or more proper, his reasoning
faculties, and at once became lost.

Mr. Fish was east of the ridge and road and as he had a compass, all
there was for him to do was to consult the compass and go west to the
road, but Mr. Fish declared that his compass would not work, and it
might have been possible that he held the compass so close to the gun
barred that the compass did not work properly.

In my more than fifty years' life in the woods as a trapper and
hunter, it has been my lot to search for several persons lost in the
woods. Once in these same woods I searched for three weeks for a
little child four years old. At first the search for days was carried
on by more than a hundred men, then another man and myself continued,
then my companion gave it up. I continued alone for days, but there
has never been a trace of the child seen or heard of, since its
grandmother last saw the little fellow sitting on the door step
eating a piece of bread and butter on the morning of its
disappearance, along in the early 80's.

To speak of the use of the pocket compass, I would say to the trapper
or hunter that where he can it is best to locate his camp when in a
section of a country where the woods are very large, and the trapper
or hunter is not well acquainted with the locality, on a stream or in
a valley of considerable size, or near a public highway or some
landmark that is readily recognized by the trapper. Even thought it
may be after nightfall, for the thrifty trapper or hunter will
oftener find himself on the trail after the stars are shining than he
will in camp before dark. Now it is quite necessary that the camper
should first acquaint himself with these land marks for some distance
either side of his camp (when I say some distance I mean miles) and
especially get the general course or direction that the stream runs
or other landmarks, for this is where the real use of the pocket
compass comes in play.

Now when you start out place out a line of traps or on the trail of a
deer or other animal, all that there is to be done is to know whether
you are on the south, north or other direction, as the case may be,
from this valley or other landmarks. Now the trapper or hunter soon
becomes so accustomed to traveling in the woods that when he makes up
his mind to strike for camp, he can tell about how long it will take
him to reach this valley that the camp is located in. When the time
comes to go to camp consult the compass, and a