the fairy nook, the climber betook himself therefore up a steep, obscure little path that creeps up the ledge back of it and there pursued something that looked vaguely like a trail. Soon, however, it faded away altogether, and the direction was marked only by half-overgrown blazes on the tree trunks. At last he seemed to come to the end of these also; he could see no blaze beyond the one by which he stood, peering forward.
He went back to see if he had mistaken the last marks; no, plainly they were old blazes though hardly discernible from mere knot-holes till he stood close to them. Clearly the trail had led to this point though here it seemed to have dropped into the earth. On the left the ground fell sharply into sun-dappled hollows under great trees which reared noble heads high. There was little underbrush here, but the slope fell with such suddenness that the desired trail certainly could not be down below. On the right towards the mountain was a thick tangle of spruces on broken cliffs for he
