h nothing within the compass of a day's
march can by any possibility overcome. They found also, from
experience, that their conversation changed, both in manner and subject,
as they progressed on their journey. At first they conversed frequently
and on various topics, chiefly on the probability of their being sent to
pleasant places or the reverse. Then they spoke less frequently, and
growled occasionally, as they advanced in the painful process of
training. After that, as they began to get hardy, they talked of the
trees, the snow, the ice, the tracks of wild animals they happened to
cross, and the objects of nature generally that came under their
observation. Then as their muscles hardened and their sinews grew
tough, and the day's march at length became first a matter of
indifference, and ultimately an absolute pleasure, they chatted cheerily
on any and every subject, or sang occasionally, when the sun shone out
and cast an _appearance_ of warmth across their path. Thus onward they
pressed, without halt or stay, day after day, through wood and brake,
over river and lake, on ice and on snow, for miles and miles together,
through the great, uninhabited, frozen wilderness.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

HOPES AND FEARS--AN UNEXPECTED MEETING--PHILOSOPHICAL TALK BETWEEN THE
HUNTER AND THE PARSON.

On arriving at Norway House, Harry Somerville and his friend Hamilton
found that they were to remain at that establishment during an
indefinite period of time, until it should please those in whose hands
their ultimate destination lay to direct them how and where to proceed.
This was an unlooked-for trial of their patience; but after the first
exclamation of disappointment, they made up their minds, like wise men,
to think no more about it, but bide their time, and make the most of
present circumstances.

"You see," remarked Hamilton, as the two friends, after having had an
audience of the gentleman in charge of the establishment, sauntered
toward the rocks that overhang the margin of Playgreen Lake--"you see,
it is of no use to fret about what we cannot possibly help. Nobody
within three hundred miles of us knows where we are destined to spend
next winter. Perhaps orders may come in a couple of weeks, perhaps in a
couple of months, but they will certainly come at last. Anyhow, it is
of no use thinking about it, so we had better forget it, and make the
best of things as we find them."

"Ah!" exclaimed Harry, "your ad