To his infinite joy the morning beamed brightly—­the sun shone out.  With a light heart and renewed confidence he again shaped his course eastward, following the direction in which his house lay; and there is no doubt, had the day remained clear, he would in a few hours have extricated himself from the dilemma into which he had fallen.  His disappointment was great when he again beheld the sky overcast, and the snow falling thickly around him.  He pushed on, however, bravely, till at length a thick cedar-swamp lay before him.  For some time he travelled along its edge, in the hope of finding a narrow spot to cross, but in this he was disappointed, so he determined to attempt the passage.  He fully believed, once on the other side, he should know the face of the country, from his having so often hunted game, or searched for his cattle in that direction.

For fully an hour he pressed on through a complete thicket of cedar; but it was all random work, for the evergreens were so loaded with snow, that it was quite impossible to go one hundred yards in a straight course.  At last he saw the tops of hard-wood trees before him, which again revived his sinking spirits, for he thought he had crossed the swamp.  Alas, poor fellow! he was mistaken.  He had come out on the very side by which he had entered it, but of this he was not aware at the time.  He, however, wondered that he did not recognize any part of the ground he was travelling over.

At length, to his great joy, he came upon the fresh track of a man, which he had no doubt belonged to some person, who was then out from the settlement, still hunting;* for he knew that Manvers was the most celebrated township for deer in the Newcastle District.  As he observed that the footprints were going in a contrary direction to what he was, this circumstance gave him increased confidence.  Two or three times, however, he thought some of the small swamps and ridges looked vastly like what he had traversed in the early part of the day.  At last, about an hour before dark, he saw a thin wreath of blue smoke in a thicket before him.  Judge of his disappointment and dismay, when, on his nearer approach, he found he had actually followed his own track, which had brought him back to the spot where he had passed the night.  To describe his feelings on this occasion would be difficult and painful.  He thought of his wife and his young children, who were hourly expecting his return, and who had, no doubt, prepared some little treat to welcome the wanderer home. [* Canadian term for deer-stalking.]

Bitter were his reflections during the waking hours of that long night!  Hungry, tired, and unrefreshed, the morning’s light saw him struggling through the snow, but whither he knew not; for though it had ceased snowing, the sky was still overcast, and continued so till the middle of the afternoon, when the wind suddenly veered round to the north-west, attended with intense cold.  He now renewed every effort; for once or twice he thought he heard the sounds of civilized life—­the distant supper-horn or cattle-bell—­but the fierce howling of the wind, which blew half a gale, rendered his hearing indistinct.