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operation was going forward he gave me an account of his adventures. He
had found a number of things which had fallen from the wagon, and,
wonderful to relate, they were untouched. There was the skin tent which
we had not put into the wagon, and a cask of flour and one of beef, and,
what we thought of still more value, a bag of bullets and some small
shot, and a keg of powder, besides another rifle and an axe; while
farther on, he said that there were several other smaller articles along
the road the wagon had gone. It was close to the cask of flour he had
encountered Bruin, who had undoubtedly been attracted to the spot with
the hope of appropriating it. One prize Obed brought in his mouth; it
was a tin saucepan, and very valuable we found it. Our difficulty was
now to collect all these things. Obed offered to try and drag them
together to one spot, if he could but manage to hook himself on to them.
That day we could do nothing; so that after he had collected a large
supply of firewood, we placed our backs to a tree and commended
ourselves to the care of that great God who had so mercifully preserved
our lives. We agreed that one should watch while the other slept, and
most faithfully did we keep our pledge to each other. Several days
passed without any great variation in our mode of proceeding. We cut
the bear up into thin slices, and dried them in the sun. Obed also went
round about the wood and drove in the wild turkeys, racoons, squirrels,
and other small game, which I shot. We were thus supplied with meat.
There were also plenty of herbs, the nature of which both he and I knew,
and which, though not of delicate flavour, were wholesome, and helped to
keep us in health. The weather also was very fine, and thus several
days passed away. At last I bethought me that if I could make a pair of
crutches, I might, with Obed's help, get over the ground. Two young
saplings, towards which I dragged myself, were soon cut down, and in a
couple of days I was once more upright. I could only at first move very
slowly, and with great dread of falling; but by constant practice, in
the course of a week I thought I might venture out of the wood. Obed's
arms were also gaining strength, and one of them he could already use a
little, and was thus enabled to help me. I slung the rifles over his
back, and, sticking the revolvers in my belt, off we set together. We
moved slowly, but still we went ahead. At last we reached