70 AT THE NORTH OF BE ARC AMP WATER. 
Happy thought: if any bear could get into that 
cave, it would be a very thin one. Unhappy 
thought: his thinness would betoken all the 
greater hunger. 
There was a lull ill the storm, for although 
everything above was black, the wind seemed 
to have died away and the thunder to be very 
distant. On the narrow ledge between the 
towering pinnacle and the black abyss below 
the Cow, I discarded my damp clothes and put 
on the dry ones. The change was comforting. 
I was glad when it was accomplished, for I had 
no inclination to fight a bear in the costume of 
Mulvaney at the taking of Lungtungpen. 
Step by step I crept back up the cliff to the 
summit. There was wind enough on top, and 
my lantern had to be thrust into a crack in the 
rock on the lee side to keep it not only from 
blowing out, but from blowing away. The top 
of Chocorua is about the shape and size of a 
large, wide dining-table. On the south, other 
levels lead up to it gradually; but west, north, 
and east this highest rock is bounded by abrupt 
sides, from which a fall in the night would be a 
serious matter. Lying down on this dizzy plat¬ 
form, I ate my supper with savage relish, and 
took new account of the night and its pictures. 
Except when lightning illumined some part of 
the horizon, the only things visible to me were 
