240 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



like a dog in great distress, and dragged her- 

 self along apparently with the greatest diffi- 

 culty. As I pursued her, she ran very nim- 

 bly, and presently flew a few yards. Then 

 as I went on, she flew farther and farther 

 each time, till at last she got up, and went 

 humming through the woods as if she had 

 no interest in them. I went back and caught 

 one of the young, which had simply squatted 

 close to the leaves. I took it up and set it 

 on the palm of my hand, which it hugged as 

 closely as if still upon the ground. I then 

 put it in my coatsleeve, when it ran and nes- 

 tled in my armpit. 



When we met at the sign of the smoke, 

 opinions differed as to the most feasible 

 course. There was no doubt but that we 

 could get out of the woods, but we wished 

 to get out speedily and as near as possible 

 to the point where we had entered. Half 

 ashamed of our timidity and indecision, we 

 finally tramped away back to where we had 

 crossed the line of blazed trees, followed our 

 old trail to the spring on the top of the 

 range, and, after much searching and scour- 

 ing to the right and left, found ourselves at 

 the very place we had left two hours before. 

 Another deliberation and a divided council. 



