THE SOUTHERN CATSKILLS 



which covered the top of the ridge they were to skirt, 

 ended, and the deciduous woods began, a sharp, well- 

 defined line was pointed out as the course to be fol- 

 lowed. It led straight to the top of the broad level- 

 backed ridge which connected two higher peaks, and 

 immediately behind which lay the headwaters of the 

 Rondout. Having studied the map thoroughly, and 

 possessed themselves of the points, they rolled up 

 their blankets about nine o'clock, and were off, my 

 friend and I purposing to spend yet another day 

 and night on Slide. As our friends plunged down 

 into that fearful abyss, we shouted to them the 

 old classic caution, "Be bold, be bold, be not too 

 bold." It required courage to make such a leap into 

 the unknown, as I knew those young men were mak- 

 ing, and it required prudence. A faint heart or a 

 bewildered head, and serious consequences might 

 have resulted. The theory of a thing is so much 

 easier than the practice ! The theory is in the air, 

 the practice is in the woods; the eye, the thought, 

 travel easily where the foot halts and stumbles. 

 However, our friends made the theory and the fact 

 coincide ; they kept the dividing line between the 

 spruce and the birches, and passed over the ridge 

 into the valley safely ; but they were torn and bruised 

 and wet by the showers, and made the last few miles 

 of their journey on will and pluck alone, their last 

 pound of positive strength having been exhausted in 

 making the descent through the chaos of rocks and 

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