THE LOST WALLET 129 



no hole there, neither was there any wallet. There 

 could be no more doubt about my having put the wal- 

 let in that pocket the night before, than there was a 

 certainty now that it was somewhere else. But 

 where ? Could I have dropped it on the bog ? This 

 seemed probable and I started at once on the search. 

 When I tell the reader that there was $135.00 in it 

 for me, he may not wonder that I did my best to suc- 

 ceed. It is true, $135.00 is not a fortune, but it is a 

 good deal better than nothing ; and nothing was sure 

 to be the something I would have if I didn't find that 

 wallet. Therefore. eagerly did I search, following my 

 tracks of the previous day, tramping on them back 

 and forth and examining every place to which they 

 led. But all to no purpose. No wallet was to be 

 seen. Somewhat out of temper I returned to the 

 camp, took off the spruce boughs from the bunk, and 

 shook out the blankets with the hope that the wallet 

 might turn up. But it didn't. Then I went outside 

 and sat me on a log, and I will venture to say that 

 there was more solid thinking done on the top of that 

 log at that time than will ever be done there again. 

 At one end of the log there was a soft piece of ground 

 in which I saw tracks that looked to me like those of 

 the porcupine. Instantly my wits began to work and 

 in detective fashion : " If those are a porcupine's foot- 

 prints his home is probably somewhere under this very 

 camp. If so, may not my wallet have fallen from the 



