38 A Hunting Trip 



was getting late in the evening, so I de- 

 cided that if I wished to reach camp 

 I must start alone, not knowing what had be- 

 come of my guide. In order to take a direct 

 route to camp, I had to cross a high mountain 

 and after about two hours' steady travel 

 reached the summit. On arriving at the top I 

 discovered the snow had drifted over the cone, 

 so that a descent in safety down the other side 

 was impossible without making a long circuit- 

 ous trip around the summit. Finally, when 

 the first ledge was reached, I began to com- 

 pare notes as to which direction I should take 

 in order to reach camp before night. The 

 more I tried to make out familiar landmarks 

 the more confused I became. When a person 

 once begins to get muddled as to location, 

 everything looks strange and unnatural. In 

 fact I was not sure of anything. In the mean- 

 time it began to snow and rain, making travel 

 very disagreeable. Finally I reached the con- 

 clusion that our camp was in the small valley 

 beyond the next crown of the hill. The nature 

 of the ground over which I had to pass was 

 very rough, it consisting of blocks of stone of 



