We were for a time extremely dispirited, until the gentleman who had joined us at Hudson came forward (still in his ball dress) and endeavoured to encourage us, saying that if we would but trust to his guidance he doubted not that he should be able to conduct us safely and speedily to a more comfortable habitation. This raised our hopes, and we followed him cheerfully, though the day was now at its close and the forest seemed thicker and darker than before. When the last light had disappeared, and we found ourselves in the deepest gloom, our guide confessed that he had encouraged us to keep us from despair, and as to any knowledge of the road, he had never been there before in his life.

One would give much to have seen this cheerful "gentleman from Hudson" at that moment: He . . . dismounted, tied his horse behind our chair, and taking the bridle of our own began, to lead him on, groping his way as well as he was able, stepping into one mud hole after another, without regard to his silk stockings, sometimes up to his beauish knee buckles. At length one of the gentlemen declared that a sound which we had heard for some time at a distance could not be the howl of a wolf, but must be the barking of a wolf dog, and indicated that the habitation of his master was not very far off, proposing at the same time to go in search of