l, but merely a brook flowing into that stream!

CHAPTER XVII.

AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY.

"Tom, we have missed it!"

"It looks like it, Sam."

"What we took for the river wasn't the river at all. We must be a mile
or two out of the way."

"There is nothing to do but to go back," was the dismal response.

"Don't you think we might strike the river without going back?"

"We might, and then again we might not. I hardly feel like taking the
risk--in this blinding snow."

With heavy hearts the brothers turned the sled around and proceeded on
the back trail, if such the way may be called. As a matter of fact, the
snow had covered their footprints completely.

The wind was now rising again, and it blew directly into their faces.
Alarmed more than ever, on this account, they pushed on until poor Sam
was almost winded.

"I--I can't go on so fast, no use in trying!" he panted. "I feel ready
to drop!"

"I'm fagged out myself," responded Tom. "But, Sam, we can't afford to
rest here."

"I know that, but I've got to get my wind back somehow. The wind seems
to be awfully strong."

They rested for several minutes, and then pushed on again, Tom dragging
the sled alone. It was a bitter journey, and both would have given a
good deal to have been with Dick and the guide once more.

"We missed it when we didn't keep up with them in the first place," was
Tom's comment. "However, there's no use in crying over spilt milk, as
the saying goes. We must make the best of it."

"There isn't any best," grumbled Sam. "It's all worst!" And then Tom
laughed, in spite of the seriousness of the situation.

At last they gained the spot where they had first struck the brook, and
here they halted again.

"The worst of it is, there is no telling how far this brook runs before
it empties into the Perch River," observed Tom. "We may have to go two
or three miles out of our way."

"We may as well climb up the hill again, Tom, and try to follow one of
those trails."

"Perhaps you are right."

They talked the matter over and at last began to climb the hill, now
more difficult than before, since the snow was several inches deeper.
It took a long while to gain the top, and still longer to find the spot
where they had left the trail.

"Here we are," said Tom, resting on a fallen tree which marked the
locality. "Now the all-important question is, which way next?"

"Tom, I believe we are getting lost," came from Sam, in a dismal t