Where Town and Country Meet 



chattering indignation, but presently re- 

 turned and carried away the egg-shell in 

 his mouth. 



Up and forward again. And now began 

 the real labor and difficulty of my enter- 

 prise. The ground began to rise abruptly. 

 Ledges confronted me, some of which I 

 had to skirt for a considerable distance be- 

 fore I was able to climb them. I soon 

 realized that I was on the steep north- 

 eastern flank of Sterling, with a hard 

 climb between me and the ridge that led 

 up to the peak. But there was encourage- 

 ment in the thought that I was fairly 

 grappling with the mountain at last, that 

 I had reached it by the air-line route, as I 

 planned, and was adventuring where, per- 

 haps, no white man's foot had ever trod 

 before. 



The character of the woods changed, as 

 I progressed, from an admixture of hard 

 and soft wood trees to wholly evergreen. 

 Somber, thick-growing firs, pines, and 

 cedars shut out the light and hemmed me 

 in more and more closely. These were the 

 trees which, as I had noticed from a dis- 

 176 



