ssible for the expedition to go on. If he could force
Sam to return to Camp Jackson, he said to himself, he would humiliate
that young man beyond endurance, and at the same time get himself out
of the danger into which Sam was leading him. Everybody would laugh at
Sam, and call him a coward, and suspect him of failing in his
expedition purposely, all of which would please Jake Elliott mightily.

How to accomplish all this was a problem which Jake thought he had
solved by a sudden inspiration. He had formed his plan at the very
moment of receiving Sam's rebuke, and he waited now only for a chance
to execute it.

An hour passed; two hours, three. It was after midnight, and all the
boys were sleeping soundly. Jake arose noiselessly and crept to the
tree at whose roots Sam had laid his baggage. It was thirty feet or
more from any of the boys, and Jake was not afraid of waking them. He
fumbled about in Sam's baggage until he felt something hard and round
and cold. He drew out a little circular brass box about two and a half
inches in diameter, with a glass top to it. It was Sam's compass. He
tried hard to raise the glass in some way, but failed. Finally, with
much fear, lest he should awaken some of the boys, he struck the glass
with the end of his heavy Jack knife and broke it. This admitted his
fingers, and taking out the needle of the compass he broke it half in
two. Then replacing the brass lid, leaving all the pieces of the
ruined instrument inside, he slipped the compass back into its
original place and crept back to his bed by the fire.

"Now," he thought "I reckon Mr. Sam Hardwicke's long head will be
puzzled, and I reckon I'll be even with him, when he gives up that he
can't go on, and has to turn back to Camp Jackson. A pretty story
he'll have to tell, and wont people want to know how his compass got
broke? They'll think it very curious, and maybe they wont suspect that
he broke it himself, for an excuse. Oh! wont they though!"

He fairly chuckled with delight, in anticipation of Sam's humiliation.
He knew that the country south of them was wholly unsettled, a
perfect wilderness of woods and canebrakes and swamps, which nobody
could go through without some guide as to the points of the compass,
and hence he was satisfied that the destruction of Sam's instrument
was an effectual way of compelling the young captain to retreat while
it was still possible to retrace the trail the party had made in
coming. He was so