IN THE CATSKILLS 



logs into the head of the valley. In such emergen- 

 cies one overdraws his account ; he travels on the 

 credit of the strength he expects to gain when he 

 gets his dinner and some sleep. Unless one has 

 made such a trip himself (and I have several times 

 in my life), he can form but a faint idea what it is 

 like, what a trial it is to the body, and what a trial 

 it is to the mind. You are fighting a battle with 

 an enemy in ambush. How those miles and leagues 

 which your feet must compass lie hidden there in 

 that wilderness; how they seem to multiply them- 

 selves; how they are fortified with logs, and rocks, 

 and fallen trees ; how they take refuge in deep gul- 

 lies, and skulk behind unexpected eminences ! Your 

 body not only feels the fatigue of the battle, your 

 mind feels the strain of the undertaking; you may 

 miss your mark; the mountains may outmanoeuvre 

 you. All that day, whenever I looked upon that 

 treacherous wilderness, I thought with misgivings 

 of those two friends groping their way there, and 

 would have given much to know how it fared with 

 them. Their concern was probably less than my 

 own, because they were more ignorant of what was 

 before them. Then there was just a slight shadow 

 of a fear in my mind that I might have been in error 

 about some points of the geography I had pointed 

 out to them. But all was well, and the victory 

 was won according to the campaign which I had 

 planned. When we saluted our friends upon their 

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