By Land and By Air

felt that the shore would tell me where I was, but to my great surprise I later found myself going across the Murray River bridge, six miles to the east. I then knew where I was, and headed for home, to the horse’s great satisfaction. I arrived home at 8:00 am, my father waiting for the horse to cut hay. He thought it was a good lesson to me, and was glad that I appreciated horse sense.

Another time my father and I went to get axe handles, on invitation of one of his cousins, who had a wood farm on which grew a lot of hardwood which was necessary to make good axe handles. We tied the horse, and went exploring for a certain type of tree. After considerable searching, my father said, ”You take us back to the house.” Again, thinking I was the natural navigator, I started walking and I saw him make a mark on a tree and I wondered why. After travelling what seemed miles, we arrived back at the marked tree. He explained to me that under natural experience, when lost, one walked in circles. To avoid this, one could correct this by thinking of a point far in the distance and breaking step every time. After one could find how often to break step by walking in a straight line, then by breaking step, one could walk in a straight line - I guess his experience on his long walks in the Yukon and Alaska taught him the method of not getting lost. After my experience, he said, ”Would you like me to show you how to find the place where we left the horse?” By this time I did not need much persuasion, so he called the horse’s name, and he snickered back; we were only a few hundred yards from the horse.

Horses vary in common sense as humans do. The horse that I rode on a saddle for many miles, when I taught school, in some ways lacked average intelligence. One night he lost me in a snowstorm, I never before or after felt more desolated, when for a second time, we landed

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