1 68 HUNTING TRIPS 



parallel to the stream, and therefore to 

 Merrifield's course. The crests of the hills 

 formed a wavy-topped but continuous 

 ridge between two canyon-like valleys, and 

 the sides fell off steeper and steeper the 

 farther down stream I went, until at last 

 they were broken in places by sheer preci- 

 pices and cliffs; the groves of trees too, 

 though with here and there open glades, 

 formed a continuous forest of tall pines. 

 There was a small growth of young spruce 

 and other evergreen, thick enough to give 

 cover, but not to interfere with seeing and 

 shooting to some distance. The pine trunks 

 rose like straight columns, standing quite 

 close together ; and at their bases the ground 

 was carpeted with the sweet-scented 

 needles, over which, in my moccasined feet, 

 I trod without any noise. It was but a little 

 past noon, and the sun in the open was very 

 hot; yet underneath the great archways of 

 the pine woods the air though still was cool, 

 and the sunbeams that struggled down here 

 and there through the interlacing branches, 



