I Made My Way Steadily Upward In A Straight Line Through A Dense
Undergrowth Of Mountain Laurel, Until The Trees
Began to have a
scraggy and infernal look, as if contending with frost goblins,
and at length I reached the
Summit, just as the sun was setting.
Several acres here had been cleared, and were covered with rocks
and stumps, and there was a rude observatory in the middle which
overlooked the woods. I had one fair view of the country before
the sun went down, but I was too thirsty to waste any light in
viewing the prospect, and set out directly to find water. First,
going down a well-beaten path for half a mile through the low
scrubby wood, till I came to where the water stood in the tracks
of the horses which had carried travellers up, I lay down flat,
and drank these dry, one after another, a pure, cold, spring-like
water, but yet I could not fill my dipper, though I contrived
little siphons of grass-stems, and ingenious aqueducts on a small
scale; it was too slow a process. Then remembering that I had
passed a moist place near the top, on my way up, I returned to
find it again, and here, with sharp stones and my hands, in the
twilight, I made a well about two feet deep, which was soon
filled with pure cold water, and the birds too came and drank at
it. So I filled my dipper, and, making my way back to the
observatory, collected some dry sticks, and made a fire on some
flat stones which had been placed on the floor for that purpose,
and so I soon cooked my supper of rice, having already whittled a
wooden spoon to eat it with.
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