way gingerly along the slender trunks. Eventually they got beyond the log
barrier and the remainder of the way to the top was more open. At last
they stood on the very summit.

"I wonder where our landmark is," queried Lew, flashing his light this way
and that. "I understand now why we saw it so plainly from below. There
were no standing trees to hide it. We never saw it from so far away
before."

The landmark was a great, upright rock like a huge chimney. It was not far
distant and presently Lew found it. The boys made their way to it.

"Now," said Lew, with a sigh of relief, "we go straight down. We should
come to the brook flowing from the spring in a few minutes. We'll have to
make it soon or I'll die of thirst."

They started down the slope. The fire had swept over the summit and the
way before them was like the area they had just crossed. But they were now
going down-hill and it was far easier to force their way. A few yards at a
time they advanced, now held back by a fallen log or turned aside by
dense entanglements of prostrate trunks.

Presently Lew gave a cry. "Do you see that big stone like an altar,
Charley?" he called, turning the light on a great rock. "That's the stone
where we made our fire the last time we were here. It stands within
twenty-five feet of the brook."

"Thank goodness!" answered Charley. "My back is about broken. This pack
weighs a ton! And I'll die if I don't get water soon."