With Gun > Rod in Canada 



to avoid getting lost when one paid even casual attention 

 to the points of the compass as indicated by the sun, 

 stars, moss on trees, wind, etc. Several ingenious 

 methods of telling the north were propounded by the 

 " sports " and guides present, and much interest was 

 evidenced in the wood-lore exhibited, until one old guide 

 stated that the surest way was to first " catch a moose," 

 and then observe its growth of hair. He asserted that 

 the hair would be thickest on the north side of the moose. 

 This broke up the party. 



But the guide and sportsman who had had the original 

 dispute about the value of the compass made a pact to 

 go off in the woods together on the following day. The 

 sportsman declared that he could lose the guide in broad 

 daylight, and the guide insisted that he could so mix 

 up the sportsman that he could not find his way out, 

 " compass or no compass." 



At their direction, the motor-boat left them on the 

 eastern shore of the big lake with a canoe and enough food 

 for two meals. They did not return that night to the 

 landing where they had been left, nor the next night, nor 

 the night after that. A search party hurriedly organized 

 found them on the third day sitting disconsolately on 

 the shore of the lake, miles from their point of departure. 

 Upon questioning the forlorn and hungry adventurers 

 (for it had rained and snowed since they had started out), 

 we found that both had made good their boast. 



The man with the compass had succeeded in losing the 

 guide, and hence they had stayed out the first night. 

 The next day the guide convinced the sportsman that 

 the compass was wrong, hence they stayed out the second 

 night. The third day both were sure that the compass 

 as well as all nature was wrong, so they had to stay out 

 the third night. Luckily they had discovered the freshly 

 killed carcass of a moose on the second day, which, even 



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