The day was gloriously bright and fine, and the delight with which we gazed upon the beautiful landscape before us will be appreciated, if the reader will reflect that we had travelled for more than eleven weeks without cessation, and for the last month had been lost in the forest, starving, over-worked, almost hopeless of escape. Even Mr. O’B., who had resumed the study of Paley with renewed zest, looked up from his book from time to time, and ventured to express a hope that we _might_ escape, after all, and offered his advice upon the course to be pursued in the happier time at hand. CHAPTER XVI. On a Trail again--The Effect on Ourselves and the Horses--The Changed Aspect of the Country--Wild Fruits--Signs of Man Increase--Our Enthusiastic Greeting--Starving Again--Mr. O’B. finds Caliban--His Affectionate Behaviour to Him--The Indians’ Camp--Information about Kamloops--Bartering for Food-- Clearwater River--Cross the Thompson--The Lily-Berries--Mr. O’B. and the Assiniboine Fall Out--Mr. O’B. flees to the Woods-- Accuses the Assiniboine of an Attempt to Murder Him--Trading for Potatoes--More Shushwaps--Coffee and Pipes--Curious Custom of the Tribe--Kamloops in Sight--Ho! for the Fort--Mr. O’B. takes to his Heels--Captain St. Paul--A Good Supper--Doubts as to our Reception--Our Forbidding Appearance--Our Troubles at an End--Rest. The trail was well worn and cleared, and after we reached the little prairie we were able to proceed at a great pace; the horses as inspirited as ourselves by the pleasing change, occasionally broke into a trot, although, from their skeleton-like appearance, we almost expected the shaking would cause them to tumble to pieces. The river again became a rapid, and a dark hill, running east and west, loomed up ahead, as if closing in the valley. But the country around had assumed a Californian aspect--the colour of a lithograph--rolling swells, brown with bunch-grass, and studded with scattered yellow pines. The more sandy hills were covered with small spruce, and there, too, grew quantities of bilberries as large as English grapes, and of delicious flavour. Here and there wild cherry-trees, or thorns loaded with large black haws, supplied us with a grateful though unsatisfying food. We were up before daylight on the 23rd, eager to reach the Fort, and journeyed through as pleasant a country and along as easy a road as the day before, revelling in the broad sunlight. At noon signs of man became more numerous. We found the print of a moccasin in the sand of the river-bank, and saw an old canoe on the opposite shore. Presently we were startled by the rustling of the bushes which closed in the track before us, and, directly after, an Indian appeared, followed by a squaw having a child upon her back. These were the first human beings we had seen since leaving the Tête Jaune Cache, and the man was