60 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMP WATER. 
several parts of southern Europe, and in Japan. 
Anything more in contrast with the gloom of 
a northern forest would be hard to discover. 
Much of the ground near the brook was covered 
by yew bushes, on which, brilliant as jewels, 
gleamed their pendent and slightly attached red 
berries. The mosses and lichens were the glory 
of the wood. Never parched by thirst in these 
perpetual shades, they grew luxuriantly on 
boulders, fallen logs, standing trees, the faces 
of ledges, and over the moist brook banks and 
beds of leaf mould. What the great forest was 
to us, that the mosses must be to the minute 
insects which live among them. 
So thoroughly had we spotted the trees in the 
morning, that as we followed our trail back 
there was not a moment when our eyes hesitated 
as to the direction of the path. 
Four days passed, and on the morning of the 
fifth a gay column wound its way through the 
forest following the regained trail. Nearly a 
score of axes, hatchets, and savage machettas 
resounded upon the trees and shrubs which en¬ 
croached upon the road. Behind the axemen 
came several horses, each bearing a rider as 
courageous as she was fair. If branches 
menaced the comfort of these riders, they were 
speedily hewn away; if the hobble-bush hid 
