and his desire to get back to his home. The father
and sons conferred together upon the subject. They were moved with
sympathy for the boy, and, after due deliberation, told him that they
should stop for the night about seven miles from that place, and should
set out again on their journey with the earliest light of the morning;
and that if he could get to them before daylight, he might follow their
wagons.

It was Sunday morning, and it so happened that the Dutchman and the
family had gone away on a visit. David collected his clothes and the
little money he had, and hid them in a bundle under his bed. A very
small bundle held them all. The family returned, and, suspecting
nothing, all retired to sleep.

David had naturally a very affectionate heart. He never had been from
home before. His lonely situation roused all the slumbering emotions of
his childhood. In describing this event, he writes:

"I went to bed early that night, but sleep seemed to be a stranger to
me. For though I was a wild boy, yet I dearly loved my father and
mother; and their images appeared to be so deeply fixed in my mind that
I could not sleep for thinking of them. And then the fear that when I
should attempt to go out I should be discovered and called to a halt,
filled me with anxiety."

A little after midnight, when the family were in profoundest sleep,
David cautiously rose, and taking his little bundle, crept out doors.
To his disappointment he found that it was snowing fast, eight inches
having already fallen; and the wintry gale moaned dismally through the
treetops. It was a dark, moonless night. The cabin was in the fields,
half a mile from the road along which the wagons had passed. This boy
of twelve years, alone in the darkness, was to breast the gale and wade
through the snow, amid forest glooms, a distance of seven miles, before
he could reach the appointed rendezvous.

For a moment his heart sank within him. Then recovering his resolution,
he pushed out boldly into the storm. For three hours he toiled along,
the snow rapidly increasing in depth until it reached up to his knees.
Just before the dawn of the morning he reached the wagons. The men were
up, harnessing their teams. The Dunns were astounded at the appearance
of the little boy amid the darkness and the tempest. They took him into
the house, warmed him by the fire, and gave him a good breakfast,
speaking to him words of sympathy and encouragement. The affectionate
hear