" What now? "

6, March, 2018

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Yosemite Trails

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Chase's descriptions of his pack animals, is striking, and

unerring. They are never less than highlights of his 

' Trails ' books. They provide such a vivid image that

they could be rendered in drawing, with great precision,

by the enthusiastic artist. No detail escapes Chase's

observation. Here, while traveling alone with his

burros, he belies a bit of frustration, for both man 

and beast, on a particularly difficult section of trail.

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" My brave little burros stepped out gamely, and we plunged

into the forest. It was not long before we were entangled in 

difficulties. Windfall timber blocked us in, whichever way we

turned, and we spent exciting hours in climbing up and

jumping down among stockades, moats, and circumvallations

such as civilian quadrupeds are not often required to encounter.

They would scramble, packs and all, over logs of such corpulence

that when their forefeet had made the passage their bellies rested

on the round. A convulsive spasm would bring the hind-legs over,

and they would stand for a moment gazing eagerly at me with

an air of asking, " What now? "

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* For the curious the definition of circumvallation:

(noun ) a defensive wall of a castle or walled city. *

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