Sudden and unaccountable Reunion of the two wandering Bands.—A tremendous Circle described by Somebody.—Where are we going? Scott’s Bay, or Hall’s Harbor.—Descent into the Plain.—Twinkling Lights.—Sudden Sound of Sea Surf breaking in the Middle of a Prairie.

AND now every moment it grew darker and darker. It was about eight o’clock. The sun had gone down, the shadows of night were gathering, and the fog seemed thicker than ever. As they walked on they could see but a few paces before them.

They supposed themselves to be going in the direction of the house where the wagons were left; but, after all, they were not quite sure of the way. It might be some other road altogether. They had been over the Scott’s Bay road once or twice before, but it would not have been familiar even by daylight, while in such gloom as this, no road, however familiar, could be recognized. As they went they peered anxiously through the gloom, in hopes of seeing cultivated fields, or houses. But nothing of the kind appeared to their anxious eyes. They also looked forward with straining eyes, and listened with the closest attention, in hopes of meeting with some people who might make them acquainted with their actual position. But nothing could be either seen or heard in front, and so they had nothing else to do than to walk on as quickly as their wearied limbs would allow.

At length they heard the sound of voices ahead, and footsteps, which seemed to approach them. They stood and waited. Soon a number of figures appeared, rendered gigantic by the mist and darkness. The boys hurried towards them, and Bruce at once addressed the foremost figure.

The foremost figure at the same instant addressed Bruce.

And both asked exactly the same question, or rather part of what would evidently have been the same question if it had been finished.

It was,—

Bruce. “Will you be kind enough to tell me—”

Foremost Figure. “Will you have the goodness to tell me—”

Here the questions broke off abruptly.

And turned to,—

Bruce. “Hallo!”

Foremost Figure. “Why! What’s this!”

Bruce. “Dr. Porter!!!”

Foremost Figure. “Bruce Rawdon!!!”

For a few moments both parties were overwhelmed with utter bewilderment and a total prostration of all their faculties. This amazing and incomprehensible reunion of those who had parted five hours ago in the wild woods, by the lofty precipice and the thundering surf, going in exactly opposite directions, yet coming together in darkness and fog, was a thing which might well reduce them to complete stupefaction.

Then there arose a general uproar of questions, each party asking the other where they had been, and where they supposed themselves to be now, and where they thought they were going.

“This is a most incomprehensible thing!” said the doctor.

“How long have you been on the road, sir?”

“Not over a quarter of an hour.”

“Have you been in the woods all the time?”

“Yes, walking steadily in this direction.”

“And could you manage to keep a straight course?”

“O, yes.”

“You didn’t walk along the cliff—did you, sir?”

“O, no.”

“I don’t see how you managed to go on straight when you were in the woods.”

“O, I managed by my eye,” said the doctor, calmly. “I also tried to correct that tendency to swerve to the right that you spoke of, and I think I succeeded. You see, I found I was very much farther away from Hall’s Harbor than I supposed. In fact, your conjecture must have been right, and we were nearer Scott’s Bay by a great deal than we were to Hall’s Harbor. We had swerved very much to the right. As I went on I became convinced of this, and tried constantly and most carefully to guard against it. I succeeded therefore in going almost in a perfectly straight line. But our march was a very fatiguing one, I must confess. It grew dark, too, and we were just on the point of giving up, when we came to a pasture field, and then found the road. We didn’t see any houses near, and couldn’t find how far away any house might be. At first I thought of going to Hall’s Harbor, but finally I concluded to turn to the left, and go on towards Cornwallis. But you, how did you happen to lose your course so completely? Why, you’ve made a complete circle. You must have been turning to the right ever since you left. You’ve got into the Hall’s Harbor road, and are now walking straight towards Hall’s Harbor. What a most extraordinary and most absurd situation! I wouldn’t have believed this to be possible, had it not been first for my own mistake to-day, and now for this one of yours. But it seems to me, Bruce, that your circle has been more complete than mine was. What a tremendous march you must have made!”

Bruce for a few minutes said nothing. The doctor’s quiet way of informing him about his situation bewildered him more than the first discovery had done. A “tremendous” circuit it must indeed have been. How had they managed to go so fast, and reach the road before the doctor’s party? It must have been that chase after Pat which put them astray. After that they had lost all idea of their way, and had wandered on blindly, not knowing where they were going, and for that matter not caring very much, either.

“But are you sure that this is the Hall’s Harbor road?” he asked at length.

“Why, yes—of course it is. It ought to be—we’ve come far enough to get to it. What did you think it was?”

“Why, we thought it was the Scott’s Bay road.”

“The Scott’s Bay road!” cried the doctor, and burst into a hearty fit of laughter.

“Well, sir,” said Bruce, “to tell the truth, we got utterly lost. Pat began chasing a porcupine, and we chased Pat, and followed him wherever he went. At last we lost him. So then we didn’t think about reaching the road at all, but only about finding him. We went on in the direction which he seemed to have taken, and so we came to this road. It was the porcupine that led us here.

“The porcupine,” said the doctor; and he appeared so amused at this idea, that Bruce had to tell him the whole story.

“The fact is,” said the doctor, thoughtfully, after hearing this story, “what you ought to have done is this: You ought at all hazards to have followed the line of the cliff. That would have brought you to Scott’s Bay in a little more than an hour. You could then have gone to the house where the horses were left, and by this time you would have been in comfortable quarters, pitying us poor wanderers.”

“Well,” said Bruce, “we tried to keep close by the cliff, but it ran off in such a direction that we left it, and went in what we thought a truer course.”

“Ha, ha!” laughed the doctor. “That is always the way. The cliff was right, but you were wrong. The cliff did not turn away from you, but you turned away from the cliff. It was all that fatal tendency to turn to the right. Now, I was on my guard; but you, who gave me that warning, forgot all about it yourself. But come, it won’t do to stand here all night talking. We are now about half way over the mountain. We ought soon to begin to descend towards Cornwallis. There’s a man who lives on this road that I’m acquainted with,—a Mr. Smalley,—and his house can’t be very far away. We can get something to eat there at least, and accommodations for the night. But I prefer getting wagons and driving over to where we left our own conveyances. However, we can see about that when we get to Smalley’s.”

The whole party now walked on, and the boys mingled with one another, questioning each other about the journey. The doctor’s party had suffered fearfully. They were all foot-sore, and their clothes were badly torn. They had gone through swamps and brushwood, and over stones and fallen trees. They were fearfully fatigued, and were now only sustained by the prospect of soon reaching the end of their journey. All this was a great puzzle to Bruce’s party, who were not nearly so fatigued; and they couldn’t understand how they could have gone so much farther than the doctor’s party without feeling so worn out as their friends were. They attributed this, however, first to the fact that the doctor had gone in one perfectly straight course, regardless of obstacles; and secondly, to the other fact, that their journey had been beguiled by Pat’s adventure with the porcupine, which first afforded them amusement, and afterwards, when he was lost, created such an excitement that they forgot their toils.

After walking some distance farther, the road, to their great delight, began to descend.

“We’re going down to Cornwallis,” said the doctor, joyously. “We’re very much farther on than I supposed. We are evidently far beyond Smalley’s. I see how it is. In my anxiety to avoid swerving to the right, I have fallen, as you said, Bruce, into the opposite extreme, and have actually swerved to the left. That accounts for the immense length of our journey. Well, now that it’s over, I’m glad that it happened so. It brings us all the nearer to our destination. At the foot of the............