140 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



But looking back along the blazed trail of mem- 

 ory are numerous adventures and incidents that 

 remain a part of my mental possessions and stand 

 out as landmarks in my life. 



I had done much camping without experiencing 

 any serious difficulty in starting my camp-fire, 

 even during the worst of weather. But one winter, 

 when I was exploring the Medicine Bow Moun- 

 tains — alone, as usual — I had a fire-building adven- 

 ture which makes me shudder when I recall it. 



On my way across a high pass I was caught on 

 a steep, smooth, icy slope in a high wind. It was 

 too cold to stop, and descent had to be made with 

 utmost caution and freezing slowness. Though 

 the wall-like, sixty-degree slope was constantly 

 hugged closely, the wind a number of times saw 

 how nearly possible it was to wipe me off without 

 doing so. The mercury in my pocket thermome- 

 ter barely showed above the zero mark, and all 

 warming performances — hurrying, arm swinging, 

 and dancing — were impossible on the icy, wind- 

 swept steep. 



I was chilled and benumbed almost beyond 

 movement when the slope commenced to flatten 

 out among the dwarfed and hardy spruces on the 

 uppermost limits of tree growth. A quarter of a 

 mile down in the woods was a doorless and deserted 

 cabin in which I hoped to spend the night, but with 

 stifl^ened muscles almost paralyzed with cold it re- 

 quired long and persistent effort to reach the place. 



