night's lodging; he tried to gather up the brands of the
evening's fire, which had sunk hours before into grey ashes, that he
might at least warm himself before proceeding farther. Simultaneously
with its kindling appeared the sun--oh, welcome sight! and shot a golden
arrow aslant a line of trees. Then was revealed to Arthur the mossy
secret of wood-craft, that the north side bears a covering withheld from
the south; for he perceived that, viewed in the aggregate, the partial
greenery on the various barks was very distinct. Examining individual
trunks would not show this; but looking at a mass, the fact was evident.

Now he knew the points of the compass; but of what practical avail was
his knowledge? Whether he had wandered from the shanty to the north,
south, east, or west, was only conjecture. How could that creek have
led him astray? He must have crossed the rising ground separating two
watersheds--that sloping towards his own lake and towards some other.
There flowed the little stream noiselessly, sucked into the swampy
cypress grove: of course it got out somewhere at the other side; but as
to following it any farther into the dismal tangled recesses, with only
a chance of emergence in a right direction, he felt disinclined to try.

No breakfast for him but a drink of water; though with carnivorous eyes
he saw the pretty speckled trout glide through the brown pool where he
dipped his hand; and he crossed the creek over a fallen tree, ascending
to the eastward. He could not be insensible to the beauty of nature
this morning--to the majesty of the mighty forest, standing in still
solemnity over the face of the earth. Magnificent repose! The world
seemed not yet wakened; the air was motionless as crystal; the infinitely
coloured foliage clung to maples and aspens--tattered relics of the
royal raiment of summer. The olden awe overshadowed Arthur's heart; his
Creator's presence permeated these sublime works of Deity. Alone in the
untrodden woods, his soul recognised its God; and a certain degree of
freedom from anxiety was the result. Personal effort was not his sole
dependence, since he had felt that God was present, and powerful.

Still he kept on to the south-east, hoping at last to strike some of the
inhabited townships; and the unvarying solidity of forest was well-nigh
disheartening him, when he saw, after several miles' walking, the
distinctly defined imprint of a man's foot on some clayey soil near a
clump of c