fter him, waking such a clamour
of jays and crows and woodpeckers, that Arthur was quite provoked with
them, they seemed exulting over his failure. Pushing aside the dried
timber which had caused this mischance, he pressed on the track of
the deer impetuously. He could not believe that his shot had missed
altogether, though the white tail had been erected so defiantly; which
'showing of the white feather,' as the Canadian sportsman calls it, is a
sign that the animal is unwounded.

But four feet had much the advantage of two in the chase. One other
glimpse of the flying deer, as he came out on the brow of a ridge, was
all that Arthur was favoured with. Some partridge got up, and this time
he was more successful; he picked up a bird, and turned homewards.

Homewards! After walking a hundred yards or so he paused. Had he indeed
gone back on his own track? for he had never seen this clump of pines
before. He could not have passed it previously without notice of its
sombre shade and massive boles. He would return a little distance, and
look for the path his passage must have made in brushing through the
thickets.

Brought to a stand again. This time by a small creek gurgling deeply
beneath matted shrubs. He had gone wrong--must have diverged from his
old course. More carefully than before, he retraced his way to the
pine-clump, guided by the unmistakeable black plumage of the tree-tops.
There he stood to think what he should do.

The sky was quite obscured: it had been so all the morning. No guidance
was to be hoped for from the position of the sun. He had heard something
of the moss on the trees growing chiefly at the north side; but on
examination these pines seemed equally mossed everywhere. What nonsense!
surely he must be close to his own path. He would walk in every
direction till he crossed the track.

Boldly striking out again, and looking closely for footmarks on the soft
ground, he went along some distance; here and there turned out of his
straight course by a thicket too dense for penetration, till before him
rose pine-tops again. Could it be? The same pines he had left!

He covered his eyes in bewilderment. Having stood on the spot for
several minutes previously, he could not be mistaken. Yet he thought he
could have been sure that he was proceeding in a direction diametrically
opposite for the last quarter of an hour, while he must have been going
round in a circle. Now, indeed, he felt that he was lost i