But to discover a path in a forest
forty miles wide is a matter of considerable difficulty, and for hours
we wandered on and on, but alas! always in vain.
Faint and hungry, yet we still kept courage. Fortunately we found a
little spring, and all three of us drank eagerly with our hands. But of
food we had nothing, save a small piece of hard rye bread which the Finn
had in his pocket, the remains of his evening meal; and this we gave to
Elma, who, half famished, ate it quickly. We knew quite well that it
would be an easy matter to die of starvation in that great trackless
forest, therefore we kept on undaunted, while the yellow autumn sun
struggled through the dark pines, glinting on the straight gray trunks
and reflecting a golden light in that dead unbroken silence.
How many miles we trudged I have no idea. It was a consolation to know
that we now had no pursuers, yet what fate lay before us we knew not. If
we could only find that forest-road we might come across some
wood-cutter's hut, where we could obtain rough food of some sort, yet
our guide, used as he was to those enormous woods of central Finland,
was utterly out of his bearings, and no mark of civilization attracted
his quick, experienced eye.
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