CHAPTER XII 

 OUR CAMP ON WALNUT CREEK 



^^[EXT morning at breakfast I said : 

 -^ ^ **How was it, Tom, that when we were buy- 

 ing our outfit at Leavenworth we forgot to get 

 a compass? That is a pretty useful thing in trav- 

 elHng across the prairie, where there is no road or 

 trail to follow?" 



"Well," repHed Tom, "it would be handy to 

 have a compass, but we haven't got one and so 

 we'll have to do the next best thing, and thank the 

 Lord I have a good watch to run our course by." 



"What!" I exclaimed. "Do you mean that you 

 can tell the points of the compass by a watch?" 

 And Jack chimed in: "I never heard of the like." 



"If you live long enough, young fellows, you 

 may find out that there are some other things 

 you never heard of. Look here, I'll explain to 

 you how it's done," and Tom pulled his big sil- 

 ver watch out of his pocket, opened it, and put 

 it on the table. 



"You turn the watch so that the hour-hand 

 points to the sun; then measure just half-way to 

 the figure twelve on the dial in the shortest direc- 

 tion, and that will be south. Of course, the oppo- 



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