THE THAW. 125 



ming. Whilst we were thus pursuing his tracks amongst 

 the ice and broken water, I, for my part, expected every 

 moment to find him imprisoned in some hole or other, or 

 that the stream had carried him bodily under the overhanging 

 ice, and that consequently he had perished.* But nothing 

 of the kind; for it presently appeared that, after enjoying 

 his bath, which had no doubt greatly tended to invigorate 

 and refresh him, and that he had nearly reached the smooth 

 water above the rapids, he had diverged to the left from the 

 river, and again betaken himself to the forest. 



This night we also passed in the open air; and as our 

 fire burnt bright, and the cold was not great, we had no 

 reason to complain of our quarters. 



Hitherto the weather had been fine and frosty ; and had 

 this favourable state of things continued, there was every 

 prospect of our being enabled on the morrow, to give a 

 good account of the elk, which was evidently greatly wearied 

 and exhausted. To our extreme annoyance, however, we 

 found, on awakening at daybreak, that a rapid thaw had 

 set in, that in every way told against us ; for there was 

 no longer, as heretofore, a crust on the surface of the snow, 

 which, whilst it greatly facilitated the movements of ourselves 

 and the dogs, retarded, in the same proportion, those of the 

 deer ; and we therefore considered the chances of success as ten 

 to one against us. But remembering the old Swedish proverb, 

 " Tdlamod ofvervinner surkdl" literally, patience overcomes 

 sourcrout we determined to persevere ; and after enjoying a 

 cup of strong coffee (the greatest of all luxuries when one is 



* Two winters ago an elk, under similar circumstances, betook himself to 

 ' these very rapids ; but the stream earned him under the ice, and he was 

 consequently lost to the hunter. 



