ALMOST IMPENETRABLE. 57 



trees lying at every conceivable angle to each other, 

 and so interlaced with matted twigs and trailing 

 plants, together with the almost impenetrable cover 

 made by the young pines that grew up amidst the 

 tangled mass, that Pierre found it almost impossible 

 to advance. Several times behind the thick cover he 

 heard animals breaking away, alarmed at the noise 

 which he could not avoid making. But he failed to 

 catch even a momentary glimpse of them, so thick 

 was the screen of branches. 



At length, hot and breathless, he emerged from these 

 tangled woods, and once more walked with compara- 

 tive ease amid the open forest. Here and there he 

 noticed tracks of deer, which from their size he knew 

 to be those of moose, but as yet he had not seen any 

 kind of game since leaving the camp. 



Light was shining through the trees ahead, and 

 judging that here lay a prairie he advanced cautiously, 

 keeping himself well screened from view. From the 

 verge of the woods he saw a level plateau stretching 

 north and east for a mile or two, backed in the dis- 

 tance by a fringe of trees which extended irregularly 

 along the boundaries of the plain, and were here and 

 there more or less thickly dotted over its surface. 



Across this small prairie stretched a line of willows 

 and poplars, with an occasional maple. Behind these 

 Pierre well knew that a stream existed ; and he further 

 guessed that if moose frequented these woods, this was 

 the likeliest place to find them. 



