BIRCH BROWSINGS 185 
and scouring to the right and left, found ourselves 
at the very place we had left two hours before. 
Another deliberation and a divided council. But 
something must be done. It was then mid-after- 
noon, and the prospect of spending another night 
on the mountains, without food or drink, was not 
pleasant. So we moved down the ridge. Here 
another line of marked trees was found, the course 
of which formed an obtuse angle with the one we 
had followed. It kept on the top of the ridge for 
perhaps a mile, when it entirely disappeared, and 
we were as much adrift as ever. Then one of the 
party swore an oath, and said he was going out of 
those woods, hit or miss, and, wheeling to the right, 
instantly plunged over the brink of the mountain. 
The rest followed, but would fain have paused and 
ciphered away at their own uncertainties, to see if 
a certainty could not be arrived at as to where we 
would come out. But our bold leader was solving 
the problem in the right way. Down and down 
and still down we went, as if we were to bring up 
in the bowels of the earth. It was by far the 
steepest descent we had made, and we felt a grim 
satisfaction in knowing that we could not retrace 
our steps this time, be the issue what it might. As 
we paused on the brink of a ledge of rocks, we 
chanced to see through the trees distant cleared 
land. A house or barn also was dimly descried. 
This was encouraging; but we could not make out 
whether it was on Beaver Kill or Mill Brook or 
Dry Brook, and did not long stop to consider where 
