is! The roar of the waters gradually decreased, the
wind having fallen, and thus, in spite of the sergeant's warning, my
head was beginning to nod, when he cried out,--

"Here is daylight at last; I see a tint of red over the snowy tops of
the mountains. We shall have the sun himself sending his warm rays down
upon us before long."

His voice aroused me in a moment. Manley answered his hail; and as the
light increased we saw that we were at the farther end of what might be
the main body of the lake, or a branch running off it. It was in
reality the great western arm of the lake, and we had been carried many
miles on our journey, in the exact direction we wished to go.

We had soon light enough to enable us to crawl off the branches to which
we had clung, and make our way down to the ground--if ground it could be
called, for, in reality, in every direction it was covered thickly with
logs in all stages of decay, some only lately fallen, others which could
be knocked to pieces with a kick, while the feet sank at almost every
step in decomposed vegetable matter. Still this was the region through
which, somehow or other, we must make our way.

After an hour's toil we reached a small open space, where the ground was
sufficiently hard to enable us to light a fire and dry our drenched
clothes and blankets. We had also to look to the priming of our rifles,
as they were likely to have got damp, and might fail us at a pinch.
Being unwilling to encamp in the forest altogether, though we all
greatly required rest, we resolved to push on until we could reach more
open ground where water was to be obtained.

To save my companions labour, as I was a more practised backwoodsman
than either of them, I offered to go ahead and try to find the shortest
way out of the forest. How far it might be, I could not tell; but I had
hopes that the forest in which we were might prove to be only a belt of
trees on the shore of the lake.

It did not occur to me as possible that my companions could miss my
trail. I shouted now and then, however, but did not hear their voices
in reply, the forest being so dense that sounds could not penetrate far
through it. I went on and on, feeling sure that I was directing my
course to the westward. The ground rose more and more, too, in some
places rather abruptly, but still covered with a dense growth of trees,
and soon I found that I was mounting a hill. The path was more easy than
at first, however, there be