246 Trails to Woods and Waters 



est time. I scratched my hands and face in 

 the underbrush and twice went head over heels 

 upon the ground, but that was nothing. 



In a short time I was back again at the 

 clump of birches, so I tried another direction, 

 but came right back to the same place. 



It was terrible; did all the paths in the 

 woods lead right back to this spot? Then it 

 dawned upon me, I was running about in a 

 circle. 



I had read of such cases in books. Of how 

 men became lost in the woods and ran around 

 and around in a circle until they dropped of 

 fatigue. Suddenly the sweet green woods 

 with its lengthening shadows seemed to 

 stretch out in every direction for a million 

 miles. I was the only living creature in all 

 that vast solitude unless it was filled with 

 bears, wolves, ghosts and hobgoblins. Such 

 a wiljd terror as I have never known before or 

 since seized me. My hair seemed to stand 

 up, my teeth chattered, my heart thumped 

 away at my ribs as though it would jump 

 through between them ; I seemed as small as a 



