Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1905-12-29
THE VERMONT BRATTLEB0R0 FRIDAY DFcF1BFR % 1908

bordered it, he undertook to fight his way
down one bank through the tangled
! swamp; but, after having had most of his
clothing torn off, he took to the water and
| swan or waded where ii was impossible
to get along the shore. Even at the end
OF the first day he had little hope OF
rescue and as the night of the second
day came on he abandoned hope alto
gether He did not think that any one
! would be out looking for him. because
I we, at the camp would suppose that he
had reached McKinney's house in safety.
/ and Mckinney would naturally presume
that he had decided to remain in camp
/ a day or two longer than he had planned.
! Nobody would know that he was lost.
! When he gave up all hope, he wrote in
| pencil, on last scrap of paper that he
| mad not used in trying to make a fire, a
! Few words saying that he died through
| his own carelessness and that Mr.. KEENAN,
! was not to blame. This note he thought
would be found when his body should be
discovered and would serve to exonerate
me. Then he struggled on down the river;
| but II was only a last hopeless instructive
| struggle for life. The only shots that he
| had heard, apparently, were the four. that
l had fired in quick succession on the
trail, at the suggestion of Mckinney, after
we had practically given up the search
for the afternoon and were about to sep
arate in order to arrange a night search
with lanterns. He then began to make
the series of cries that had attracted our
attention. 1t was as narrow an escape from
death, perhaps, as a man ever had. In
few hours more he would have been
beyond all hope Of rescue and If he had
succeeded in reaching the great gorge of
the Blackwater, four or five miles further
down, he would unquestionably have per-
ished there. His life was saved by my
chance visit to McKinnys farm house
after fresh supply Of butter.
Now, the lesson taught by this story
is-Hold your grip and don't rush, when
you happen TO wander from a trail or get
lost in the deep woods II the Doctor
had taken seat on a log when he found
himself off the trail and had contented
himself with hallooing at intervals of
two or three minutes. he not only would
have saved his strength, but would have
been picked up by a farmer who went
over the trail only an hour later. But he
might have done better than that. When
he first discovered that he was off the
trail, 1t is absolutely certain that he could
not have been more than fifty feet away
from it; because the bushes would have
begun to strike him in the face Just as
soon as he left the cleared path. If at
that moment he had partially broken off
and turned over the top of the bush, so
as to expose the under sides of the leaves;
had then tied a white handkerchief to the
broken branch; and had finally walked
slowly away from this base in three or
four different directions keeping the
handkerchief constantly in sight, or
breaking bushes every ten or fifteen feet
so as TO guide him back to it after every
experimental trip, he would have found
the trail in less than five minutes. In
stead Of doing that, he became panic
stricken and started off on a wild rush
ne l.. L.
and in half an hour he was hopelessly
lost.
II is probably useless to tell a man not
to get excited and not to become panic
stricken when he loses his bearings in a
great forest; but 1t ought not to be use
less to say to him that he must establish
base by breaking a bush and tying a
white handkerchief to 1t as soon as he
discovers that he is lost. and that he must
not leave that base without breaking a
line of bushes or cutting a series of
"blazes' so that he can find his way back
to II with absolute certainty. So long as
he holds that base he is comparatively
safe, because searchers will know approx
imately where to look for him; but II he
starts off on a wild senseless rush through
an extensive primeval Forest he may not
be found until the Day OF Judgment
Every novice who goes into a wild,
uninhabited region should get from a good
map and from his guide fairly accurate
and comprehensive knowledge of the
country where he intends to camp, and
especially of the watersheds and streams.
He should then learn to use a compass.
and always carry one in a little chamois-
skin bag suspended by a cord or a silver
chain around his neck under his shirt
II he relies wholly upon a compass that
he carries in a pocket, he is liable to
change his clothes and get out into the
woods without it; but if he carries an
emergency compass, half a dozen fish
hooks and flies, twenty feet of silk line
and a water proof box of matches in a
little chamois-skin bag slung around his
neck, he is sure to have these useful arti-
cles when he wants them, and he will be
comparatively safe in the wilderness, lost
or not lost. II. Furthermore, he makes II
rule not to go on any long trip alone
without belt-hatchet, a pint cup of
aluminium with a folding handle, and a
standard emergency ration weighing about
pound, he may be lost for several days,
not only without danger, but without
serious hardship His compass will
enable him to walk through the woods in
straight course; with his line, hooks,
and flies he can catch fish in almost any
stream with matches from his water
proof box he can always make a fire in
any forest where he can get birch bark;
in his pint cup he can cook his emergency
and with belt-hatchet, weighing a pound
and half, he may blaze" trees as he
goes and put up in an hour a fairly COM
Portable shelter OF poles and spruce
boughs for the night
If you should be so unfortunate as to
get lost in wild unknown country with
out compass, food, matches, fish-hooks,
Ratchet, or knife, the only safe rule is
break bush. tie your handkerchief to it,
and don't rush away from that base. The
color Of the under sides OF leaves is SO
different from the color of the upper sides
that the top of a bush, partly broken and
turned over, will attract the eye at a
distance of fifty yards and in a forest
where there is underground, you may not
only travel in a straight line, breaking
bushes as you 60 but may return with
certainty by that line of broken bushes
to your handkerchief base-the spot where
you first became bewildered. Then, in
searching for a lost trail, proceed very
slowly and carefully, looking on each side,
as well as ahead, at every step. In APP
preaching a faint, half obliterated trail
at right angles, you are very likely to go
across without noticing 1t unless you get
view along 1t by looking sidewise. A
path is easily made out II seen longitudin-
ally; but you may step directly over it
without being aware of the fact If you are
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