THIRTY YEARS A HUNTER. 159 



deed, we had already sold him in imagination, and 

 each was counting on his share of the thousand 

 dollars it might bring, while the lowest figure was 

 not less than three hundred dollars. "We arose m 

 the morning in high spirits, took a hasty breakfast, 

 and by daylight were on the track. About eight 

 o'clock the snow began to fall very rapidly, and soon 

 obliterated every vestige of the trail. But the icy 

 sheet did not lie colder upon the earth than it did 

 upon our hopes. We followed on in the best way 

 we could until noon, when it was impossible to pro- 

 ceed farther, and we encamped. By night the wea- 

 ther cleared up, and the cold became intense. The 

 following night was the coldest one we experienced 

 that winter. The next day we decided to return 

 home. We proceeded to the Kenzua, which we 

 descended on the ice to the Kittaning road about 

 three miles from the Corners, and then went to our 

 first camp, where we staid that night. We there 

 struck a balance of the profit and loss of the expe- 

 dition. The wages of the men amounted to thirty 

 dollars; provision for ourselves and provender for 

 the horse fifteen dollars; a dog had been lost which 

 had cost ten dollars ; making the total expense fifty- 

 five dollars, besides our time. Of the four partners 

 to the expedition, two were out a month, and the 

 other two five weeks, making in all one hundred and 

 twenty-six days. The receipts were forty sable-skins 

 and fifteen deer-skins at seventy-five cents each ; the 

 panther's head brought a bounty of 6ix dollars, in 

 all forty-seven dollars and forty-five cents; which, 



