you are, especially
if in a wild country where there is no chance of finding a farm house.
Make yourself comfortable for the night by gathering plenty of good
wood while it is daylight, and building a wind screen on three sides,
with the fire in front, and something to keep you off the ground. Do
not worry but keep up a good fire; and when day comes renew your two
smokes and wait. A good fire is the best friend of a lost man.

I have been lost a number of times, but always got out without serious
trouble, because I kept cool. The worst losing I ever got was after I
had been so long in the West that I qualified to act as a professional
guide, and was engaged by a lot of Eastern farmers looking for land
locations.

This was in the October of 1883 on the Upper Assiniboin. The main body
of the farmers had remained behind. I had gone ahead with two of them.
I took them over hundreds of miles of wild country. As we went
northward the country improved. We were traveling with oxen, and it
was our custom to let them graze for two hours at noon. One warm day,
while the oxen were feeding, we went in our shirt sleeves to a distant
butte that promised a lookout. We forgot about the lateness till the
sun got low. Even then I could have got back to camp, but clouds came
up and darkness fell quickly. Knowing the general direction I kept on,
and after half an hour's tramp we came to a canyon I had never seen
before. I got out my compass and a match and found that I had been
circling, as one is sure to do in the dark. I corrected the course and
led off again. After another brief turn I struck another match and
learned from the compass that I was again circling. This was
discouraging, but with corrected course we again tramped. I was
leading, and suddenly the dark ground ten feet ahead of me turned
gray. I could not make it out, so went cautiously nearer. I lay down,
reached forth, and then slowly made sure that we were on the edge of a
steep precipice. I backed off, {70} and frankly told the men I did not
know where we were. I got out my match box and compass and found I had
but one match left.

"Any of you got any matches?" I asked. "No; left 'em all in our
coats," was their answer.

"Well," said I, "I have one. Shall I use it to get a new course from
the compass, or shall we make a fire and stay here till morning?"

All voted to camp for the night. There was now a cold rain.

We groped into a hollow where we got some dead wood,