They
promised to mind all her directions, and went off quite proud of
the task, carrying the basket between them.
"How they came to ramble away into the woods, the younger child
is too much stupified to tell; and perhaps he is too young to
remember. At night the father returned, and scolded the wife for
not sending his dinner as usual; but the poor woman (who all day
had quieted her fears with the belief that the children had stayed
with their father), instead of paying any regard to his angry
words, demanded, in a tone of agony, what had become of her
children?
"Tired and hungry as Clark was, in a moment he comprehended their
danger, and started off in pursuit of the boys. The shrieks of the
distracted woman soon called the neighbours together, who instantly
joined in the search.
"It was not until this afternoon that any trace could be obtained
of the lost children, when Brian, the hunter, found the youngest
boy, Johnnie, lying fast asleep upon the trunk of a fallen tree,
fifteen miles back in the bush."
"And the other boy?"
"Will never, I fear, be heard of again," said she. "They have
searched for him in all directions and have not discovered him. The
story little Johnnie tells is to this effect. During the first two
days of their absence, the food they had brought in the basket for
their father's dinner, sustained life; but to-day it seems that the
little Johnnie grew very hungry, and cried continually for bread.
William, the elder boy, he says, promised him bread if he would try
and walk further; but his feet were bleeding and sore, and he could
not stir another step. William told him to sit down upon the log on
which he was found, and not stir from the place until he came back,
and he would run on until he found a house and brought him
something to eat. He then wiped his eyes, and bade him not to be
frightened or to cry, and kissed him and went away.
"This is all the little fellow knows about his brother; and it is
very probable the generous-hearted boy has been eaten by the
wolves. The Indians traced him for more than a mile along the banks
of a stream, when they lost his trail altogether. If he had fallen
into the water, they would have discovered his body, but they say
that he has been dragged into some hole in the bank among the
tangled cedars and devoured.
"Since I have been in the country," continued Mrs. H - -, "I have
known many cases of children, and even of grown persons, being lost
in the woods, who were never heard of again. It is a frightful
calamity to happen to any one, and mothers cannot be too careful
in guarding their children against rambling alone into the bush.
Persons, when once they lose sight of the beaten track, get
frightened and bewildered and lose all presence of mind; and
instead of remaining where they are, which is their only chance
of being discovered, they plunge desperately on, running hither
and thither, in the hope of getting out, while they only involve
themselves more deeply among the mazes of the interminable forest.
"Two winters ago, the daughter of a settler in the remote township
of Dummer, where my husband took up his grant of wild land, went
with her father to the mill, which was four miles from their log
shanty and the road lay entirely through the bush. For a while the
girl, who was about twelve years of age, kept up with her father,
who walked briskly ahead with his bag of corn on his back, for, as
their path lay through a tangled swamp, he was anxious to get home
before night. After a time Sarah grew tired, and lagged a long way
behind. The man felt not the least apprehensive when he lost sight
of her, expecting that she would soon come up with him again.
Once or twice he stopped and shouted, and she answered, 'Coming,
father;' and he did not turn to look after her again. He reached the
mill - saw the grist ground, resumed his burthen and took the road
home, expecting to meet Sarah by the way. He trod the path alone,
but still thought that the girl, tired of the long walk, had turned
back, and that he should find her safe at home.
"You may imagine, Mrs. M - -, his consternation and that of the
family, when they found that the girl was lost.
"It was now dark, and all search for her was given up for the night
as hopeless. By day-break the next morning, the whole settlement,
which was then confined to a few lonely log tenements inhabited
by Cornish miners, were roused from their sleep to assist in the
search.
"The men turned out with guns and arms, and parties started in
different directions. Those who first discovered the girl were to
fire their guns, which was to be the signal to guide the rest to
the spot. It was not long before they found the object of their
search seated under a tree, about half a mile from the path she had
lost on the preceding day.
"She had been tempted by the beauty of some wild berries to leave
the road, and when once in the bush she grew bewildered and could
not find her way back. At first she ran to and fro in an agony of
terror at finding herself in the woods all alone, and uttered loud
and frantic cries, but her father had by this time reached the mill
and was out of hearing.
