e us from their sight. At length we reached the
bottom of the ravine, which was surrounded by naked rocks. Deep snow
covered it, and we could not find a single place where we could hide.
It was now broad day, and we stood still for a moment, looking vainly
in every direction, and much perplexed to know what to do. At length
we discovered in the rocks an opening, which on examination, turned
out to be a cave, but so small as to be hardly able to contain us all.
Close to it was a water-fall, which coming down from the mountain, had
hollowed out in the snow, directly before the entrance, a pit some ten
feet deep. By the aid of a little tree we climbed into this cave, in
which, however, we could not sit down, but were obliged to stand
upright, squeezed together in a most uncomfortable way. As the bottom
of our hiding-place was shelving, and covered with loose stones, we
were obliged to change our positions with the greatest caution, for
fear of rolling out, and in order to rest ourselves, we leaned first
on one elbow and then on the other. However, we were now tolerably
secure, for the cave could not be seen by any one who was not close to
it.

We remained in this position until sunset, consulting, with drooping
courage, on the best way to save ourselves. The day was clear and
warm, but the rays of the sun did not penetrate into the ravine, and
the water-fall made the air so cold that our teeth absolutely
chattered. We heard plainly the strokes of an axe in the surrounding
forest, and as we ventured out in the evening, saw people on the
mountains. Suddenly we heard a rushing sound as if some one was
sliding down the mountain towards us. It came nearer and grew louder,
and we thought that we should now soon see the soldiers who were
seeking us. We prepared ourselves for a struggle, when behold a wild
stag appeared, and as soon as he saw us, dashed quickly away.

As soon as the stars began to appear, we left our inconvenient
hiding-place, and climbed up a high mountain, which in many places was
overgrown with brushwood. My situation was now really dreadful. While
in the cave I had held my leg in one position, and consequently, felt
no great pain, but it returned as soon as I began to walk, and soon
became almost intolerable. As we had still to cross many mountains,
and in our case great haste was necessary, I saw clearly that I was
keeping back my comrades, and most likely would be the cause of their
re-capture. I, therefor