BIRCH BROWSINGS. 199 



an absence of nearly two hours, hungry, fatigued, and 

 disheartened, I would have sold my interest in Thom- 

 as's Lake at a very low figure. For the first time, I 

 heartily wished myself well out of the woods. Thomas 

 might keep his lake, and the enchanters guard his 

 possession ! I doubted if he had ever found it the sec- 

 ond time, or if any one else ever had. 



My companions who were quite fresh, and who 

 had not felt the strain of baffled purpose as I had, 

 assumed a more encouraging tone. After I had 

 rested a while, and partaken sparingly of the bread 

 and whiskey, which in such an emergency is a great 

 improvement on bread and water, I agreed to their 

 proposition that we should make another attempt. 

 As if to reassure us, a . robin sounded his cheery call 

 near by, and the winter-wren, the first I had heard 

 in these woods, set his music-box going, which fairly 

 ran over with fine, gushing, lyrical sounds. There 

 can be no doubt but this bird is one of our finest 

 songsters. If it would only thrive and sing well 

 when caged, like the canary, how far it would sur- 

 pass that bird ! It has all the vivacity and versatil- 

 ity of the canary, without any of its shrillness. Its 

 ong is indeed a little cascade of melody. 



"We again retraced our steps, rolling the stone, as 

 k were, back up the mountain, determined to commit 

 ourselves to the line of marked trees. These we 

 Inally reached, and, after exploring the country to 

 the right, saw that bearing to the left was still the 

 srder. The trail led up over a gentle rise of ground, 



