Aaron’s stomach churned and he felt a tinge of embarrassment.

Below them, down in the old growth forest, the hounds barked and howled, the cacophony rising up out of 200-foot trees. The tree tips swayed in the breeze, and a goshawk watched them from a high, sun-dried branch. They might have been the first people it ever saw.

“They’ve picked up a scent, boys,” Leaf said.

“Good. Lets not pass any more time up here then, lads,” Buzz said.

Aaron looked down into the valley and frowned. “Maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, fellas. Maybe we’re supposed to leave this place alone.”

Buzz looked at him, his widening eyes warning of a slap to the back of the head. Buzz would laugh, tell him it was a play slap, but there was just enough to send a message.

Leaf raised the binoculars and they all went quiet, following his direction. The noon sun baked them through the layers of haze.

“There—the closest granite knob,” Leaf said, pointing with his pipe. He handed the binoculars to Buzz, and Buzz swung them to his face with the precision of a combat officer.

“Yes, I see it. A fine trophy.”

A mountain lion jumped from boulder to boulder, working up the granite dome between red pines. The hounds barked a hundred yards behind it, at the edge of the forest where it met granite slope.

The men worked their way down the first mountain. Each step brought them closer to the canopy, and finally they descended into the cool forest.

“Big woods,” Buzz said, before drinking from his Army-issue canteen.

“The biggest, eh?” Leaf said.

“Here’s to Leaf and his well-trained hounds,” Buzz said, tipping his canteen Leaf’s way.

Leaf smiled and nodded with the cob pipe clenched between his teeth.

Aaron studied his fresh surroundings, mesmerized by the old growth forest. Slick moss draped the logs and rocks like the finest carpet. Squirrels chattered in the trees and the stillness pushed onto him.

They moved southwest, then stopped to fill their canteens in a creek. Spike Rush bunched up to the water’s edge and chunky brook trout nipped the surface for bugs that dropped from the grass. The little rising circles trailed downstream, more apparent in the delicate crepuscular rays that pierced the canopy here and there.

“Last of the old country, eh?” Leaf said. “You won’t find better.”

Buzz moved well ahead of them now, his strength and speed superior as always. The hounds barked up ahead, each bark rising in intensity. Buzz gained speed and disappeared. Leaf shot Aaron a confused look.

“He always does that,” Aaron said.

“I should have known, eh?” Leaf said. “Men like him—they do what they want when they want. I’ve seen my share of go-getters while guiding, and he’s full of it all. This is why you two are friends?”