270 Tommy Twisters Discovery

wind it up. It was the first time that he
had tried to deceive any one, and he did
not feel at all comfortable about it in his
mind, and did the thing very awkwardly :
but he had said compasses wanted winding
up; and he had always heard that an Eng-
lishman should stick to what he says.

Then he hung it up again on the nail,
but it still pointed up to the sky.

‘“Yah—it doesn’t go any better,” sneered
Billy.

‘TI may have overwound it,” said Tommy
firmly.

He shook it; but it would not leave off
pointing to the sky.

‘Perhaps it’s too hot for it in here,” he
said. ‘Some compasses won't register above
so many degrees Fahr.—you know.”

‘You aren't thinking of thermometers,
are you?” asked Billy. That was Billy’s
bad point: he would argue things.

“Of course not, stupid!” said Tommy.

‘Perhaps it doesn’t like being hung up
to a nail,” remarked Billy. ‘Try sticking
it flat on the floor,”