LAST NIGHT IN CAMP. 261 



chewan, they hid their two canoes in case they might 

 be required on a future occasion. A description of 

 their exact position was given us, and we had per- 

 mission to appropriate them if we should succeed in 

 finding them. This we hoped to do, as they would 

 prove of the greatest utility, and save us much time, 

 fatigue, and exposure. 



Our last night at this ever -to -be -remembered 

 agreeable camp was pleasantly passed, and all ap- 

 peared to look with regret to the coming day which 

 was to break up a little coterie that in all pro- 

 bability should never again be reunited. The 

 camp-fire was supplied with additional fuel, and 

 the blazes leaped aloft in savage glee, causing the 

 giant trunks of the trees to appear in their recesses 

 like sombre-robed mourners grieving at the prospect 

 of our approaching departure. 



But the night waned ; one after another, each 

 fell asleep where he had sat, the earth his bed, 

 and the fretted sky his canopy ; oblivion both of 

 the present and of the past embraced all. 



Next morning I caressed the soft muzzles of my 

 mule and mare, mentally wishing them God speed, 

 while I told their new owner that my friend or foe 

 he should be in the future according to how he 

 treated them. 



Anxious to get on as rapidly as possible, we 

 were en route before the sun came forth. The 

 weather was so changeable that it baffled all my 

 calculations ; as often as I came to the conclusion 



