220 MAJOR HENRY SCOTT AND HIS CANE 



a sort of basin with a sandy beach rising gradual- 

 ly in ridges for three miles back, where it meets 

 the mountains forming the Laurentian range. 

 One fine morning the Major informed me that he 

 was going out with his wife for a walk towards 

 the brook, and if the flies were not too bad he 

 would go and search for some willows. I offered 

 him a bit of lunch to take with him, which he re- 

 fused, saying that he would be back in good time 

 to join us. After going a short distance a fancy 

 struck him to make a short cut through the woods 

 to the upper bottom of the creek, thereby saving a 

 mile of walking. It was the old saying come true, 

 ' 'The longest road is sometimes the shortest." 

 They entered the woods, and after a while, los- 

 ing the general direction, had wandered around. 

 The sun was bright, and the Major knew enough 

 to get the approximate point of the compass by 

 the time, but the lay of the land misled him, and 

 it was three o'clock in the afternoon before he 

 struck the Godbout Eiver, two miles West of 

 where he intended to come out. Not seeing them 

 returning for lunch, we began to feel anxious, 

 and our anxiety increased as time wore on; so 

 that we were heartily glad when they appeared. 

 They were very tired, especially the lady, and 

 badly fly bitten. The Major told us of their trou- 

 bles, and of course had not found the willows, but 

 his greatest misfortune was that he had lost his 

 cane. This was a chef d'wuvre in its way. The 



