“So have I,” added Gerald.
“Luckily, I have had to test it before, and after seeing me use that means I know you will remember it.”
Jack pointed the hour hand to the sun already low in the horizon and explained:
“If it were forenoon, half way between the hour hand and noon is due south. But it is afternoon and I must reckon half way backward. Notice,—I point the hour hand at a fraction before seven. Now divide the distance between that point and the figure 12 into halves and take the midway point: there you are—that indicates south.”
“Suppose the sun wasn’t shining, Jack?”
“If the clouds were too dense to allow you to locate the sun, your watch would be useless as a compass, but that isn’t often the case. You should stand in the open where no shadow falls upon you, and hold your knife point upright on your watch dial. Almost always you can see a dim shadow which shows where the sun is.”
“But,” inquired Arthur with a laugh; “now that we know the points of the compass what good will it do us?”
Gerald took it upon himself to answer:
“If we went south from the lake all we have to do is to go north to get back to it.”
“Yes, ‘if’ we did that, but we have paid no attention to our course and may be east or west of the bungalow.”