MJ^S PAULINA BARNETTS EXCURSION, 229 she proposed, and she was right, as the event proved. It would only delay them half an hour after all. They had not gone a quarter of a mile before Mrs Barnett stopped suddenly, and pointed to some clear and regular impressions upon the snow. These marks must have been made within the last nine or ten hours, or the last fall of snow would have covered them over.
- ' What animal has passed along here, I wonder % " said Madge.
" It was not an animal," said Mrs Barnett, bending down to examine the marks more closely, " not a quadruped certainly, for its four feet would have left impressions very different from these. Look, Madge, they are the footprints of a human person I " " But who could have been here 1 " inquired Madge ; *' none of the soldiers or women have left the fort, and we are on an island, remember. You must be mistaken, my dear ; but we will follow the 'marks, and see where they lead us." They did so, and fifty paces farther on both again paused. " Look, Madge, look 1 " cried Mrs Barnett, seizing her companion's arm, " and then say if I am mistaken." Near the footprints there were marks of a heavy body having been dragged along the snow, and the impression of a hand.
- It is the hand of a woman or a child ! " cried Madge.
" Yes ! " replied Mrs Barnett ; " a woman or a child has fallen here exhausted, and risen again to stumble farther on; look, the footprints again, and farther on more falls ! " " Who, who could it have been ? " exclaimed Madge. "How can I tell?" replied Mrs Barnett. "Some unfortunate creature imprisoned like ourselves for three or four months perhaps. Or some shipwrecked wretch flung upon the coast in the storm. You remember the fire and the cry of which Sergeant Long and Lieutenant Hobson spoke. Come, come, Madge, there may be some one in danger for us to save ! And Mrs Barnett, dragging Madge with her, ran along follow- ing the traces, and further on found that they were stained with blood. The brave, tender-hearted woman, had spoken of saving some one in danger ; had she then forgotten that there was no safety for any upon the island, doomed sooner or later to be swallowed up by the ocean 1 The impressions on the ground led towards Cape Esquimaux. And the two carefully traced them, but the footprints presently disappeared, whilst the blood-stains increased, making an irregular
