BIRCH BROWSINGS. 221 



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 moun- 

 tains 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, shoul- 

 dered 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. 



