HORACE HAS AN ADVENTURE 49 



There was no doubt that Horace, when it came to 

 the sort of education derived from books, was, de- 

 spite his youth, by far the most learned individual 

 in the outfit. Our erudite friend's vocabulary asked 

 no odds of "Noah Webster, his Dictionary." And 

 his familiarity with almost every branch of theoreti- 

 cal knowledge was really astonishing. As a result 

 of these considerations, our talks around the camp 

 fire threatened at first to develop into a series of 

 monologues, with Wetherby taking on every occa- 

 sion the speaking part. 



Now, this was not at all according to Hoyle. In 

 the woods the evening "pow-wow" is an ancient and 

 well established institution. Immemorial custom 

 prescribes the etiquette for such gatherings. Bert, 

 Bob Moak and the packers, for example, never spoke 

 except for the purpose of expressing an idea and 

 then briefly. While not conducive to fluent conver- 

 sation, this practice usually enables each member of 

 a party to have his say, with perhaps some time left 

 to indulge in silent reflection. Then again, when a 

 person is speaking, it is considered proper to allow 

 him to finish without interruption, and even to pause 

 a moment a delicate tribute to the weight of his 

 words before replying. 



Horace's methods were different. He talked for 

 the sake of talking, for exercise, for effect, for the 

 mere luxury of guiding a mellifluous flow of words 

 into the night. Now and again, when out of breath, 

 he paused, but if any one else attempted to voice an 



