14 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



I gathered two or three armfuls of dead hmbs, 

 with the aid of my hatchet, and soon had a lively 

 blaze going. But the heat increased the pain in 

 my eyes, so with clothes only partly dried, I went 

 on. Repeatedly through the night I applied snow 

 to my eyes trying to subdue the fiery torment. 



From timberline I had travelled downward 

 through a green forest mostly of Engelmann spruce 

 with a scattering of fir and limber pine. I fre- 

 quently felt of the tree trunks. But a short time 

 after leaving my camp-fire I came to the edge of 

 an extensive region that had been burned over. 

 For more than an hour I travelled through dead 

 standing trees, on many of which only the bark 

 had been burned away; on others the fire had 

 burned more deeply. 



Pausing on the way down, I thrust my staff into 

 the snow and leaned against a tree to hold snow 

 against my burning eyes. While I was doing this 

 two owls hooted happily to each other and I lis- 

 tened to their contented calls with satisfaction. 



Hearing the pleasant, low call of a chickadee 

 I listened. Apparently he was dreaming and talk- 

 ing in his sleep. The dream must have been a 

 happy one, for every note was cheerful. Realizing 

 that he probably was in an abandoned woodpecker 

 nesting hole, I tapped on the dead tree against 

 which I was leaning. This was followed by a chorus 

 of lively, surprised chirpings, and one, two, three! — 

 then several — chickadees flew out of a hole a few 



