BIRCH BROWSINGS 



before one is aware of it he is very wide of 

 his mark. 



I remembered now that a young farmer 

 of my acquaintance had told me how he had 

 made a long day's march through the heart 

 of this region, without path or guide of any 

 kind, and had hit his mark squarely. He 

 had been bark-peeling in Callikoon, — a fa- 

 mous country for bark, — and, having got 

 enough of it, he desired to reach his home 

 on Dry Brook without making the usual 

 circuitous journey between the two places. 

 To do this necessitated a march of ten or 

 twelve miles across several ranges of moun- 

 tains and through an unbroken forest, — a 

 hazardous undertaking in which no one 

 would join him. Even the old hunters who 

 were familiar with the ground dissuaded 

 him and predicted the failure of his enter- 

 prise. But having made up his mind, he 

 possessed himself thoroughly of the topo- 

 graphy of the country from the aforesaid 

 hunters, shouldered his axe, and set out, 

 holding a straight course through the woods, 

 and turning aside for neither swamps, 

 streams, nor mountains. When he paused 

 to rest he would mark some object ahead 

 of him with his eye, in order that on get- 



