90 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



we wished the assistance of the camp's crew in taking our teams 

 over next day. Delay was not to be thought of. We therefore 

 started. A squall of snow came up when we were midway 

 across, which completely bewildered us, and we became divided 

 in opinion as to the proper course to steer. Tenacious of my own 

 views, I resolved to pursue the course which appeared to me 

 right, when the others consented to follow. Finally, after several 

 hours of hard travel, we gained the shore, not far from the road 

 which led back to the camp, about half a mile distant in the 

 woods. We were here, again, puzzled to know whether the camp 

 lay at the right or left. Settling that matter by guess, as Yan- 

 kees often do other things, we traveled along by the shore about 

 one fourth of a mile, when, to our great relief, we came to the 

 road, up which we passed, and reached the camp a little after 

 midnight, hungry and fatigued. We found our comrades snugly 

 quartered and soundly sleeping. Refreshing ourselves with hot 

 tea, bread, and beef, we turned in and slept until daylight, when, 

 after breakfast, all hands started to rejoin those left behind. We 

 were with them in a few hours. Poor fellows ! they had had a 

 pretty uncomfortable season, not one moment's sleep during the 

 night, and scantily provided with food, while the oxen fared 

 harder still. We succeeded in getting out of the ice all but one 

 load of hay, which we left behind. Not venturing to cross di- 

 rectly, we now followed round the lake, close in shore, and finally 

 reached our winter quarters in safety, and without further acci- 

 dent. 



The task of taking oxen on to the ground every fall is very 

 considerable, especially when we go far into the interior, as we 

 frequently do nearly two hundred miles. This labor and ex- 

 pense is sometimes obviated by leaving them in the spring to 

 shift for themselves in the wilderness and on the meadows, where 

 they remain until autumn, when they are hunted up. During 

 their wilderness exile they thrive finely, and, when found, ap- 



