36 Trails to Woods and Waters 



so deep that other landmarks would be oblit- 

 erated. He stopped close to me and sighted 

 from one blazed tree to another. Would 

 I be in the way? That was the question. He 

 seemed to think I would, for he raised his axe. 

 A shudder ran through me, and I thought of 

 a maple sapling that he had just laid low. 

 I knew I never would rise again, for I had 

 seen trees blown over in a great storm and 

 they never did. 



" Then the man lowered his axe and 

 stopped to consider. Perhaps I would not 

 be in the way after all, or maybe the road 

 would be too rough if it went just where I 

 stood, for he changed the mark on the last 

 tree, blazing the opposite side, and went on, 

 and I was allowed to stand. 



" All through the autumn and winter there 

 were strange foreign sounds in the forest. 

 For days at a time there would be the cease- 

 less ring of the axe and occasionally that 

 thundering crash, that told of one of our 

 number laid low. Then when the logs had 

 been cut and piled, teams came into the woods 



