BIRCH BROWSINGS 185 



and scouring to the right and left, found ourselves 

 at the very place we had left two hours before. 

 Another deliberation and a divided council. But 

 something must be done. It was then mid-after- 

 noon, and the prospect of spending another night 

 on the mountains, without food or drink, was not 

 pleasant. So we moved down the ridge. Here 

 another line of marked trees was found, the course 

 of which formed an obtuse angle with the one we 

 had followed. It kept on the top of the ridge for 

 perhaps a mile, when it entirely disappeared, and 

 we were as much adrift as ever. Then one of the 

 party swore an oath, and said he was going out of 

 those woods, hit or miss, and, wheeling to the right, 

 instantly plunged over the brink of the mountain. 

 The rest followed, but would fain have paused and 

 ciphered away at their own uncertainties, to see if 

 a certainty could not be arrived at as to where we 

 would come out. But our bold leader was solving 

 the problem in the right way. Down and down 

 and still down we went, as if we were to bring up 

 in the bowels of the earth. It was by far the 

 steepest descent we had made, and we felt a grim 

 satisfaction in knowing that we could not retrace 

 our steps this time, be the issue what it might. As 

 we paused on the brink of a ledge of rocks, we 

 chanced to see through the trees distant cleared 

 land. A house or barn also was dimly descried. 

 This was encouraging; but we could not make out 

 whether it was on Beaver Kill or Mill Brook or 

 Dry Brook, and did not long stop to consider where 



