ALONE IN THE FOREST. 165 



" I pushed on for the first hour as fast as I was able 

 to walk. I was really tired, and my mind was harassed 

 about leaving the dog behind me. I thought, too, of 

 my sick husband and my boy, so that I did not dare to 

 linger or stop to rest. 



" My mind was so full of anxious thoughts that the 

 way appeared more dreary ; everything was so silent 

 a:id death-like that my own footsteps startled me as they 

 fell upon the fallen leaves ; even the cracking of the dry 

 sticks on the path wakened foolish nervous fears. So 

 absorbed was I by these needless terrors that I did not 

 notice at first that I had reached a point where two 

 paths met and branched off in opposite directions, and I 

 became sorely perplexed as to which was the right one 

 to follow. 



" After I had advanced for some time on the one I had 

 chosen, my mind misgave me, and I hastily retraced my 

 steps, not satisfied that I had taken the right path, and, 

 unfortunately, decided upon following the other, which 

 proved to be the wrong one. I hurried on, hoping to 

 make up for the time I had lost by my indecision. 



" The increasing gloom, deepened by a growth of 

 hemlocks and cedars, made me think that I was drawing 

 near to the river and should soon find the bridge and 

 the mill. Still, I could not recognize some of the big 

 pines that I had marked in my walk in the morning. 



" My heart thrilled with terror as I heard the long- 

 drawn howl of what I thought was a wolf in the cedar 

 12 



