ument. To do Mr Sudberry justice, he had not expected that his
boy could understand him; but he was aware that if he, Jacky, did not
get a compass as well as the rest of them, there would be no peace in
the White House during _that_ season. Moreover, Jacky did not care
whether he should get lost or not. In fact, he rather relished it; for
he knew that it would create a pleasant excitement for a time in the
household, and he entertained the firm belief that McAllister and his
men could find any creature on the hills, man or beast, no matter how
hopelessly it should be lost.
There being, then, no limit to the wanderings of the Sudberrys, they one
and all gave themselves over deliberately to a spirit of riotous
rambling. Of course they all, on various occasions, lost themselves,
despite the compasses; but, having become experienced mountaineers, they
always took good care to find themselves again before sunset. George
and Fred candidly declared that they preferred to steer by "dead
reckoning," and left their compasses at home. Lucy always carried hers,
and frequently consulted it, especially when in her father's presence,
for she was afflicted, poor girl, with that unfashionable weakness, an
earnest desire to please her father even in trifles. Nevertheless, she
privately confided to Fred one day that she was often extremely puzzled
by her compass, and that she had grave doubts as to whether, on a
certain occasion, when she had gone for a long ramble with Hector and
Flora Macdonald, and been lost, the blame of that disaster was not due
to her compass. Fred said he thought it was, and believed that it would
be the means of compassing her final disappearance from the face of the
earth if she trusted to it so much.
As for Mr Sudberry himself; his faith in the compass was equal to that
of any mariner. The worthy man was, or believed himself to be, (which
is the same thing, you know!) of profoundly scientific _tendencies_. He
was aware, of course, that he had never really _studied_ any science
whatever; but he had dabbled in a number of them, and he felt that he
had immense _capacity_ for deep thought and subtle investigation. His
mind was powerfully analytical--that's what it was. One consequence of
this peculiarity of mind was that he "took his bearings" on short and
known distances, as well as on long venturesome rambles; he tested
himself and his compass, as it were.
One day he had walked out alone in the di
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