pon
their evergreen beds, while we three men continued to converse in
whispers over the glow of the fading fire. Next I asked Oo-koo-hoo in
which direction men usually turned when lost in the woods--to the right
or to the left? He replied that circumstances had much to do with
that, for the character of the country affected the man's turning, as
it was natural to follow the line of least resistance; also it depended
somewhat on the man's build--whether one leg were shorter than the
other. But though he had repeatedly experimented, he could not arrive
at any definite conclusion. However, when trying blindfolded men on a
frozen lake, he noticed that they had a tendency to turn to the south
regardless of whether they were facing east or west. And he concluded
by remarking that he thought people were very foolish to put so much
faith in certain statements, simply because they were twice-told tales.

Upon my questioning him as to how a hunter would act, if, for instance,
he were trailing a moose, and suspected that he was being followed by
enemies, say a pack of wolves, or strange hunters, he informed me that
if that happened to him--that if he suspected some enemy were following
his trail--he would not stop, nor even look around, but at the first
favourable opportunity, when he was sure he couldn't be observed, he
would leave the game trail, circle back a mile or so through the woods,
and upon cutting his old track would at once learn what was following
him. Then if it were worth while he could trail his pursuers and,
coming up behind them, could take them unaware. But if all this
happened on a lake or in open country, where he could not circle back
under cover, he would suddenly turn in his tracks, as though upon a
pivot, and without losing the least headway or causing a moment's delay
in his pace, he would continue walking, but now in a backward
direction, long enough to give himself ample time to scrutinize his
distant trail. By manoeuvring thus, he could study his pursuers
without arousing their suspicion, for whether they were animals or men,
the chances would be--if they were some distance away--that they would
never notice that he had turned about, and was now inspecting his own
tracks.

As regards trailing game, whether large or small, he cautioned me to
watch my quarry carefully, and instantly to become rigid at the first
sign that the game was about to turn round or raise its head to peer in
my direction