e as directly as we could
by them.

While Uncle Stephen drove, Uncle Mark and I, with Mike and Quambo,
marched on either side, our faithful dogs following at our heels. We
kept a look-out in every direction, lest we should chance to be observed
by a band of Indians, who, seeing a small party, might pounce down upon
us; still, we were all accustomed to look on the bright side of things,
and though we were aware of the possible danger, we were not
unnecessarily alarmed. Our chief anxiety arose from a fear of not
finding water for our thirsty beasts. They might hold out during the
cool hours of night; but should they not be supplied with the necessary
fluid, they must in a short time succumb, and dreadful indeed would be
the consequences to ourselves.

When I occasionally went up to the waggon, I found Aunt Hannah and Lily
awake. They kept up their spirits very well, and naturally inquired
whether we had as yet discovered the track of those who had gone before.

"Not yet," I answered in as cheerful a voice as I could command; "but we
soon shall, I dare say; and, at all events, we are going in the right
direction. The stars are shining brightly, and by them Uncle Stephen
can guide the waggon as well as if we had the train of our friends in
view. But we shall soon be up with them, I hope, and find them all
comfortably encamped."

"I trust that we may," said Aunt Hannah, "if not, we shall find water, I
suppose, in a few hours, and we shall certainly overtake them
to-morrow."

This showed what was passing in her mind. She had begun to suspect--
what really was the case--that we had widely deviated from our course.
One thing was very certain,--that it would be destruction to stop; so,
although our oxen were beginning to show signs of fatigue, and we felt
our own legs aching, we continued to move forward.

At length, about a couple of hours before dawn, we arrived at the edge
of a ravine, the sides of which, though not precipitous, appeared to be
_very_ steep, and down which it would have been madness to attempt
taking the waggon in the dark. We must either stop, or try to find a
passage across to the north or south. We had observed that the valleys
already passed by us were shallower to the southward; we therefore
turned our waggon in that direction, hoping shortly to discover a
practicable path, though we suspected that it would lead us even further
from the track of our friends.

We went on and on, fancying