to pay his family a
visit, was passing in his sleigh at the moment. "I hoped that the snow
would remain long enough to enable me to get up to you, for your road
scarcely allows of a wheeled conveyance," he observed, as they drove
rapidly back to the settlement, Philip sitting covered up with furs at
the bottom of the sleigh. A warm bed was, however, not a luxury to be
found at the settlement; indeed, Philip assured his friend, that if he
could obtain a change of clothes, he would much rather set off at once
to rescue his brothers. "Not till you are more fit to go than at
present," said Mr Norman. "My friend Job Judson, at the hotel, will
help us; and while you are drying outwardly, and warming inwardly, we
will get a boat or canoe of some sort to shove over across the ice to
bring away the youngsters. They are happy enough in the meantime,
depend on that; I have had many such an adventure in my younger days,
greatly to my enjoyment."

In a few minutes Philip was sitting wrapped up in a sheet and blanket
before the almost red-hot stove of the log-hut, y-clept an hotel, while
Mr Job Judson was administering a stiffer tumbler of rum-and-water than
Philip had ever before tasted, probably, though it appeared to him no
stronger than weak negus. Believing this to be the case he did not
decline a second, the effect of which was to throw him into a glow and
to send him fast asleep. Meantime his clothes, hung up round the stove,
were drying rapidly; and when the landlord at last aroused him to put
them on, he found that they were, as he said, as warm as a toast; indeed
they were, he had reason to suspect, rather overdone. He found Mr
Norman with a large dug-out canoe on runners, with a couple of poles,
one on each side, and two men who had volunteered to accompany him.

"I'd go myself, but I guess I'd rather over-ballast your craft," said
Job Judson, turning round his rotund figure, such as was not often seen
in the bush. Philip thanked him, and agreed that no more persons were
required for the expedition.

Mr Norman insisted on going. "Do not be afraid of my being tired," he
remarked; "I have always lived in so hardy a way that nothing tires me."

Philip was not aware that more than three hours had passed since he
reached the settlement. The fog was still as thick as ever. The two
men dragged on the canoe; Mr Norman pushed astern, and placing a
compass down on the seat before him, observed, "It is necessary to ta