"There," he said, pointing almost in the direction he had pointed
before.

"But does not the sun rise in the east here as well as elsewhere?"
I rejoined.

"Well, they call that west, anyhow."

But Henry's needle was subjected to a disturbing influence just
then. His house was near the river, and he was its sole guardian
and keeper for the time; his father had gone up to the next
neighbor's (it was Sunday), and his sister had gone with the
schoolmistress down the road to get black birch. He came out in the
road, with wide eyes, to view me as I passed, when I drew rein, and
demanded the points of the compass, as above. Then I shook my sooty
pail at him and asked for milk. Yes, I could have some milk, but I
would have to wait till his sister came back; after he had
recovered a little, he concluded he could get it. He came for my
pail, and then his boyish curiosity appeared. My story interested
him immensely. He had seen twelve summers, but he had been
only four miles from home up and down the river : he had been down
to the East Branch, and he had been up to Trout Brook. He took a
pecuniary interest in me. What did my pole cost? What my rubber
coat, and what my revolver? The latter he must take in his hand;
he had never seen such a thing to shoot with before in HIS life,
etc. He thought I might make the trip cheaper and easier by stage
and by the cars. He went to school: there were six scholars in
summer, one or two more in winter. The population is not crowded
in the town of Hancock, certainly, and never will be. The people
live close to the bone, as Thoreau would say, or rather close to