Wild Editors I Have Known 



though eaten without salt, kept them from actual starva- 

 tion. One would have thought that, as both the con- 

 tenders and their contentions had proved to be correct, 

 the best of humour would have prevailed, but, inexplic- 

 able as it may seem, the guide insisted that his sportsman 

 was a nut, and the sportsman insisted that the guide 

 was no woodsman. It may be that a three days' diet 

 of half-raw moose meat over-stimulated their primal 

 instincts, and that their dispositions were simply reverting 

 to type. Anyway, to the others it seemed as though 

 both were to blame for their own discomfort, and 

 also for the worry they had caused the rest of the 

 party. 



Upon being closely questioned, the guide explained 

 that, although he had known every foot of the country, 

 the sportsman had so zigzagged him about that he had 

 lost his sense of direction, and had become temporarily 

 confused on the first day. Cloudy and stormy weather 

 made it impossible for him to see any distance, nor could 

 he see the sun. Night shut down before he had succeeded 

 in finding his way back to the canoe, and he found it 

 necessary to make an open camp. The sportsman kept 

 insisting and reiterating that the guide was lost, and the 

 following morning was still more insistent upon this 

 fact, until the guide began to believe it himself. In his 

 anxiety to actually lose his guide, the sportsman had for- 

 gotten the general lie of the country, and both of the 

 men had rather depended upon the other for some 

 inkling of where they were. Between the confusion and 

 sudden realization that he was entirely responsible for the 

 welfare of the visiting sportsman, the unfortunate guide 

 had completely lost his head. The nagging accusations 

 of his vexed charge had only intensified this condition. 

 Had either man been alone, it is safe to say that neither 

 would have been lost. 



241 Q 



