260 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
themselves, and trees and moss had contrived 
to grow. The great danger was of going for- 
ward headlong, with a sudden insertion of one’s 
feet in a sharp cleft of these beautiful, treacher- 
ous, moss-hidden rocks. It was a positive re- 
lief to tread occasionally upon some prostrate 
tree trunk, green with ferns and half decayed, 
yet bristling with spiked branches, and giving a 
safe though difficult bridge, as it slanted down 
the hillside. Meanwhile we could see nothing 
overhead or outward, so dense were the trunks 
and boughs; and we had only an occasional 
glimpse of the broad hat of our guide, still de- 
scending without remorse. Once, when we 
had halted, and some one had expressed fervent 
gratitude that we had not to reascend that 
formidable ravine, Merrill looked round with a 
chuckle, and said, “It would be easier to go up 
there again than to go back the way you expect 
to go.” We too looked round and up. The 
suggestion seemed like that of reclimbing the 
church steeple already mentioned, and holding 
on by the moss as we went up. Any distance, 
any form of descent, should be welcomed, we 
resolved, rather than attempt that “wild and 
hideous” climb. 
During all this time we had listened vainly 
for the brook, which should be rippling some- 
where below. If it was there, every step of 
