t be at its
western extremity. Wherever we were, there we must remain until
daylight; for were we to attempt moving, in the pitchy darkness which
hung around, we might fall off into the water, or lose ourselves in the
forest.

"It cannot be far off daylight, sergeant," I observed.

"I think not," he answered; "but I would advise you to take care not to
drop off to sleep. If you do, you may chance to fall into the water.
It will be as well to caution the lieutenant, or he, being alone, may
forget himself."

Considering the noise of the waves dashing under our feet, the waving of
the trees, and the howling of the wind amid them, I did not think the
caution very necessary; but, notwithstanding, I shouted out to Manley.

"No fear of that," he answered. "It would require a more comfortable
spot for a bivouac, to induce me to take a snooze."

That night appeared to me the longest I can remember. Days appeared to
have passed since we had left the eastern shore, with the bright
sunlight and the calm blue water. Still, day must return. What a
comfort that thought often is! The roar of the waters gradually
decreased, the wind having fallen, and thus, in spite of the sergeant's
warning, my head was beginning to nod, when he cried out--

"Here is daylight at last; I see a tint of red over the snowy tops of
the mountains. We shall have the sun himself sending his warm rays down
upon us before long."

His voice aroused me in a moment Manley answered his hail; and as the
light increased we saw that we were at the farther end of what might be
the main body of the lake, or a branch running off it. It was in
reality the great western arm of the lake, and we had been carried many
miles on our journey, in the exact direction we wished to go.

We had soon light enough to enable us to crawl off the branches to which
we had clung, and make our way down to the ground--if ground it could be
called, for, in reality, in every direction it was covered thickly with
logs in all stages of decay, some only lately fallen, others which could
be knocked to pieces with a kick, while the feet sank at almost every
step in decomposed vegetable matter. Still this was the region through
which, somehow or other, we must make our way.

After an hour's toil we reached a small open space, where the ground was
sufficiently hard to enable us to light a fire and dry our drenched
clothes and blankets. We had also to look to the priming of our rifl