inspire him with hope or comfort. He was in the
midst of an unknown wilderness, hundreds of miles
from any white man's settlement; surrounded by
savages; without food or blanket; his companions
gone, he knew not whither--perhaps taken and killed
by the Indians; his horse dead; and his dog, the most
trusty and loving of all his friends, lost to him, probably,
for ever! A more veteran heart might have
quailed in the midst of such accumulated evils; but
Dick Varley possessed a strong, young, and buoyant