BIRCH BROWSINGS. 1 99 



wished to get out speedily and as near as possible to 

 the point where we had entered. Half ashamed of 

 our timidity and indecision, we finally tramped away 

 back to where we had crossed the line of blazed trees, 

 followed our old trail to the spring on the top of the 

 range, and, after much searching and scouring to the 

 right and left found ourselves at the very place we 

 had left two hours before. Another deliberation and 

 a divided council. But something must be done. It 

 was then mid-afternoon, and the prospect of spending 

 another night on the mountains, without food or drink, 

 was not pleasant. So we moved down the ridge. 

 Here another line of marked trees was found, the 

 course of which formed an obtuse angle with the one 

 we had followed. It kept on the top of the ridge for 

 perhaps a mile, when it entirely disappeared, and we 

 were as much adrift as ever. Then one of the party 

 swore an oath, and said he was going out of those 

 woods, hit or miss, and, wheeling to the right, instantly 

 plunged over the brink of the mountain. The rest 

 followed, but would fain have paused and ciphered 

 away at their own uncertainties, to see if a certainty 

 could not be arrived at as to where we would come 

 out. But our bold leader was solving the problem in 

 the right way. Down and down and still down we went, 

 as if we were to bring up in the bowels of the earth. 

 It was by far the steepest descent we had made, and 

 we felt a grim satisfaction in knowing that we could 

 not retrace our steps this time, be the issue what it 



