he trees, the dear children
may have got no harm from exposure. They have not been fasting _very_
long, so--let us to work."

Leif and Biarne both fell in with Karlsefin's humour, and cheered the
spirits of the men by their tone and example, so that when the hurried
meal was finished they felt much refreshed, and ready to begin the work
of another day.

It was past noon before they returned to the ridge and began the renewed
search. Daylight now enabled them to trace the little footsteps with
more certainty, and towards the afternoon they came to the cave where
the children had slept.

"Here have they spent the night," said Leif, with breathless interest,
as he and Karlsefin examined every corner of the place.

"But they are gone," returned the other, "and it behoves us to waste no
time. Go, Biarne, let the men spread out--stay!--Is not this the foot
of a man who wears a shoe somewhat different from ours?"

"'Tis a savage," said Biarne, in a tone of great anxiety.

Karlsefin made no reply, and the party being now concentrated, they
followed eagerly on, finding the prints of the feet quite plain in many
places.

"Unquestionably they have been captured by a savage," said Leif.

"Ay, and he must have taken Snorro on his shoulder, and made poor Olaf
walk alongside," observed Biarne.

Following the trail with the perseverance and certainty of blood-hounds,
they at last came to the deserted encampment on the banks of the
rivulet. That it had been forsaken only a short time before was
apparent from the circumstance of the embers of the fires still smoking.
They examined the place closely and found the little foot-marks of the
children, which were quite distinguishable from those of the native
children by the difference in the form of the shoes. Soon they came to
marks on the bank of the stream which indicated unmistakeably that
canoes had been launched there. And now, for the first time, the
countenances of Leif and Karlsefin fell.

"You think there is no hope?" asked the latter.

"I won't say that," replied Leif; "but we know not what course they have
taken, and we cannot follow them on foot."

"True," observed Karlsefin, in bitter despondency.

"The case is not so bad," observed Heika, stepping forward at this
point. "You know we have a number of canoes captured from the savages;
some of us have become somewhat expert in the management of these. Let
a few of us go back and fetch them hither on our sho