camp_.' Where'd you pick it up?"

"Didn't pick it up at all," answered Rube. "Found it on a hickory
bush, far, far in, as it might be the very heart o' the forest."

"Ah! Some mischievous jay bird plant it there, d'ye think?"

"Jay bird couldn't have written that message on it," said Rube. "Jay
bird couldn't have fastened it with a twig drove through the paper ter
keep it in place. Guess you heard a jay squawkin' a lot, didn't you,
Kiddie?"

"Sure," Kiddie nodded. "Couldn't get quit of the fowl until you came
along on my track an' it started ter foller you instead of me. How'd
you find your way back to camp?"

"Came th' same way as you did, I reckon," answered Rube. "Went th'
same way's you meant me ter go, all the time--trackin' you by the clues
you left."

Kiddie was silent until the tea was quite ready and the two of them
were seated. Then he said--

"You've done a heap better'n I expected you to do, Rube. I didn't
leave many clues, there was none of them conspicuous, an' they were
very far apart--fifty yards apart at the least. Tell me exactly what
you found."

"Well," said Rube, beginning on his tea, "first of all thar was a mark
of your foot where you went in so silent. Then' th' jay started
squawkin', an' I got my direction. I follered it, an' hadn't gone far
when I sees a balsam branch swayin' where thar was no wind ter stir it.
I went straight forward until I began ter think I was goin' wrong, when
I smelt smoke. I searched an' came upon a bit of charred cloth. You'd
squandered a valuable lucifer match ter set fire t' a piece of greasy
rag that you'd cleaned the lamp with. After that, I went astray;
couldn't find a trace o' you nohow, an' had ter get back t' th' burnt
rag ter make a fresh start."

"Yes," interposed Kiddie, "just as I intended. The trees were all
alike thereabout and easily mistaken one for another. Well?"

"Thar was one of 'em different," pursued Rube, "a silver birch tree
amongst the cotton-woods--an' I found where you'd cut a stick from it
an' smudged the cut so's it wouldn't easily be seen. Is that right?
You carried that stick along of you--brought it home. Once or twice
you scored a mark on the ground with th' point of it. You began
cuttin' some of the bark from the stick, droppin' a bit every fifty
yards or so. But that was too easy for me. Any tenderfoot'd have
found them bits o' bark."

"Quite right," agreed Kiddie, "an' you ain't anything of a tend