"Well, I happen to know that we are walking towards the north, and since I can feel it blowing against me on the right side, I naturally know it to be an east wind," explained the Captain. "If I didn't know which direction is north, I couldn't tell an east wind from a west wind. But I can tell you how to determine which quarter the wind is from when it is not blowing strong enough to feel it against you. There are several simple ways: one is to watch the way smoke travels; another is to note the movement of the treetops. But sometimes you have neither smoke nor trees at hand; then the best method is to put your forefinger in your mouth and moisten it, and hold it up in the air: the side which feels coolest is the side the wind is blowing on. I've never known that way to fail, in my own experience, even when there did not seem to be a breath of air stirring."
All the girls who heard this description, immediately stuck their fingers into their mouths and then held them in the air, to try it.
"Mine feels the same temperature all the way around," observed Ruth.
"Oh, that is because there is too much wind to-day," replied Miss Phillips. "You can really tell better by that method when the wind is just perceptible, than when it is strong."
They reached the trolley line, upon which they rode for several miles, and then hiked the remaining distance. It was not yet three o'clock when they arrived at the cabin.
"Hurray for the Girl Scouts!" shouted a familiar voice, and Dick Roberts and Marjorie's brother Jack flung open the wooden door. Mr. Remington, behind them, echoed a more dignified welcome.
"Did you bring the axe?" asked Marjorie.
The Scoutmaster pointed to a leather sheath, fastened to his belt.
"Here's my Plumb," he said; "it's the official Boy Scout axe. I always carry it when we go into the woods."
"But, Captain Phillips," protested Doris, "you surely don't expect us to wear those things in our belts, do you?"