230 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



my ears like a burst of ironical laughter. 

 I turned back with a feeling of mingled dis- 

 gust, shame, and vexation. In fact, I was 

 almost sick, and when I reached my com- 

 panions, after an absence of nearly two hours, 

 hungry, fatigued, and disheartened, I would 

 have sold my interest in Thomas's Lake at a 

 very low figure. For the first time, I heart- 

 ily wished myself well out of the woods. 

 Thomas might keep his lake, and the en- 

 chanters guard his possession ! I doubted if 

 he had ever found it the second time, or if 

 any one else ever had. 



My companions, who were quite fresh, and 

 who had not felt the strain of baffled pur- 

 pose as I had, assumed a more encouraging 

 tone. After I had rested a while, and par- 

 taken sparingly of the bread and whiskey, 

 which in such an emergency is a great im- 

 provement on bread and water, I agreed to 

 their proposition that we should make an- 

 other attempt. As if to reassure us, a robin 

 sounded his cheery call near by, and the 

 winter-wren, the first I had heard in these 

 woods, set his music-box going, which fairly 

 ran over with fine, gushing, lyrical sounds. 

 There can be no doubt but this bird is one 

 of our finest songsters. If it would only 



