ut certain features of the landscape
which he occasionally pointed out to Ned, who in turn impressed them on
the attention of his chums.

An odd looking bunch of birches that could not be easily mistaken told
them in the first place that the reed bed was only a few hundred feet
away. Then, shortly afterwards, it was a rock that had the appearance of
"round table," which Jimmy insisted on calling it. They jotted this down
on the tablets of their memories, as the second striking feature of the
trail.

So it went on. Scouts as a rule have good memories, because they have
been shown early in their career when joining the organization how
useful it is to be able to recollect a host of things without confusion.
Indeed, one of the requisites to gaining advance marks in the patrol is
the possession of this faculty. A tenderfoot will be given a chance to
stand in front of a window containing hundreds of small objects,
possibly connected with a hardware establishment in town. After
impressing the picture on his mind, after a certain fashion for a full
minute or so, he must walk away, and later on write out a list of every
object he can remember.

Practicing after this manner boys have learned to widen the scope of
their memories so that they become able to describe an array of things
never seen before to an extent that is astonishing.

This was the practice that became valuable to Ned and his chums as soon
as they started through that Canadian "bush." Each fellow began in a
systematic way to make a list of the various "signs," so that when
called upon to give his opinion he would be able to repeat the entire
assortment, just as a sailor, forward or backward, is able to rattle off
the thirty-two points of the mariner's compass.

There were many other features connected with that hike, which brought
out their knowledge of scoutcraft. They noticed everything around them,
as they moved along in a steady fashion. Never an arctic hare sprang up
and bounded away, but the eye of every scout was instantly fastened on
the little animal; and each boy mentally figured out how it must have
been peaceful in this section of the woods, or that timid little
creature would not have been lying asleep there, to be disturbed by
their coming.

"We're heading almost due north, ain't we?" Jimmy asked, when some
twenty minutes had elapsed since the start.

"About as near that as we can go," answered Ned.

"I knew it by the lay of the sun, and t