nearer to their father's home than they had been
the day previous.

"If we could but find our way back to the 'Cold Creek,' we might, by
following its course, return to Cold Springs," said Hector.

"I doubt much the fact of the 'Cold Creek' having any connexion with our
Spring," said Louis; "I think it has its rise in the 'Beaver-meadow,'
and following its course would only entangle us among those wolfish
balsam and cedar swamps, or lead us yet further astray into the thick
recesses of the pine forest. For my part, I believe we are already fifty
miles from Cold Springs."

It is one of the bewildering mistakes that all persons who lose their
way in the pathless woods fall into, they have no idea of distance, or
the points of the compass, unless they can see the sun rise and set,
which is not possible to do when surrounded by the dense growth of
forest-trees; they rather measure distance by the time they have been
wandering, than by any other token.

The children knew that they had been a long time absent from home,
wandering hither and thither, and they fancied their journey had been as
long as it had been weary. They had indeed the comfort of seeing the sun
in his course from east to west, but they knew not in what direction the
home they had lost lay; it was this that troubled them in their choice
of the course they should take each day, and at last determined them to
lose no more time so fruitlessly, where the peril was so great, but seek
for some pleasant spot where they might pass their time in safety, and
provide for their present and future wants.

"The world was all before them, where to choose
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide."

Catharine declared her ancle was so much stronger than it had been since
the accident, and her health so much amended, that the day after the
conversation just recorded, the little party bade farewell to the valley
of the "big stone," and ascending the steep sides of the hills, bent
their steps eastward, keeping the lake to their left hand; Hector led
the way, loaded with their household utensils, which consisted only of
the axe, which he would trust to no one but himself, the tin-pot, and
the birch-basket. Louis had his cousin to assist up the steep banks,
likewise some fish to carry, which had been caught early in the morning.

The wanderers thought at first to explore the ground near the lake
shore, but soon abandoned this resolution, on finding the under-gro