When he knew--which was not often--that he did _not_ know a thing, he could put two and two together and make it yield the most extraordinary results.

He felt it one of his first duties to be interesting.

And above all, he felt it his duty to be infallible.

No one could be expected to have implicit faith in a guide who was not infallible.

He never acknowledged insufficient information about anything whatever that pertained to the woods and waters.