North Pole! It is not to be compared, for downright fascination, with
the exploration of an undiscovered human being.

With that I began to think how I might get at Bill, the lineman, and not
merely weather talk, or wages talk, or work talk, but at Bill himself.
He was a character quite unusual in our daily lives here in the country.
I wondered what his interests could be, surely not mine nor Horace's nor
the Starkweathers'. As soon as I began trying to visualize what his life
might be, I warmed up to a grand scheme of capturing him, if by chance
he was to be found the next day upon the town road.

All this may seem rather absurd in the telling, but I found it a
downright good adventure for a quiet evening, and fully believe I felt
for the moment like General Joffre planning to meet the Germans on the
Marne.

"I have it!" I said aloud.

"You have what?" asked Harriet, somewhat startled.

"The grandest piece of strategy ever devised in this town," said I.

With that I went delving in a volume of universal information I keep
near me, one of those knowing books that tells you how tall the great
Pryamid is and why a hen cackles after laying an egg, and having found
what I wanted I asked Harriet if she could find a tape measure around
the place. She is a wonderful person and knows where everything is. When
she handed me the tape measure she asked me what in the world I was so
mysterious about.