180 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



Brook side, having crossed only a spur of the moun- 

 tain. We had not borne sufficiently to the left, so that 

 the main range, which, at the point of crossing, sud- 

 denly breaks off to the southeast, still intervened 

 between us and the lake. We were about five miles, 

 as the water runs, from the point of starting, and over 

 two from the lake. We must go directly back to the 

 top of the range where the guide had left us, and then, 

 by keeping well to the left, we would soon come to a 

 line of marked trees, which would lead us to the lake. 

 So turning upon our trail, we doggedly began the 

 work of undoing what we had just done, — in all cases 

 a disagreeable task, in this case a very laborious one 

 also. It was after sunset when we turned back, and 

 before we had got half-way up the mountain it began 

 to be quite dark. We were often obliged to rest our 

 packs against trees and take breath, which made our 

 progress slow. Finally a halt was called, beside an 

 immense flat rock which had paused in its slide down 

 the mountain, and we prepared to encamp for the 

 night A fire was built, the rock cleared off, a small 

 ration of bread served out, our accoutrements hung up 

 out of the way of the hedgehogs that were supposed to 

 infest the locality, and then we disposed ourselves for 

 sleep. If the owls or porcupines (and I think I heard 

 one of the latter in the middle of the night) reconnoi- 

 tred our camp, they saw a buffalo robe spread upon a 

 rock, with three old felt hats arranged on one side, 

 and three pairs of sorry-looking cowhide boots pro- 

 truding from the other. 



