CHOCORUA IN NOVEMBER. 
199 
inhabitants of two townships to ignore the fact 
that a level road could readily unite them re¬ 
mains to be seen. Deer Hill given back to 
Charles’s Wain as the only team enduring 
enough to travel steadily over it would be Deer 
Hill justly dealt with at last. 
At seven o’clock I stood on the crest of this 
stumbling-block to progress and gazed at its 
view of sky and forest. The moon struggled 
with eastern cloud-banks. In the north, white 
clouds drifted over whiter mountain ridges. 
Once the peak of Chocorua peeped through its 
veil and caught upon its marble sides the radi¬ 
ance of the coy moon. After following the 
road to within a quarter of a mile of the 
Iron Works, I left it and struck northwestward 
across the moor towards the Chocorua House. 
Suddenly I saw an object upon the level stub¬ 
ble which suggested danger. For many years I 
have lived in dread of meeting and being pur¬ 
sued by a skunk at night. Had the moment ar¬ 
rived? Edging away from the object, I watched 
it keenly. Did it move? No. Yes! It was 
turning its head towards me and lifting that 
dreaded tail straight above its back. Still at 
least fifteen feet from the beast, I kept steadily 
on my way in a semicircle round it. The skunk 
revolved, keeping his head towards me, and then 
I saw his tail snapped forward irritably. I had 
