day.

What, then, was our surprise to see Turcotte make his appearance on the
fourth day after their departure, to inquire why Robineau had not
returned with aid for poor Sophy! There was but one solution of the
mystery. Robineau had guided them as ill as he had guided the boat at
the Grande Chute the summer before, and, although he could not shipwreck
them, he had undoubtedly lost them in the woods or prairies. One comfort
was, that they could not well starve, for the rice and crackers would
furnish them with several days' provisions, and with Agathe, who must be
accustomed to this kind of life, they could not fail in time of finding
Indians, and being brought back to the Portage.

Still, day after day went on and we received no tidings of them.
Turcotte returned to Sugar Creek with comforts and prescriptions for
Sophy, and Colonel Cutler sent out a party to hunt for the missing ones,
among whom poor Currie, from his delicate constitution, was the object
of our greatest commiseration.

As the snow fell and the winds howled, we could employ ourselves about
nothing but walking from window to window, watching, in hopes of seeing
some one appear in the distance. No Indians were at hand whom we could
dispatch upon the search, and by the tenth day we had almost given up in
despair.

It was then that the joyful news was suddenly brought us, "They are
found! They are at the Fort!" A party of soldiers who had been exploring
had encountered them at Hastings's Woods, twelve miles distant, slowly
and feebly making their way back to the Portage. They knew they were on
the right track, but had hardly strength to pursue it.

Exhausted with cold and hunger, for their provisions had given out two
days before, they had thought seriously of killing the horse and eating
him. Nothing but Currie's inability to proceed on foot, and the dread of
being compelled to leave him in the woods to perish, had deterred them.

Agathe had from the first been convinced that they were on the wrong
track, but Robineau, with his usual obstinacy, persevered in keeping it
until it brought them to the Rock River, when he was obliged to
acknowledge his error, and they commenced retracing their steps.

Agathe, according to the custom of her people, had carried her hatchet
with her, and thus they had always had a fire at night, and boughs to
shelter them from the storms; otherwise they must inevitably have
perished.

There were two circumstances which a