176 NARRATIVES. 



across the track of a man. The track seemed to coincide 

 with his course, so he " struck " into it and followed on, think- 

 ing that ere long he might overtake the lonely forester ; but, 

 after he had travelled half an hour or more, he, to his surprise, 

 discovered where another track had joined the first. The two 

 travellers, seeming to be of the same mind as himself, were 



travelling on before him. " Well," said T , after a brief 



philosophical parley with himself, " the more the merrier.'* 

 So he betook himself to his legs and got on somewhat faster 

 than at first. But presently he stood aghast at a third track 

 which " struck " into the trail. Fortunately our hero's native 

 sagacity came to his aid, and he was led to examine the tracks 

 of his neighbors a little more minutely than he had done, and 

 his investigations resulted in the discovery that they were all 

 very much like his own ; indeed, so much so that he deemed 

 it perfectly safe and altogether expedient for him to take the 

 back track of the last traveller, and, if possible, make his way 

 out of that scene. He accordingly did so, and in due time 

 found himself " all sound, sir ! " as he says, safely landed at 

 the point from which he started when he first entered the for- 

 est. He is a little reticent respecting the fate of his three 

 fellow-bushmen ; but rumor says they were never heard of 

 more. 



I do not remember to have ever heard a satisfactory reason 

 why a lost person travels round in a circle. It has been 

 said by somebody, that people generally step a little farther 

 with the right foot than they do with the left ; so, when they 

 have nothing to guide them, the tendency is to bear to the 

 left : thus, in time, they make a circle. But this explanation 

 is not generally accepted. I am satisfied from experience that 

 foresters, when lost, do not always turn to the left, and also 

 that the size of the circle thus made depends very much upon 

 the character of the forest. If it is open, and free from under- 

 brush, one does not deviate from a direct course so much as he 

 would if it were more dense. When a lad, I was connected 

 with an adventure which bears somewhat on the point in 

 question. 



Near the head waters of the Chenango River, in New York, 



