“I hope that we shall not lose our way in these woods,” said Forester.

“Oh, there is no danger of that,” rejoined Marco.  “The path is very plain.”

“It seems plain here,” said Forester, “and I presume that there can not be any danger, or James would have recommended to us to go the other way.”

“We shall come home the other way,” said Marco.  “I wonder if there are any saddles.  Twelve miles would be too far to ride bareback.”

“Yes,” said Forester, “there are saddles.  I asked James about that.”

The path which Forester and Marco were pursuing soon began to ascend.  It ascended at first gradually, and afterward more and more precipitously, and at length began to wind about among rocks and precipices in such a manner, that Marco said he did not wonder at all that James said it would be a rough road for horses.

“I think it is a very rough road for boys,” said Forester.

“Boys?” repeated Marco.  “Do you call yourself boys.”

“For men then,” said Forester.

“But I am not a man,” said Marco.

“Then I don’t see how I can express my idea,” said Forester.

Marco’s attention was here diverted from the rhetorical difficulty in which Forester had become involved, by a very deep chasm upon one side of the path.  He went to the brink of it and could hear the roaring of a torrent far below.

“I mean to throw a stone down,” said Marco.  He accordingly, after looking around for a moment, found a stone about as large as his head.  This stone he contrived to bring to the edge of the precipice and then to throw it over.  It went thundering down among the rocks and trees below, while Marco stood upon the brink and listened to the sound of the echoes and reverberations.  He then got another stone larger than the first, and threw that down; after which he and Forester resumed their journey.

The path, though it was a very rough and tortuous one, was pretty plain; and it is probable that the travelers would have found no difficulty in following it to the end of their route, had it not been for an occurrence which they had not at all anticipated, but which was one, nevertheless, that has often taken place to confuse the steps of mountain travelers and make them lose their way.  This occurrence was a fall of snow.

It was not late enough in the year for snow upon the lowlands, but snow falls very early in the autumn upon the summits of mountains.  Marco and Forester had not anticipated stormy weather of any kind, when they left home; for the wind was west and the sky was clear.  When, however, they had accomplished about one half of their journey, large masses of fleecy clouds began to drive over the mountains, and presently, all at once, it began to snow.  Marco was extremely delighted to see the snow falling.  Forester was not so much pleased.  On the other hand, he looked somewhat concerned.  He did not at first think how the snow could do them any serious injury, but he seemed to have an undefined sense of danger from it, and appeared uneasy.  They both, however, walked on.