ep slope. Mostly the mountain was shaded by a good stand of
second-growth timber; but in places there were vast areas of rounded
stones, like flattish heaps of potatoes, that for acres covered the soil
of the hill so deeply as to prevent all plant growth. Old Ironsides could
have been called Stone Mountain as appropriately as its neighbor, for
truly it was rock-ribbed. But the stones on its slopes, unlike those of
Stone Mountain, contained a small percentage of iron. Hence its name. The
nearer slope of this hill was as dry as it was stony. Not a spring or the
tiniest trickle of water wet its rocky side for miles. But part way down
the farther slope a splendid stream gushed forth among the rocks. It was
this spring, or the stream issuing from it, that Charley and Lew hoped to
reach before they made their camp for the night.

Thanks to the work of the forest rangers in clearing the fire trail, it
looked as though the two boys would reach their goal before dark. Could
they have gone straight up the slope of Old Ironsides, they would have
come almost directly to the spring itself. But the grade was far too steep
to permit that. They would have to zigzag up the hill and find the stream
after they topped the crest. Because of the peculiar formation of the land
below this spring, the water did not run directly down the hill toward the
bottom, but flowed off to one side and made its way diagonally down the
slope.

At the bottom of the fire trail Lew and Charley sat down and rested for
five minutes. Then they began their difficult climb upward. And difficult
it was. There was no semblance of a path. The way led over jagged masses
of rock, through dense little stands of trees, and among growths that were
hard to penetrate because of their very thinness; for where the stand was
sparse the trees had many low limbs to catch and trip and pull at those
who sought to pass through.

There were great areas of bare stones to be crossed--stones rounded and
weathered by the elements through thousands of years, and finally heaped
together like flattish piles of pumpkins on a barn floor. Acres and acres
were covered by these great deposits of rounded, lichened rocks.

In crossing these rocky areas it was necessary to use the greatest
caution. Many of the stones rested so insecurely that the slightest
pressure would send them rolling downward. If one stone started, others
might follow, and great numbers of rocks might go rushing down the hil