The metal of the weapons Jack carried having, as they saw only too
clearly now, deflected the needle.
"What an idiot I was not to think of such a possibility!" exclaimed
Jack bitterly.
"Not at all, my boy," comforted the professor. "The same thing has
happened to experienced sea-captains, and they have navigated many
miles off their course before they discovered their error."
"All of which, not bein' at' sea, don't help us any," grunted Pete.
"Suppose now, perfusser, that you jes' figger out as well as you kin,
how far wrong we hev gone."
"It will be a difficult task, I fear," said the professor.
"It'll be a heap difficulter task, ef we don't hit water purty soon,"
retorted the cow-puncher.
Thus admonished, Professor Wintergreen divested himself of his weapons,
and, taking out a small notebook, began, with the compass before him,
to make some calculations. At the end of ten minutes or so, he raised
his head.
"Well?" asked Jack eagerly.
"Well," rejoined the professor, "it's not as bad as it might be. We
are, according to my reckoning, about twenty-five miles farther to the
south than we should be.
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