174 WAKE-ROBIN 
any reference to the circuitous route by which I had 
come, and loading heavily and firing at intervals. 
I must have aroused many long-dormant echoes 
from a Rip Van Winkle sleep. As my powder got 
low, I fired and halloed alternately, till I came near 
splitting both my throat and gun. Finally, after I 
had begun to have a very ugly feeling of alarm and 
disappointment, and to cast about vaguely for some 
course to pursue in the emergency that seemed near 
at hand, —namely, the loss of my companions now 
I had found the lake, —a favoring breeze brought 
me the last echo of a response. I rejoined with 
spirit, and hastened with all speed in the direction 
whence the sound had come, but, after repeated 
trials, failed to elicit another answering sound. 
This filled me with apprehension again. I feared 
that my friends had been misled by the reverbera- 
tions, and I pictured them to myself hastening in 
the opposite direction. Paying little attention to 
my course, but paying dearly for my carelessness 
afterward, I rushed forward to undeceive them. 
But they had not been deceived, and in a few 
moments an answering shout revealed them near at 
hand. I heard their tramp, the bushes parted, and 
we three met again. 
In answer to their eager inquiries, I assured them 
that I had seen the lake, that it was at the foot of 
the mountain, and that we could not miss it if we 
kept straight down from where we then were. 
My clothes were soaked with perspiration, but I 
shouldered my knapsack with alacrity, and we began 
