Page:November Joe.pdf/106

 even if I had n't known you was coming I'd a been certain you did n't know the country and was town-bred."

"How?"

"You paused wherever there were crossroads, and had a look at your compass."

"How do you know I did that?" I demanded again; for I had consulted my compass several times, though I could not see what had made Joe aware of the fact.

"You stood it on a log once at Smith's Clearing and again on that spruce stump at the Old Lumber Camp. And each time you shifted your direction."

I laughed. "Did you know anything else about me?" I asked.

"Knew you carried a gun, and was wonderful fresh from the city."

In answer to my laugh Joe continued:—

"Twice you went off the road after them two deer you saw, your tracks told me that. And you stepped in under that pine when that little drop o' rain fell. There was n't enough of it to send a man who'd been a day in the woods into shelter. But I have always noticed how won-