LET US GO AFIELD 



that night I borrowed a large needle and some stout 

 patent thread and sewed up the cut with a beautiful 

 buttonhole stitch, making, I should say, some fifty- 

 odd stitches in all. A surgeon would have been 

 much more economical of his thread, but I knew 

 nothing of surgery at the time. This buttonhole 

 stitch held very well for about a week or ten days, 

 when one day, out hunting on a rather stiff leg, I 

 fell down and broke open the entire seam. That 

 night I once more borrowed the needle and the black 

 patent thread, and, beginning a little further back 

 from the edges, I put in a yet more elaborate button- 

 hole crossing, which has held to this day. Since 

 my first look at the open cartilage of my kneecap I 

 have never felt like going into camp without plenty 

 of needles and patent thread, although as a matter 

 of fact I have never seen a use for either since that 

 time. I presume that the man who carries the hypo- 

 dermic outfit for permanganate of potassium feels 

 the same way about snake bites. 



If you can get all or part of an old bucktail, 

 showing the light and dark hairs, put it into your 

 possible bag. When all other baits lack perhaps you 

 can make one out of this a dab of wax and a 

 little thread from your spool will help you. Some- 

 times a little spool of copper wire is useful. Your 

 piece of whetstone is best of carborundum, which 



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