This was a rough track, overgrown with moss and ferns, which was used by the lumbermen in winter. It went up from the lake apparently in the same direction as the brook.
So he walked along this path, forcing his way through alder bushes and tangled ferns, until at last he came to a stop in front of a wide and impassable marsh.
The lumber path in winter ran across this, but now it could not be traversed. So Paul tried to go around it. But after completing about half the circuit, he reached a swampy place which he could not cross.
He now retraced his steps, and at length decided to return to the boat and wait there.
The lumber path could not be very easily found, but at last he turned into a place which looked very much like it, and walked on for some distance. But the way was rough. At length the path ceased altogether. He found himself in the wild wood.
He saw now that he had missed the path, but thought that the best plan would be to keep straight on, and get back to the lake. So he kept on. It was very hard work. The ground was covered with moss, in some places it was spongy, in others it was overgrown with ferns, while every now and then he would have to climb over the trunk of some fallen tree.
In this way he struggled onward for a long time, and wondered why he could not see any signs of the lake. At last he began to grow discouraged. The full conviction forced itself upon him that he had lost his way. He had been wandering; how long a time and how far he did not know.
There were no signs whatever of the lake. What to do he could not tell. He stood still, and looked around. Dense forest trees arose on every side, shutting out the view, and enclosing him with their gloomy shades.
Then he called as loud as he could. There was no answer. He called again and again, and waited for a long time after each cry to hear whether there was any response. But none came.
What to do now was the question. He was not a coward, but any one might well have been alarmed, lost in those vast, trackless forests. Paul was alarmed, of course; but he was a spirited boy, and was not inclined to sit down and give up. After a few minutes he wisely decided that it was necessary to have some plan, and choose some definite direction in which to go.