﻿THE LOST CHILD. 63 



faausted, but early the next morning the search was renewed; and 

 almost every male, together with some of the hardy females of the 

 settlement, engaged in it. They div ded themselves into companies 

 of three or four, and searched the forest for many miles, leaving no 

 bush unexamined which was large enough to hide her. 



They shouted her name at every step ; but no reply greeted their 

 ears. They searched until the approaching darkness warned them 

 to return to their homes, but without success. Mr. and Mrs. Hud- 

 son obtained no sleep that night, for they feared that Anna was 

 already dead, and they were firmly convinced that if she was still 

 alive, she could not long survive, unless she was speedily rescued 

 from her perilous situation. Their hearts were racked with anxiety, 

 and they felt that the suspense in which they were kept was more 

 dreadful than the news of her death would have been. But was 

 their child still alive ? They surmised and doubted as to her fate, 

 until they were wearied, but to no purpose ; and they felt that their 

 burden was indeed greater than they could bear. Their child, the 

 centre of all their hopes, the source of their dearest joys, and the 

 dearest object of their affections, their only child, her for whom they 

 had labored so long, whom they had watched over in infancy and 

 childhood, in sickness and health, was lost ! and had perhaps fallen 

 a prey to some wild beast ! 



With such thoughts and conjectures as these, they occupied the 

 long hours of night, and at the first approach of dawn they arose, 

 and ate their morning meal, for they wished to lose no time, as every 

 moment was now precious. 



During that day all the people of the settlement, both male and 

 female, who were able to render any assistance, were engaged in 

 searching the forests, but without success, for they supposed it im- 

 possible for her to wander as far as she really had. All this time 

 Carlo had manifested great grief at the absence of his young mis- 

 tress, and was constantly whining and running from place to place, 

 that he might discover her. The afternoon of the third day he went 

 a great distance into the forest, and very singularly discovered her 

 sitting on the stem of the tree of which we have spoken, almost 

 worn out with hunger and fatigue. The sufferings she had endured 

 on account of her want of food, (for this day she had been so un- 



