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before they were stumbled against. Not a trace of water had been seen 

 since we had forsaken the creek, and dinner without it was out of the 

 question. We had seen no berries yet, but a little higher up found 

 Vaccinium parvifolium in abundance. Its fruit, although refreshing, 

 could be eaten in small quantities only, as at this altitude it was hardly 

 ripe yet and far from sweet. By three o'clock we were both pretty 

 tired, as we had not only been climbing steadily, but all our strength 

 had to be exerted a great deal of the time to enable us to force our way 

 through thickets of balsam or alder ; and now we decided that water 

 must be had even at the cost of losing some of the ground we had gained. 

 We had been moving parallel to the creek, but had risen much more 

 quickly than it, so that we were now nearly a thousand feet above it. 

 Turning almost a right angle we began the descent, but so thickly grew 

 the underbrush, and so many detours had to be made to avoid preci- 

 pices, that it was five o'clock before we reached the water and found 

 that we were just at the head of the canyon, half a mile from where we 

 had been in the morning ; supper was soon ready, and before dark we 

 were quite rested. The canyon was now behind us, and we resolved that 

 come what might we would not again leave the creek, nor did we, and 

 although the road was far from smooth and there were rocks and logs 

 in abundance to climb over, shortly after noon the following day we 

 saw the snow glistening through the trees, and knew that we had not 

 much further to go. A few rods higher the woods ended abruptly, and 

 before us was a meadow (if a meadow may be formed of flowers instead 

 of grass) reaching to the foot of the mountain two hundred yards away- 

 This little flat is about one-fourth of a mile wide and two hundred 

 yards deep at the centre, the hills rising from it in the form of a semi-" 

 circle, so that the meadow made an arc. of a circle, a veritable amphi 

 theatre. Just at the edge of the woods our packs were thrown down, 

 and we hurried across the intervening level ground to the foot of the 

 last steep incline that led up to the snow, and had hardly begun to 

 ascend it when we were startled by a sharp, clear whistle not unlike 

 that used by yardmen about a railway station. Almost instantly it was 

 answered from all sides, and we saw scampering toward an immense pile 

 of rocks at the foot of a cliff, a dozen or more Hoary Marmots, or 

 " whistlers," as they are generally called, (Arctomys caligahis.) Arrived 



