52 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMP WATER ,. 
Blazing the trees as we walked by them, both 
on onr left and on our right, on the south side 
of the trunks and on their north sides also, we 
pushed forward due north. Ever since leaving 
the ruined mill our way had lain close to the 
foot of Paugus, the width of the valley being 
between us and the foot of Chocorua. Nearly 
a mile was traversed before we touched the wall 
of Paugus barring the north and forcing us to 
bend eastward. Entering a narrow ravine, 
none too wide for a single road at its bottom, 
we came once more upon the lost trail. Marks 
of the axe were frequent, but the great hem¬ 
locks which it had felled were mere moss-covered 
pulp, and from their stumps viburnum or young 
trees had sprouted. Berry found spots on the 
trees which he remembered to have made when 
he guided the engineer through the pass fifteen 
years before. The walls of the ravine grew 
steeper, and across it fallen trees occasionally 
blocked the way. Presently it bent sharply to 
the left, so that we were once more headed 
northward, and then it widened into an amphi¬ 
theatre half a mile in width, wholly surrounded 
by steep and rocky sides. The old trail was 
again lost, and Berry declared that out of this 
pocket there was no outlet save over the tower¬ 
ing ridge at the north. The story of the man 
and woman in a sleigh, who had once crossed 
