before it. We were too
hungry to wait until the morning.

"Sure, the bear was sent to us to be aten," observed Mike; "and suppose
we get nothing else till we reach home, it will serve to keep us alive
till then."

Having satisfied the cravings of hunger, we cooked some more slices of
the best portions of the meat, to serve for our breakfast before
starting; and the remainder we cut into thin strips to smoke over the
fire, and afterwards to dry in the sun. As both we and our steeds were
tired, we agreed not to start till a later hour than usual. There was a
risk in remaining, but still it was better to run it, rather than knock
up our horses or ourselves.

Mike faithfully kept watch, and the sun was already high in the sky when
I awoke. We hung up the strips of bear's flesh, to give them a drying
before we packed them to carry with us. We also did up a portion of the
fresh meat, which would, we calculated, last us for some time. Then,
having taken a late breakfast, we mounted our horses and continued our
journey.

It would take too much time, were I to describe the events of the next
few days. After continuing on for the time we supposed it would occupy
us in reaching home, we were still unable to recognise any of the
features of the country. Mike, however, remarked that as forests and
hills and rivers were all much alike, it was no wonder that we could not
make out where we were. I proposed directing our course eastward, as we
should thus certainly come to some of the settlements. Mike thought
that we had not got sufficiently far to the north, and advised that we
should continue on in that direction. I gave in to him.

Our horses had hitherto held out well, but suddenly Mike's began to
stagger, and, almost before he could throw himself from its back, down
the poor animal fell. What had been the cause of the horse's death we
had not knowledge sufficient to ascertain; only one thing was certain,--
that it was dead, and that we must take it by turns to ride, and thus
get on at a much slower pace. There was no use stopping to mourn our
loss, so, having taken off the saddle and bridle, we did them up in a
package, and placed them on the back of my steed. We did this lest the
dead horse should be recognised as having belonged to the Indians, and
some of their friends might discover it and pursue us.

We had, shortly afterwards, a river to cross. True, we might have made
a raft, but as we were both good s