and my strength declining; and passed the night sometimes sitting,
sometimes standing, sometimes moving about;--but sitting, standing, or
moving about, subjected to the same tortures.

I endeavoured during the night to compose my mind as much as possible;
some happy thought might perchance suggest itself, which might lead to
my deliverance. Nor were my efforts without some success: I called to
mind the position of the post with respect to the rising and setting
sun; another circumstance of importance also recurred to me.

A Canadian hunter, who received his supplies at my post, had told me
that such Indians as did not wish to pay their debts at the post,
frequently passed unperceived by a chain of small lakes that ran
parallel to the river, and extended from Lac de Sable to somewhere
near the rapid, whence I had taken my departure. I recollected, too,
his having mentioned that some Indian families occasionally made sugar
on the borders of these lakes, and that a good path lay from their
camp to the post. Having passed the night in a deep valley, the sun
did not appear until late in the morning, when I shaped my course,
to the best of my judgment, for the post. Two or three hours' walk
brought me to the foot of a high hill, nearly destitute of wood on one
side; and expecting that some discovery might be made from the top
which might be of use to me, I resolved on attempting the ascent--an
undertaking of no small difficulty in my enfeebled state. I succeeded
in gaining the top, and to my unspeakable joy, perceived a chain of
lakes within about two miles of me, exactly corresponding to the
description given me by the Canadian hunter. I also heard the reports
of guns, but so indistinctly that I could not determine the direction
the report came from. Noting with the utmost care the course that
would lead me to the lakes, I descended the steep declivity with a