t. I do not
think we had gone more than two or three hundred yards before the team
was under control. I stopped and adjusted the overturned valves. When
I succeeded, I found to my disappointment that the heat of that first
flame had partly spoiled the reflector. Still, my range of vision now
extended to the belly-band in the horses' harness. The light that used
to show me the road for about fifty feet in front of the horses' heads
gave a short truncated cone of great luminosity, which was interesting
and looked reassuring; but it failed to reach the ground, for it was so
adjusted that the focus of the converging light rays lay ahead and not
below. Before, therefore, the point of greatest luminosity was reached,
the light was completely absorbed by the fog.

I got out of the buggy, went to the horses' heads and patted their noses
which were dripping with wetness. But now that I faced the headlight,
I could see it though I had failed to see the horses' heads when seated
behind it. This, too, was quite reassuring, for it meant that the horses
probably could see the ground even though I did not.

But where was I? I soon found out that we had shot off the trail. And to
which side? I looked at my watch again. Already the incident had cost me
half an hour. It was really dark by now, even outside the fog, for there
was no moon. I tried out how far I could get away from the buggy without
losing sight of the light. It was only a very few steps, not more than a
dozen. I tried to visualize where I had been when I struck the fog. And
fortunately my habit of observing the smallest details, even, if only
subconsciously, helped me out. I concluded that the horses had bolted
straight ahead, thus missing an s-shaped curve to the right.

At this moment I heard Peter paw the ground impatiently; so I quickly
returned to the horses, for I did not relish the idea of being left
alone. There was an air of impatience and nervousness about both of
them.

I took my bicycle lantern and reached for the lines. Then, standing
clear of the buggy, I turned the horses at right angles, to the north,
as I imagined it to be. When we started, I walked alongside the team
through dripping underbrush and held the lantern with my free hand close
down to the ground.

Two or three times I stopped during the next half hour, trying, since we
still did not strike the trail, to reason out a different course. I was
now wet through and through up to my knees; and I