This journey was thus resumed on the principle that it was better to be moving than to sit idle. Something had to be done, but what it was they did not know. Bart had formed some vague idea of his general direction from the clouds, and was trying now to find his way back to the neighborhood at least of the place from which they had set out. At any rate, he thought he would thus be more likely to come upon Phil’s track, for this was still the idea that was uppermost in his mind. The direction in which that place lay seemed to him to be west; and so, with this thought in his mind, he set out and led the way. Of course, Bart’s idea about going west was of the vaguest possible description. Bart’s west was Pat’s east; and each of them was equally likely to be wrong. For it might have been either north or south; and in addition to this, there was the fact of their circuitous march, which set straight lines at defiance, and bore them along in a winding course, that might lead to every point of the compass in turn. However, there was actually no other course possible, and Bart and Pat were both satisfied; for while Bart thought he was following the course which seemed to him best, Pat thought that they were going in no particular direction at all, but were wandering at random. Of the two, Pat was far more in the right. As to Solomon, it was a matter of indifference to him, so long as Bart led the way, and so long as the aim of their march was a search after Phil. They walked on now in silence for some hours. The woods were just the same as they had been all along. Sometimes they came to a wide extent of pine trees, where the walking was easy, and they were able to maintain some definite direction. At other times they came to woods filled with hard-wood trees, where the underbrush was thick and the obstacles numerous. Here they were compelled to wind along in a circuitous way, making numerous detours to avoid dense thickets or impassable bogs. At length the evening drew on, and all of them were nearly worn out. It had been a long and a difficult march. They had exerted themselves severely all that day. Besides, it was not a time that was favorable to severe exertion, for the warmth of the atmosphere affected them all. As the evening approached the warmth increased, for the slight breeze that had been prevailing all the day, and mitigating the sultriness of the weather, now died out, and at once that same oppressiveness of which they had been aware on the preceding day made itself manifest again. Exertion became more and more painful. Their progress became more and more laborious, and they walked with ever-increasing difficulty. At length Bart stopped. “I won’t go any farther,” said he. “This isn’t much of a place to pass the night in, but I’ve been on the lookout for the last hour, and this is as good as any that I’ve seen. We can’t do any more to-day. So I move that we stop here and rest, and settle down for the night.”