and up again, through the trees and through the open places
I toiled and sweated; and every time I came out upon a ridge, expecting
to be at the top of somewhere, another ridge waited; and every time I
reached the bottom of a draw or gulch, expecting that here was my stream
or a trail, or both, I found that I was fooled again.

This up and down country covered by timber is a mighty easy country to
be lost in. I wasn't lost--the stream was lost. No, I wasn't lost; but
when I came out upon a rocky ridge, and climbed to the top of a bunch of
granite there, the world was all turned around. Pilot Peak had changed
shape and was behind me when it ought to have been before. West was
west, because the sun was setting in it, but it seemed queer. You see, I
had been zigzagging about to make easy climbs out of draws and gulches,
and to dodge rocks and brush--and here I was. (Note 39.)

You may believe that now I was mighty hungry and thirsty, and I was
tired, too. This was a fine place to see from, and I sat on a ledge and
looked about, mapping the country. That was Pilot Peak, away off on the
left; and that was the Medicine Range, on either side of it. It was the
range that we Scouts must cross, if ever we got to it. But between me
and the range lay miles of rolling timber, and all about below me lay
the timber, with here and there bare rocky points sticking up like the
tips of breakers in an ocean and here and there little winding valleys,
like the oily streaks in the ocean. Away off in one valley seemed to be
a cleared field where grain had been cut; but no ranch house was there.
It was just a patch. In all this big country I was the only
inhabitant--I and the wild things.

Well, I must camp for the night. The sun was setting behind the
mountains. If I tried traveling blind by night I might get all tangled
up in the timber and brush and be in a bad fix. Up here it was dry and
open and the rocks would shelter me from the wind. I tried to be calm
and reasonable and use Scout sense; and I decided to stay right where I
was, till morning.

But jiminy, I was hungry and thirsty, and I wanted a fire, too. This was
pretty good experience, to be lost without food or drink or matches, or
even a knife--it was pretty good experience if I managed right.

There were plenty of dead dried branches scattered here among the
rocks, and pack-rats had made a nest of firewood. But first, as seemed
to me, I must get a drink and something for supper