But one could not sleep long at a time on that bed, and once I was glad to be awake. High up on the highest tree of the mountain a hoot owl broke the petrified stillness of that lonely forest.
“Too wit, too wit, too wooo!” he called loudly, and then he added with impatient emphasis, “Too wit, too wit, too woo,” as if to say, “Do you understand that?” He was a bit of a scold, but he had all the grey dome and all the forest depths to talk into. No comrade answered him, and nothing ever gave me such an impression of the solitude of a mountain forest.
By six o’clock we had endured all that the human frame is capable of in the way of sleeping on hard and prickly spruce, and the men rose as by one impulse and went down to the spring to wash. We dressed as hurriedly as possible, and, I must say, looked surprisingly fresh. And the morning was so deliciously cool, and Mr. Van Worden’s coffee so fragrant and bracing, his trout so crisp and Mrs. Opp’s “johnnie cake,” so excellent that we sat about Mr. Latimer’s bed in the highest spirits and congratulated each other that we were “camping out.” Even Miss Page, having weathered the worst of it, announced herself ready to stay another night, and talked continually in her pretty Southern brogue. She was looking like a beautiful gypsy, too, and I think our one small mirror had consoled her for many things. She flashed her eyes about with the impartiality of the kind-hearted coquette, and was quite the life of the uncomfortable group about the table.
After breakfast Mrs. M. J., Latimer, Mr. Nugent and myself, led by Opp, with an axe over his shoulder, started off to see some famous falls. The rest went fishing. As the trail along the “still-water” had been choked by lumbermen, Opp had to rely on his general knowledge of the land, and every few minutes he “blazed” a tree, i.e., hacked off a piece of the bark with his axe, that there should be no danger of going astray when we returned. The ground was less broken up than usual and we strode along in single file looking for all the world like a party of pioneers penetrating the wilderness. It was a jolly experience and I would not have missed it for anything.
The falls were about two miles from the camp and we were an hour reaching them, for Opp got off the track several times. I can imagine that they look very fine indeed when there is anything falling. But all we saw was a sloping wall of solid rock, about four hundred and fifty feet high and a fifth of a mile wide, crowned with spruce. There is a deep wide pool below, and a mass of rocks on which we sat and tried to picture the mighty cascade of other seasons. On one end—the perpendicular end—of the wall there were soil and trees, and Opp asked me if I would like to “climb the falls and see the sights.” I was half way across the rocks in a moment with Mr. N. and Latimer after me, while Opp remained with Mrs. M. J.
It was a straight climb, my dear, of four hundred and fifty feet. It hardly sloped once and there was just one ledge of about six steps. We had to pull ourselves up by trees and bushes, and more that once Mr. N. dragged me up, while Mr. L. pushed me. But altogether I did rather well, and was quite rewarded by their enthusiastic approval. But there was a better reward than that. From an elevation above the falls we saw five mountain ranges. They seemed to fill all space, and the blue dome to press down its rim about them, holding such a flood of crystal and gold! There were many beautiful pines about us, sage green with a delicate fairy-like quality in spite of their greatness, and once more the undesecrated forest, so dense that Mr. N. had noted every inch of ground we traversed.
Of course it was worse going down than ascending and I was glad to have two men to take care of me.
Well, we spent all of that day very pleasantly, and the night promised to be rather more comfortable, for Mr. Nugent, Mr. Latimer, and the guides all made beds for themselves under the stars and the fire was left to go out after supper. But, alas! about midnight it began to rain, they all came crawling under shelter, and there was little more sleep that night.
The rain stopped long enough for us to breakfast comfortably, and then we held a consultation. The plan had been to “stay out” three nights, but we were all a little tired of it, and the skies looked very forbidding.
“If you want my opinion,” remarked Opp, “I say go, and be quick about it. It’s set in for all day, and if we git back to the Lake without a soakin’ we’ll be luckier’n I think we will.”