SPECKLED TROUT 



we could gain no information from the "women 

 folks" about the way, nor from the men who had 

 just come in to dinner; so we pushed on, as near as 

 we could, according to the instructions we had pre- 

 viously received. Crossing the creek, we forced our 

 way up the side of the mountain, through a perfect 

 cheval-de-frise of fallen and peeled hemlocks, and, 

 entering the dense woods above, began to look anx- 

 iously about for the wood-road. My companions 

 at first could see no trace of it; but knowing that a 

 casual wood-road cut in winter, when there was likely 

 to be two or three feet of snow on the ground, would 

 present only the slightest indications to the eye in 

 summer, I looked a little closer, and could make out 

 a mark or two here and there. The larger trees had 

 been avoided, and the axe used only on the small 

 saplings and underbrush, which had been lopped off 

 a couple of feet from the ground. By being con- 

 stantly on the alert, we followed it till near the top 

 of the mountain; but, when looking to see it " tilt" 

 over the other side, it disappeared altogether. Some 

 stumps of the black cherry were found, and a solitary 

 pair of snow-shoes was hanging high and dry on a 

 branch, but no further trace of human hands could 

 we see. While we were resting here a couple of her- 

 mit thrushes, one of them with some sad defect in 

 his vocal powers which barred him from uttering 

 more than a few notes of his song, gave voice to the 

 solitude of the place. This was the second instance 

 211 



