Lost on the Prairie. 



A misty rain had set in, it was getting colder every min- 

 ute, and my only chance was to keep my blood circulating by 

 exercise until I could reach camp, or strike a house and there 

 was little hope of the latter, as there was not a house in sight 

 when the sun went down. Knowing the general trend of the 

 peat bed, I figured that I could follow its northern margin 

 westward to its end and then strike squarely to the right and 

 reach the timber. As a first step I threw away the rest of my 

 game. After what seemed hours of tedious walking, a bright 

 light suddenly flashed before me and was instantly gone. A 

 few steps farther on I ran against a farm wagon. I yelled 

 "Hello !" at the top of my voice, and waited results, and in a 

 few minutes saw a man standing before a window lighting a 

 lamp. He threw open the door and stood staring out into the 

 night, with the light held high above his head. I anxiously 

 inquired for directions to a hunters' camp near the foot of 

 Clear Lake. He courteously invited me to come in and rest, 

 commenting upon my "used up" appearance and adding with 

 a laugh, "Well, I believe it's the worst case of 'lost' I ever 

 saw." 



The truth dawned upon me almost instantly : I was in 

 the house of Mr. W., and hardly forty rods from our camp. I 

 had visited the house every day for weeks, buying milk, butter 

 and vegetables for camp use, and had stopped and talked with 

 W. the evening before for an hour. When the situation dawned 

 upon my beclouded mind, it was so ridiculous that I could not 

 blame him for laughing at me. I rested a little, got a drink of 

 milk, and then Mr. W. pointed out the fire my friends had been 

 keeping up for me all night. It was after 2 o'clock when I 

 straggled into camp and found one of the boys waiting for me. 

 To his inquiries I replied that I had gone out of my way a little 

 coming in, but made it all right after a long walk. It was 

 only a few days, however, until the boys found out all about 

 it, and they never ceased joking me during the four months we 

 spent together in camp. 



Sports Afield. 

 [Ill] 



