for our horses. It is cruel, but we must push them to-day just
as long as they can stand up, or until we reach the grass."

Nothing seemed to appall or disturb my partner; he was always ready
to proceed, his voice ringing out with inflexible r