diff options
Diffstat (limited to '15950.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 15950.txt | 3937 |
1 files changed, 3937 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/15950.txt b/15950.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..25e6969 --- /dev/null +++ b/15950.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3937 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilderness Ways, by William J Long + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wilderness Ways + +Author: William J Long + +Illustrator: Charles Copeland + +Release Date: May 31, 2005 [EBook #15950] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILDERNESS WAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Melissa Er-Raqabi, Sankar +Viswanathan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + +[Illustration: frontispiece] + + + + WILDERNESS WAYS + + BY + + WILLIAM J. LONG + + + + _SECOND SERIES_ + + + + + BOSTON, U.S.A. + + GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS + + The Athenaeum Press + + 1900 + + + + +TO KILLOOLEET, Little Sweet-Voice, +who shares my camp and +makes sunshine as I work and play. + + + + + + PREFACE. + + + The following sketches, like the "Ways of Wood Folk," are the + result of many years of personal observation in the woods and + fields. They are studies of animals, pure and simple, not of + animals with human motives and imaginations. + + Indeed, it is hardly necessary for genuine interest to give human + traits to the beasts. Any animal is interesting enough as an + animal, and has character enough of his own, without borrowing + anything from man--as one may easily find out by watching long + enough. + + Most wild creatures have but small measure of gentleness in them, + and that only by instinct and at short stated seasons. Hence I + have given both sides and both kinds, the shadows and lights, the + savagery as well as the gentleness of the wilderness creatures. + + It were pleasanter, to be sure, especially when you have been + deeply touched by some exquisite bit of animal devotion, to let + it go at that, and to carry with you henceforth an ideal + creature. + + But the whole truth is better--better for you, better for + children--else personality becomes confused with mere animal + individuality, and love turns to instinct, and sentiment + vaporizes into sentimentality. + + This mother fox or fish-hawk here, this strong mother loon or + lynx that to-day brings the quick moisture to your eyes by her + utter devotion to the little helpless things which great Mother + Nature gave her to care for, will to-morrow, when they are grown, + drive those same little ones with savage treatment into the world + to face its dangers alone, and will turn away from their + sufferings thereafter with astounding indifference. + + It is well to remember this, and to give proper weight to the + word, when we speak of the _love_ of animals for their little + ones. + + I met a bear once--but this foolish thing is not to be + imitated--with two small cubs following at her heels. The mother + fled into the brush; the cubs took to a tree. After some timorous + watching I climbed after the cubs, and shook them off, and put + them into a bag, and carried them to my canoe, squealing and + appealing to the one thing in the woods that could easily have + helped them. I was ready enough to quit all claims and to take to + the brush myself upon inducement. But the mother had found a + blueberry patch and was stuffing herself industriously. + + And I have seen other mother bears since then, and foxes and deer + and ducks and sparrows, and almost all the wild creatures + between, driving their own offspring savagely away. Generally + the young go of their own accord as early as possible, knowing no + affection but only dependence, and preferring liberty to + authority; but more than once I have been touched by the sight of + a little one begging piteously to be fed or just to stay, while + the mother drove him away impatiently. Moreover, they all kill + their weaklings, as a rule, and the burdensome members of too + large a family. This is not poetry or idealization, but just + plain animal nature. + + As for the male animals, little can be said truthfully for their + devotion. Father fox and wolf, instead of caring for their mates + and their offspring, as we fondly imagine, live apart by + themselves in utter selfishness. They do nothing whatever for the + support or instruction of the young, and are never suffered by + the mothers to come into the den, lest they destroy their own + little ones. One need not go to the woods to see this; his own + stable or kennel, his own dog or cat will be likely to reveal the + startling brutality at the first good opportunity. + + An indiscriminate love for all animals, likewise, is not the best + sentiment to cultivate toward creation. Black snakes in a land of + birds, sharks in the bluefish rips, rabbits in Australia, and + weasels everywhere are out of place in the present economy of + nature. Big owls and hawks, representing a yearly destruction of + thousands of good game birds and of untold innocent songsters, + may also be profitably studied with a gun sometimes instead of + an opera-glass. A mink is good for nothing but his skin; a red + squirrel--I hesitate to tell his true character lest I spoil too + many tender but false ideals about him all at once. + + The point is this, that sympathy is too true a thing to be + aroused falsely, and that a wise discrimination, which recognizes + good and evil in the woods, as everywhere else in the world, and + which loves the one and hates the other, is vastly better for + children, young and old, than the blind sentimentality aroused by + ideal animals with exquisite human propensities. Therefore I + wrote the story of Kagax, simply to show him as he is, and so to + make you hate him. + + In this one chapter, the story of Kagax the Weasel, I have + gathered into a single animal the tricks and cruelties of a score + of vicious little brutes that I have caught red-handed at their + work. In the other chapters I have, for the most part, again + searched my old notebooks and the records of wilderness camps, + and put the individual animals down just as I found them. + + + + Wm. J. Long. + + Stamford, September, 1900. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + + +I. MEGALEEP THE WANDERER + +II. KILLOOLEET, LITTLE SWEET-VOICE + +III. KAGAX THE BLOODTHIRSTY + +IV. KOOKOOSKOOS, WHO CATCHES THE WRONG RAT + +V. CHIGWOOLTZ THE FROG + +VI. CLOUD WINGS THE EAGLE + +VII. UPWEEKIS THE SHADOW + +VIII. HUKWEEM THE NIGHT VOICE + + +GLOSSARY OF INDIAN NAMES + + + + + + + + +I. MEGALEEP THE WANDERER. + +[Illustration: Megaleep] + + +Megaleep is the big woodland caribou of the northern wilderness. His +Milicete name means The Wandering One, but it ought to mean the +Mysterious and the Changeful as well. If you hear that he is bold and +fearless, that is true; and if you are told that he is shy and wary +and inapproachable, that is also true. For he is never the same two +days in succession. At once shy and bold, solitary and gregarious; +restless as a cloud, yet clinging to his feeding grounds, spite of +wolves and hunters, till he leaves them of his own free will; wild as +Kakagos the raven, but inquisitive as a blue jay,--he is the most +fascinating and the least known of all the deer. + +One thing is quite sure, before you begin your study: he is never +where his tracks are, nor anywhere near it. And if after a season's +watching and following you catch one good glimpse of him, that is a +good beginning. + +I had always heard and read of Megaleep as an awkward, ungainly +animal, but almost my first glimpse of him scattered all that to the +winds and set my nerves a-tingling in a way that they still remember. +It was on a great chain of barrens in the New Brunswick wilderness. I +was following the trail of a herd of caribou one day, when far ahead a +strange clacking sound came ringing across the snow in the crisp +winter air. I ran ahead to a point of woods that cut off my view from +a five-mile barren, only to catch breath in astonishment and drop to +cover behind a scrub spruce. Away up the barren my caribou, a big herd +of them, were coming like an express train straight towards me. At +first I could make out only a great cloud of steam, a whirl of flying +snow, and here and there the angry shake of wide antlers or the gleam +of a black muzzle. The loud clacking of their hoofs, sweeping nearer +and nearer, gave a snap, a tingle, a wild exhilaration to their rush +which made one want to shout and swing his hat. Presently I could make +out the individual animals through the cloud of vapor that drove down +the wind before them. They were going at a splendid trot, rocking +easily from side to side like pacing colts, power, grace, tirelessness +in every stride. Their heads were high, their muzzles up, the antlers +well back on heaving shoulders. Jets of steam burst from their +nostrils at every bound; for the thermometer was twenty below zero, +and the air snapping. A cloud of snow whirled out and up behind them; +through it the antlers waved like bare oak boughs in the wind; the +sound of their hoofs was like the clicking of mighty castanets--"Oh +for a sledge and bells!" I thought; for Santa Claus never had such a +team. + +So they came on swiftly, magnificently, straight on to the cover +behind which I crouched with nerves thrilling as at a cavalry +charge,--till I sprang to my feet with a shout and swung my hat; for, +as there was meat enough in camp, I had small wish to use my rifle, +and no desire whatever to stand that rush at close quarters and be run +down. There was a moment of wild confusion out on the barren just in +front of me. The long swinging trot, that caribou never change if they +can help it, was broken into an awkward jumping gallop. The front rank +reared, plunged, snorted a warning, but were forced onward by the +pressure behind. Then the leading bulls gave a few mighty bounds which +brought them close up to me, but left a clear space for the +frightened, crowding animals behind. The swiftest shot ahead to the +lead; the great herd lengthened out from its compact mass; swerved +easily to the left, as at a word of command; crashed through the +fringe of evergreen in which I had been hiding,--out into the open +again with a wild plunge and a loud cracking of hoofs, where they all +settled into their wonderful trot again, and kept on steadily across +the barren below. + +That was the sight of a lifetime. One who saw it could never again +think of caribou as ungainly animals. + +Megaleep belongs to the tribe of Ishmael. Indeed, his Latin name, as +well as his Indian one, signifies The Wanderer; and if you watch him a +little while you will understand perfectly why he is called so. The +first time I ever met him in summer, in strong contrast to the winter +herd, made his name clear in a moment. It was twilight on a wilderness +lake. I was sitting in my canoe by the inlet, wondering what kind of +bait to use for a big trout which lived in an eddy behind a rock, and +which disdained everything I offered him. The swallows were busy, +skimming low, and taking the young mosquitoes as they rose from the +water. One dipped to the surface near the eddy. As he came down I saw +a swift gleam in the depths below. He touched the water; there was a +swirl, a splash--and the swallow was gone. The trout had him. + +Then a cow caribou came out of the woods onto the grassy point above +me to drink. First she wandered all over the point, making it look +afterwards as if a herd had passed. Then she took a sip of water by a +rock, crossed to my side of the point, and took a sip there; then to +the end of the point, and another sip; then back to the first place. A +nibble of grass, and she waded far out from shore to sip there; then +back, with a nod to a lily pad, and a sip nearer the brook. Finally +she meandered a long way up the shore out of sight, and when I picked +up the paddle to go, she came back again. Truly a _Wandergeist_ of the +woods, like the plover of the coast, who never knows what he wants, +nor why he circles about so, nor where he is going next. + +If you follow the herds over the barrens and through the forest in +winter, you find the same wandering, unsatisfied creature. And if you +are a sportsman and a keen hunter, with well established ways of +trailing and stalking, you will be driven to desperation a score of +times before you get acquainted with Megaleep. He travels enormous +distances without any known object. His trail is everywhere; he is +himself nowhere. You scour the country for a week, crossing +innumerable trails, thinking the surrounding woods must be full of +caribou; then a man in a lumber camp, where you are overtaken by +night, tells you that he saw the herd you are after 'way down on the +Renous barrens, thirty miles below. You go there, and have the same +experience,--signs everywhere, old signs, new signs, but never a +caribou. And, ten to one, while you are there, the caribou are +sniffing your snowshoe track suspiciously back on the barrens that you +have just left. + +Even in feeding, when you are hot on their trail and steal forward +expecting to see them every moment, it is the same exasperating story. +They dig a hole through four feet of packed snow to nibble the +reindeer lichen that grows everywhere on the barrens. Before it is +half eaten they wander off to the next barren and dig a larger hole; +then away to the woods for the gray-green hanging moss that grows on +the spruces. Here is a fallen tree half covered with the rich food. +Megaleep nibbles a bite or two, then wanders away and away in search +of another tree like the one he has just left. + +And when you find him at last, the chances are still against you. You +are stealing forward cautiously when a fresh sign attracts attention. +You stop to examine it a moment. Something gray, dim, misty, seems to +drift like a cloud through the trees ahead. You scarcely notice it +till, on your right, a stir, and another cloud, and another--The +caribou, quick, a score of them! But before your rifle is up and you +have found the sights, the gray things melt into the gray woods and +drift away; and the stalk begins all over again. + +The reason for this restlessness is not far to seek. Megaleep's +ancestors followed regular migrations in spring and autumn, like the +birds, on the unwooded plains beyond the Arctic Circle. Megaleep never +migrates; but the old instinct is in him and will not let him rest. So +he wanders through the year, and is never satisfied. + +Fortunately nature has been kind to Megaleep in providing him with +means to gratify his wandering disposition. In winter, moose and red +deer must gather into yards and stay there. With the first heavy storm +of December, they gather in small bands here and there on the hardwood +ridges, and begin to make paths in the snow,--long, twisted, crooked +paths, running for miles in every direction, crossing and recrossing +in a tangle utterly hopeless to any head save that of a deer or moose. +These paths they keep tramped down and more or less open all winter, +so as to feed on the twigs and bark growing on either side. Were it +not for this curious provision, a single severe winter would leave +hardly a moose or a deer alive in the woods; for their hoofs are sharp +and sink deep, and with six feet of snow on a level they can scarcely +run half a mile outside their paths without becoming hopelessly +stalled or exhausted. + +It is this great tangle of paths, by the way, which makes a deer or a +moose yard; and not the stupid hole in the snow which is pictured in +the geographies and most natural history books. + +But Megaleep the Wanderer makes no such provision he depends upon +Mother Nature to take care of him. In summer he is brown, like the +great tree trunks among which he moves unseen. Then the frog of his +foot expands and grows spongy, so that he can cling to the +mountain-side like a goat, or move silently over the dead leaves. In +winter he becomes a soft gray, the better to fade into a snowstorm, or +to stand concealed in plain sight on the edges of the gray, desolate +barrens that he loves. Then the frog of his foot arches up out of the +way; the edges of his hoof grow sharp and shell-like, so that he can +travel over glare ice without slipping, and cut the crust to dig down +for the moss upon which he feeds. The hoofs, moreover, are very large +and deeply cleft, so as to spread widely when his weight is on them. +When you first find his track in the snow, you rub your eyes, thinking +that a huge ox must have passed that way. The dew-claws are also +large, and the ankle joint so flexible that it lets them down upon the +snow. So Megaleep has a kind of natural snowshoe with which he moves +easily over the crust, and, except in very deep, soft snows, wanders +at will, while other deer are prisoners in their yards. It is the +snapping of these loose hoofs and ankle joints that makes the merry +clacking sound as caribou run. + +Sometimes, however, they overestimate their abilities, and their +wandering disposition brings them into trouble. Once I found a herd of +seven up to their backs in soft snow, and tired out,--a strange +condition for a caribou to be in. They were taking the affair +philosophically, resting till they should gather strength to flounder +to some spruce tops where moss was plenty. When I approached gently on +snowshoes (I had been hunting them diligently the week before to kill +them; but this put a different face on the matter) they gave a bound +or two, then settled deep in the snow, and turned their heads and said +with their great soft eyes: "You have hunted us. Here we are, at your +mercy." + +They were very much frightened at first; then I thought they grew a +bit curious, as I sat down peaceably in the snow to watch them. One--a +doe, more exhausted than the others, and famished--even nibbled a bit +of moss that I pushed near her with a stick. I had picked it with +gloves, so that the smell of my hand was not on it. After an hour or +so, if I moved softly, they let me approach quite up to them without +shaking their antlers or renewing their desperate attempts to flounder +away. But I did not touch them. That is a degradation which no wild +creature will permit when he is free; and I would not take advantage +of their helplessness. + +Did they starve in the snow? you ask. Oh, no! I went to the place next +day and found that they had gained the spruce tops, ploughing through +the snow in great bounds, following the track of the strongest, which +went ahead to break the way. There they fed and rested, then went to +some dense thickets where they passed the night. In a day or two the +snow settled and hardened, and they took to their wandering again. + +Later, in hunting, I crossed their tracks several times, and once I +saw them across a barren; but I left them undisturbed, to follow other +trails. We had eaten together; they had fed from my hand; and there +is no older truce on earth than that, not even in the unchanging East, +where it originated. + +Megaleep in a storm is a most curious creature, the nearest thing to a +ghost to be found in the woods. More than other animals he feels the +falling barometer. His movements at such times drive you to +desperation, if you are following him; for he wanders unceasingly. +When the storm breaks he has a way of appearing suddenly, as if he +were seeking you, when by his trail you thought him miles ahead. And +the way he disappears--just melts into the thick driving flakes and +the shrouded trees--is most uncanny. Six or seven caribou once played +hide-and-seek with me that way, giving me vague glimpses here and +there, drawing near to get my scent, yet keeping me looking up wind +into the driving snow where I could see nothing distinctly. And all +the while they drifted about like so many huge flakes of the storm, +watching my every movement, seeing me perfectly. + +At such times they fear little, and even lay aside their usual +caution. I remember trailing a large herd one day from early morning, +keeping near them all the time, and jumping them half a dozen times, +yet never getting a glimpse because of their extreme watchfulness. For +some reason they were unwilling to leave a small chain of barrens. +Perhaps they knew the storm was coming, when they would be safe; and +so, instead of swinging off into a ten-mile straightaway trot at the +first alarm, they kept dodging back and forth within a two-mile +circle. At last, late in the afternoon, I followed the trail to the +edge of dense evergreen thickets. Caribou generally rest in open woods +or on the windward edge of a barren. Eyes for the open, nose for the +cover, is their motto. And I thought, "They know perfectly well I am +following them, and so have lain down in that tangle. If I go in, they +will hear me; a wood mouse could hardly keep quiet in such a place. If +I go round, they will catch my scent; if I wait, so will they; if I +jump them, the scrub will cover their retreat perfectly." + +As I sat down in the snow to think it over, a heavy rush deep within +the thicket told me that something, not I certainly, had again started +them. Suddenly the air darkened, and above the excitement of the hunt +I felt the storm coming. A storm in the woods is no joke when you are +six miles from camp without axe or blanket. I broke away from the +trail and started for the head of the second barren on the run. If I +could make that, I was safe; for there was a stream near, which led +near to camp; and one cannot very well lose a stream, even in a +snowstorm. But before I was halfway the flakes were driving thick and +soft in my face. Another half-mile, and one could not see fifty feet +in any direction. Still I kept on, holding my course by the wind and +my compass. Then, at the foot of the second barren, my snowshoes +stumbled into great depressions in the snow, and I found myself on the +fresh trail of my caribou again. "If I am lost, I will at least have a +caribou steak, and a skin to wrap me up in," I said, and plunged after +them. As I went, the old Mother Goose rhyme of nursery days came back +and set itself to hunting music: + + Bye, baby bunting, + Daddy's gone a hunting, + For to catch a rabbit skin + To wrap the baby bunting in. + +Presently I began to sing it aloud. It cheered one up in the storm, +and the lilt of it kept time to the leaping kind of gallop which is +the easiest way to run on snowshoes: "Bye, baby bunting; bye, baby +bunting--Hello!" + +A dark mass loomed suddenly up before me on the open barren. The storm +lightened a bit, before setting in heavier; and there were the caribou +just in front of me, standing in a compact mass, the weaker ones in +the middle. They had no thought nor fear of me apparently; they +showed no sign of anger or uneasiness. Indeed, they barely moved aside +as I snowshoed up, in plain sight, without any precaution whatever. +And these were the same animals that had fled upon my approach at +daylight, and that had escaped me all day with marvelous cunning. + +As with other deer, the storm is Megaleep's natural protector. When it +comes he thinks that he is safe; that nobody can see him; that the +falling snow will fill his tracks and kill his scent; and that +whatever follows must speedily seek cover for itself. So he gives up +watching, and lies down where he will. So far as his natural enemies +are concerned, he is safe in this; for lynx and wolf and panther, seek +shelter with a falling barometer. They can neither see nor smell; and +they are all afraid. I have often noticed that among all animals and +birds, from the least to the greatest, there is always a truce when +the storms are out. + +But the most curious thing I ever stumbled into was a caribou school. +That sounds queer; but it is more common in the wilderness than one +thinks. All gregarious animals have perfectly well defined social +regulations, which the young must learn and respect. To learn them, +they go to school in their own interesting way. + +The caribou I am speaking of now are all woodland caribou--larger, +finer animals every way than the barren-ground caribou of the desolate +unwooded regions farther north. In summer they live singly, rearing +their young in deep forest seclusions. There each one does as he +pleases. So when you meet a caribou in summer, he is a different +creature, and has more unknown and curious ways than when he runs with +the herd in midwinter. I remember a solitary old bull that lived on +the mountain-side opposite my camp one summer, a most interesting +mixture of fear and boldness, of reserve and intense curiosity. After +I had hunted him a few times, and he found that my purpose was wholly +peaceable, he took to hunting me in the same way, just to find out who +I was, and what queer thing I was doing. Sometimes I would see him at +sunset on a dizzy cliff across the lake, watching for the curl of +smoke or the coming of a canoe. And when I dove in for a swim and went +splashing, dog-paddle way, about the island where my tent was, he +would walk about in the greatest excitement, and start a dozen times +to come down; but always he ran back for another look, as if +fascinated. Again he would come down on a burned point near the deep +hole where I was fishing, and, hiding his body in the underbrush, +would push his horns up into the bare branches of a withered shrub, +so as to make them inconspicuous, and stand watching me. As long as he +was quiet, it was impossible to see him there; but I could always make +him start nervously by flashing a looking-glass, or flopping a fish in +the water, or whistling a jolly Irish jig. And when I tied a bright +tomato can to a string and set it whirling round my head, or set my +handkerchief for a flag on the end of my trout rod, then he could not +stand it another minute, but came running down to the shore, to stamp, +and fidget, and stare nervously, and scare himself with twenty alarms +while trying to make up his mind to swim out and satisfy his burning +desire to know all about it. But I am forgetting the caribou schools. + +Wherever there are barrens--treeless plains in the midst of dense +forest--the caribou collect in small herds as winter comes on, +following the old gregarious instinct. Then each one cannot do as he +pleases any more; and it is for this winter and spring life together, +when laws must be known, and the rights of the individual be laid +aside for the good of the herd, that the young are trained. + +One afternoon in late summer I was drifting down the Toledi River, +casting for trout, when a movement in the bushes ahead caught my +attention. A great swampy tract of ground, covered with grass and low +brush, spread out on either side the stream. From the canoe I made out +two or three waving lines of bushes where some animals were making +their way through the swamp towards a strip of big timber which formed +a kind of island in the middle. + +Pushing my canoe into the grass, I made for a point just astern of the +nearest quivering line of bushes. A glance at a bit of soft ground +showed me the trail of a mother caribou with her calf. I followed +cautiously, the wind being ahead in my favor. They were not hurrying, +and I took good pains not to alarm them. + +When I reached the timber and crept like a snake through the +underbrush, there were the caribou, five or six mother animals, and +nearly twice as many little ones, well grown, which had evidently just +come in from all directions. They were gathered in a natural opening, +fairly clear of bushes, with a fallen tree or two, which served a good +purpose later. The sunlight fell across it in great golden bars, +making light and shadow to play in; all around was the great marsh, +giving protection from enemies; dense underbrush screened them from +prying eyes--and this was their schoolroom. + +The little ones were pushed out into the middle, away from the +mothers to whom they clung instinctively, and were left to get +acquainted with each other, which they did very shyly at first, like +so many strange children. It was all new and curious, this meeting of +their kind; for till now they had lived in dense solitudes, each one +knowing no living creature save its own mother. Some were timid, and +backed away as far as possible into the shadow, looking with wild, +wide eyes from one to another of the little caribou, and bolting to +their mothers' sides at every unusual movement. Others were bold, and +took to butting at the first encounter. But careful, kindly eyes +watched over them. Now and then a mother caribou would come from the +shadows and push a little one gently from his retreat under a bush out +into the company. Another would push her way between two heads that +lowered at each other threateningly, and say with a warning shake of +her head that butting was no good way to get along together. I had +once thought, watching a herd on the barrens through my glasses, that +they are the gentlest of animals with each other. Here in the little +school in the heart of the swamp I found the explanation of things. + +For over an hour I lay there and watched, my curiosity growing more +eager every moment; for most of what I saw I could not comprehend, +having no key, nor understanding why certain youngsters, who needed +reproof according to my standards, were let alone, and others kept +moving constantly, and still others led aside often to be talked to by +their mothers. But at last came a lesson in which all joined, and +which could not be misunderstood, not even by a man. It was the +jumping lesson. + +Caribou are naturally poor jumpers. Beside a deer, who often goes out +of his way to jump a fallen tree just for the fun of it, they have no +show whatever; though they can travel much farther in a day and much +easier. Their gait is a swinging trot, from which it is impossible to +jump; and if you frighten them out of their trot into a gallop and +keep them at it, they soon grow exhausted. Countless generations on +the northern wastes, where there is no need of jumping, have bred this +habit, and modified their muscles accordingly. But now a race of +caribou has moved south into the woods, where great trees lie fallen +across the way, and where, if Megaleep is in a hurry or there is +anybody behind him, jumping is a necessity. Still he doesn't like it, +and avoids it whenever possible. The little ones, left to themselves, +would always crawl under a tree, or trot round it. And this is another +thing to overcome, and another lesson to be taught in the caribou +school. + +As I watched them the mothers all came out from the shadows and began +trotting round the opening, the little ones keeping close as possible, +each one to its mother's side. Then the old ones went faster; the +calves were left in a long line stringing out behind. Suddenly the +leader veered in to the edge of the timber and went over a fallen tree +with a jump; the cows followed splendidly, rising on one side, falling +gracefully on the other, like gray waves racing past the end of a +jetty. But the first little one dropped his head obstinately at the +tree and stopped short. The next one did the same thing; only he ran +his head into the first one's legs and knocked them out from under +him. The others whirled with a _ba-a-a-ah_, and scampered round the +tree and up to their mothers, who had turned now and stood watching +anxiously to see the effect of their lesson. Then it began over again. + +It was true kindergarten teaching; for under guise of a frolic the +calves were being taught a needful lesson,--not only to jump, but, far +more important than that, to follow a leader, and to go where he goes +without question or hesitation. For the leaders on the barrens are +wise old bulls that make no mistakes. Most of the little caribou took +to the sport very well, and presently followed the mothers over the +low hurdles. But a few were timid; and then came the most intensely +interesting bit of the whole strange school, when a little one would +be led to a tree and butted from behind till he took the jump. + +There was no "consent of the governed" in that governing. The mother +knew, and the calf didn't, just what was good for him. + +It was this last lesson that broke up the school. Just in front of my +hiding place a tree fell out into the opening. A mother caribou +brought her calf up to this unsuspectingly, and leaped over, expecting +the little one to follow. As she struck she whirled like a top and +stood like a beautiful statue, her head pointing in my direction. Her +eyes were bright with fear, the ears set forward, the nostrils spread +to catch every tainted atom from the air. Then she turned and glided +silently away, the little one close to her side, looking up and +touching her frequently as if to whisper, _What is it? what is it?_ +but making no sound. There was no signal given, no alarm of any kind +that I could understand; yet the lesson stopped instantly. The caribou +glided away like shadows. Over across the opening a bush swayed here +and there; a leaf quivered as if something touched its branch. Then +the schoolroom was empty and the woods all still. + +There is another curious habit of Megaleep; and this one I am utterly +at a loss to account for. When he is old and feeble, and the tireless +muscles will no longer carry him with the herd over the wind-swept +barrens, and he falls sick at last, he goes to a spot far away in the +woods, where generations of his ancestors have preceded him, and there +lays him down to die. It is the caribou burying ground; and all the +animals of a certain district, or a certain herd (I am unable to tell +which), will go there when sick or sore wounded, if they have strength +enough to reach the spot. For it is far away from the scene of their +summer homes and their winter wanderings. + +I know one such place, and visited it twice from my summer camp. It is +in a dark tamarack swamp by a lonely lake at the head of the +Little-South-West Miramichi River, in New Brunswick. I found it one +summer when trying to force my way from the big lake to a smaller one, +where trout were plenty. In the midst of the swamp I stumbled upon a +pair of caribou skeletons, which surprised me; for there were no +hunters within a hundred miles, and at that time the lake had lain for +many years unvisited. I thought of fights between bucks, and bull +moose, how two bulls will sometimes lock horns in a rush, and are too +weakened to break the lock, and so die together of exhaustion. +Caribou are more peaceable; they rarely fight that way; and, besides, +the horns here were not locked together, but lying well apart. As I +searched about, looking for the explanation of things, thinking of +wolves, yet wondering why the bones were not gnawed, I found another +skeleton, much older, then four or five more; some quite fresh, others +crumbling into mould. Bits of old bone and some splendid antlers were +scattered here and there through the underbrush; and when I scraped +away the dead leaves and moss, there were older bones and fragments +mouldering beneath. + +I scarcely understood the meaning of it at the time; but since then I +have met men, Indians and hunters, who have spent much time in the +wilderness, who speak of "bone yards" which they have discovered, +places where they can go at any time and be sure of finding a good set +of caribou antlers. And they say that the caribou go there to die. + +All animals, when feeble with age, or sickly, or wounded, have the +habit of going away deep into the loneliest coverts, and there lying +down where the leaves shall presently cover them. So that one rarely +finds a dead bird or animal in the woods where thousands die yearly. +Even your dog, that was born and lived by your house, often +disappears when you thought him too feeble to walk. Death calls him +gently; the old wolf stirs deep within him, and he goes away where the +master he served will never find him. And so with your cat, which is +only skin-deep a domestic animal; and so with your canary, which in +death alone would be free, and beats his failing wings against the +cage in which he lived so long content. But these all go away singly, +each to his own place. The caribou is the only animal I know that +remembers, when his separation comes, the ties which bound him to the +herd winter after winter, through sun and storm, in the forest where +all was peace and plenty, and on the lonely barrens where the gray +wolf howled on his track; so that he turns with his last strength from +the herd he is leaving to the greater herd which has gone before +him--still following his leaders, remembering his first lesson to the +end. + +Sometimes I have wondered whether this also were taught in the caribou +school; whether once in his life Megaleep were led to the spot and +made to pass through it, so that he should feel its meaning and +remember. That is not likely; for the one thing which an animal cannot +understand is death. And there were no signs of living caribou +anywhere near the place that I discovered; though down at the other +end of the lake their tracks were everywhere. + +There are other questions, which one can only ask without answering. +Is this silent gathering merely a tribute to the old law of the herd, +or does Megaleep, with his last strength, still think to cheat his old +enemy, and go away where the wolf that followed him all his life shall +not find him? How was his resting place first selected, and what +leaders searched out the ground? What sound or sign, what murmur of +wind in the pines, or lap of ripples on the shore, or song of the +veery at twilight made them pause and say, _Here is the place_? How +does he know, he whose thoughts are all of life, and who never looked +on death, where the great silent herd is that no caribou ever sees but +once? And what strange instinct guides Megaleep to the spot where all +his wanderings end at last? + + + + +II. KILLOOLEET, LITTLE SWEET-VOICE. + +[Illustration: Killooleet] + + +The day was cold, the woods were wet, and the weather was beastly +altogether when Killooleet first came and sang on my ridgepole. The +fishing was poor down in the big lake, and there were signs of +civilization here and there, in the shape of settlers' cabins, which +we did not like; so we had pushed up river, Simmo and I, thirty miles +in the rain, to a favorite camping ground on a smaller lake, where we +had the wilderness all to ourselves. + +The rain was still falling, and the lake white-capped, and the forest +all misty and wind-blown when we ran our canoes ashore by the old +cedar that marked our landing place. First we built a big fire to +dry some boughs to sleep upon; then we built our houses, Simmo a +bark _commoosie_, and I a little tent; and I was inside, getting +dry clothes out of a rubber bag, when I heard a white-throated +sparrow calling cheerily his Indian name, _O hear, sweet +Killooleet-lillooleet-lillooleet!_ And the sound was so sunny, so good +to hear in the steady drip of rain on the roof, that I went out to see +the little fellow who had bid us welcome to the wilderness. + +Simmo had heard too. He was on his hands and knees, just his dark face +peering by the corner stake of his _commoosie_, so as to see better +the little singer on my tent.--"Have better weather and better luck +now. Killooleet sing on ridgepole," he said confidently. Then we +spread some cracker crumbs for the guest and turned in to sleep till +better times. + +That was the beginning of a long acquaintance. It was also the first +of many social calls from a whole colony of white-throats (Tom-Peabody +birds) that lived on the mountain-side just behind my tent, and that +came one by one to sing to us, and to get acquainted, and to share our +crumbs. Sometimes, too, in rainy weather, when the woods seemed wetter +than the lake, and Simmo would be sleeping philosophically, and I +reading, or tying trout flies in the tent, I would hear a gentle stir +and a rustle or two just outside, under the tent fly. Then, if I crept +out quietly, I would find Killooleet exploring my goods to find where +the crackers grew, or just resting contentedly under the fly where it +was dry and comfortable. + +It was good to live there among them, with the mountain at our backs +and the lake at our feet, and peace breathing in every breeze or +brooding silently over the place at twilight. Rain or shine, day or +night, these white-throated sparrows are the sunniest, cheeriest folk +to be found anywhere in the woods. I grew to understand and love the +Milicete name, Killooleet, Little Sweet-Voice, for its expressiveness. +"Hour-Bird" the Micmacs call him; for they say he sings every hour, +and so tells the time, "all same's one white man's watch." And indeed +there is rarely an hour, day or night, in the northern woods when you +cannot hear Killooleet singing. Other birds grow silent after they +have won their mates, or they grow fat and lazy as summer advances, or +absorbed in the care of their young, and have no time nor thought for +singing. But not so Killooleet. He is kinder to his mate after he has +won her, and never lets selfishness or the summer steal away his +music; for he knows that the woods are brighter for his singing. + +Sometimes, at night, I would, take a brand from the fire, and follow a +deer path that wound about the mountain, or steal away into a dark +thicket and strike a parlor match. As the flame shot up, lighting its +little circle of waiting leaves, there would be a stir beside me in +the underbrush, or overhead in the fir; then tinkling out of the +darkness, like a brook under the snow, would come the low clear strain +of melody that always set my heart a-dancing,--_I'm here, sweet +Killooleet-lillooleet-lillooleet_, the good-night song of my gentle +neighbor. Then along the path a little way, and another match, and +another song to make one better and his rest sweeter. + +By day I used to listen to them, hours long at a stretch, practicing +to perfect their song. These were the younger birds, of course; and +for a long time they puzzled me. Those who know Killooleet's song will +remember that it begins with three clear sweet notes; but very few +have observed the break between the second and third of these. I +noticed, first of all, that certain birds would start the song twenty +times in succession, yet never get beyond the second note. And when I +crept up, to find out about it, I would find them sitting +disconsolately, deep in shadow, instead of out in the light where they +love to sing, with a pitiful little droop of wings and tail, and the +air of failure and dejection in every movement. Then again these same +singers would touch the third note, and always in such cases they +would prolong the last trill, the _lillooleet-lillooleet_ (the +_Peabody-Peabody_, as some think of it), to an indefinite length, +instead of stopping at the second or third repetition, which is the +rule with good singers. Then they would come out of the shadow, and +stir about briskly, and sing again with an air of triumph. + +One day, while lying still in the underbrush watching a wood mouse, +Killooleet, a fine male bird and a perfect singer, came and sang on a +branch just over my head, not noticing me. Then I discovered that +there is a trill, a tiny grace note or yodel, at the end of his second +note. I listened carefully to other singers, as close as I could get, +and found that it is always there, and is the one difficult part of +the song. You must be very close to the bird to appreciate the beauty +of this little yodel; for ten feet away it sounds like a faint cluck +interrupting the flow of the third note; and a little farther away you +cannot hear it at all. + +[Illustration: Killooleet] + +Whatever its object, Killooleet regards this as the indispensable part +of his song, and never goes on to the third note unless he gets the +second perfectly. That accounts for the many times when one hears only +the first two notes. That accounts also for the occasional prolonged +trill which one hears; for when a young bird has tried many times for +his grace note without success, and then gets it unexpectedly, he is +so pleased with himself that he forgets he is not Whippoorwill, who +tries to sing as long as the brook without stopping, and so keeps up +the final _lillooleet-lillooleet_ as long as he has an atom of breath +left to do it with. + +But of all the Killooleets,--and there were many that I soon +recognized, either by their songs, or by some peculiarity in their +striped caps or brown jackets,--the most interesting was the one who +first perched on my ridgepole and bade me welcome to his camping +ground. I soon learned to distinguish him easily; his cap was very +bright, and his white cravat very full, and his song never stopped at +the second note, for he had mastered the trill perfectly. Then, too, +he was more friendly and fearless than all the others. The morning +after our arrival (it was better weather, as Simmo and Killooleet had +predicted) we were eating breakfast by the fire, when he lit on the +ground close by, and turned his head sidewise to look at us curiously. +I tossed him a big crumb, which made him run away in fright; but when +he thought we were not looking he stole back, touched, tasted, ate the +whole of it. And when I threw him another crumb, he hopped to meet it. + +After that he came regularly to meals, and would look critically over +the tin plate which I placed at my feet, and pick and choose daintily +from the cracker and trout and bacon and porridge which I offered him. +Soon he began to take bits away with him, and I could hear him, just +inside the fringe of underbrush, persuading his mate to come too and +share his plate. But she was much shyer than he; it was several days +before I noticed her flitting in and out of the shadowy underbrush; +and when I tossed her the first crumb, she flew away in a terrible +fright. Gradually, however, Killooleet persuaded her that we were +kindly, and she came often to meals; but she would never come near, to +eat from my tin plate, till after I had gone away. + +Never a day now passed that one or both of the birds did not rest on +my tent. When I put my head out, like a turtle out of his shell, in +the early morning to look at the weather, Killooleet would look down +from the projecting end of the ridgepole and sing good-morning. And +when I had been out late on the lake, night-fishing, or following the +inlet for beaver, or watching the grassy points for caribou, or just +drifting along shore silently to catch the night sounds and smells of +the woods, I would listen with childish anticipation for Killooleet's +welcome as I approached the landing. He had learned to recognize the +sounds of my coming, the rub of a careless paddle, the ripple of +water under the bow, or the grating of pebbles on the beach; and with +Simmo asleep, and the fire low, it was good to be welcomed back by a +cheery little voice in the darkness; for he always sang when he heard +me. Sometimes I would try to surprise him; but his sleep was too light +and his ears too keen. The canoe would glide up to the old cedar and +touch the shore noiselessly; but with the first crunch of gravel under +my foot, or the rub of my canoe as I lifted it out, he would waken; +and his song, all sweetness and cheer, _I'm here, sweet +Killooleet-lillooleet-lillooleet_, would ripple out of the dark +underbrush where his nest was. + +I am glad now to think that I never saw that nest, though it was +scarcely ten yards from my tent, until after the young had flown, and +Killooleet cared no more about it. I knew the bush in which it was, +close by the deer path; could pick out from my fireplace the thick +branch that sheltered it; for I often watched the birds coming and +going. I have no doubt that Killooleet would have welcomed me there +without fear; but his mate never laid aside her shyness about it, +never went to it directly when I was looking, and I knew he would like +me better if I respected her little secret. + +Soon, from the mate's infrequent visits, and from the amount of food +which Killooleet took away with him, I knew she was brooding her eggs. +And when at last both birds came together, and, instead of helping +themselves hungrily, each took the largest morsel he could carry and +hurried away to the nest, I knew that the little ones were come; and I +spread the plate more liberally, and moved it away to the foot of the +old cedar, where Killooleet's mate would not be afraid to come at any +time. + +One day, not long after, as I sat at a late breakfast after the +morning's fishing, there was a great stir in the underbrush. Presently +Killooleet came skipping out, all fuss and feathers, running back and +forth with an air of immense importance between the last bush and the +plate by the cedar, crying out in his own way, "Here it is, here it +is, all right, just by the old tree as usual. Crackers, trout, brown +bread, porridge; come on, come on; don't be afraid. _He's_ here, but +he won't harm. I know him. Come on, come on!" + +Soon his little gray mate appeared under the last bush, and after much +circumspection came hopping towards the breakfast; and after her, in a +long line, five little Killooleets, hopping, fluttering, cheeping, +stumbling,--all in a fright at the big world, but all in a desperate +hurry for crackers and porridge _ad libitum_; now casting hungry eyes +at the plate under the old cedar, now stopping to turn their heads +sidewise to see the big kind animal with only two legs, that +Killooleet had told them about, no doubt, many times. + +After that we had often seven guests to breakfast, instead of two. It +was good to hear them, the lively _tink, tink-a-tink_ of their little +bills on the tin plate in a merry tattoo, as I ate my own tea and +trout thankfully. I had only to raise my eyes to see them in a bobbing +brown ring about my bounty; and, just beyond them, the lap of ripples +on the beach, the lake glinting far away in the sunshine, and a bark +canoe fretting at the landing, swinging, veering, nodding at the +ripples, and beckoning me to come away as soon as I had finished my +breakfast. + +Before the little Killooleets had grown accustomed to things, however, +occurred the most delicious bit of our summer camping. It was only a +day or two after their first appearance; they knew simply that crumbs +and a welcome awaited them at my camp, but had not yet learned that +the tin plate in the cedar roots was their special portion. Simmo had +gone off at daylight, looking up beaver signs for his fall trapping. I +had just returned from the morning fishing, and was getting breakfast, +when I saw an otter come out into the lake from a cold brook over on +the east shore. Grabbing a handful of figs, and some pilot bread from +the cracker box, I paddled away after the otter; for that is an animal +which one has small chance to watch nowadays. Besides, I had found a +den over near the brook, and I wanted to find out, if possible, how a +mother otter teaches her young to swim. For, though otters live much +in the water and love it, the young ones are afraid of it as so many +kittens. So the mother-- + +But I must tell about that elsewhere. I did not find out that day; for +the young were already good swimmers. I watched the den two or three +hours from a good hiding place, and got several glimpses of the mother +and the little ones. On the way back I ran into a little bay where a +mother shelldrake was teaching her brood to dive and catch trout. +There was also a big frog there that always sat in the same place, and +that I used to watch. Then I thought of a trap, two miles away, which +Simmo had set, and went to see if Nemox, the cunning fisher, who +destroys the sable traps in winter, had been caught at his own game. +So it was afternoon, and I was hungry, when I paddled back to camp. It +occurred to me suddenly that Killooleet might be hungry too; for I had +neglected to feed him. He had grown sleek and comfortable of late, and +never went insect hunting when he could get cold fried trout and corn +bread. + +I landed silently and stole up to the tent to see if he were exploring +under the fly, as he sometimes did when I was away. A curious sound, a +hollow _tunk, tunk, tunk, tunk-a-tunk_, grew louder as I approached. I +stole to the big cedar, where I could see the fireplace and the little +opening before my tent, and noticed first that I had left the cracker +box open (it was almost empty) when I hurried away after the otter. +The curious sound was inside, growing more eager every moment--_tunk, +tunk, tunk-a-trrrrrrr-runk, tunk, tunk!_ + +I crept on my hands and knees to the box, to see what queer thing had +found his way to the crackers, and peeped cautiously over the edge. +There were Killooleet, and Mrs. Killooleet, and the five little +Killooleets, just seven hopping brown backs and bobbing heads, helping +themselves to the crackers. And the sound of their bills on the empty +box made the jolliest tattoo that ever came out of a camping kit. + +I crept away more cautiously than I had come, and, standing carelessly +in my tent door, whistled the call I always used in feeding the birds. +Like a flash Killooleet appeared on the edge of the cracker box, +looking very much surprised. "I thought you were away; why, I thought +you were away," he seemed to be saying. Then he clucked, and the +_tunk-a-tunk_ ceased instantly. Another cluck, and Mrs. Killooleet +appeared, looking frightened; then, one after another, the five little +Killooleets bobbed up; and there they sat in a solemn row on the edge +of the cracker box, turning their heads sidewise to see me better. + +"There!" said Killooleet, "didn't I tell you he wouldn't hurt you?" +And like five winks the five little Killooleets were back in the box, +and the _tunk-a-tunking_ began again. + +This assurance that they might do as they pleased, and help themselves +undisturbed to whatever they found, seemed to remove the last doubt +from the mind of even the little gray mate. After that they stayed +most of the time close about my tent, and were never so far away, or +so busy insect hunting, that they would not come when I whistled and +scattered crumbs. The little Killooleets grew amazingly, and no +wonder! They were always eating, always hungry. I took good pains to +give them less than they wanted, and so had the satisfaction of +feeding them often, and of finding their tin plate picked clean +whenever I came back from fishing. + +Did the woods seem lonely to Killooleet when we paddled away at last +and left the wilderness for another year? That is a question which I +would give much, or watch long, to answer. There is always a regret at +leaving a good camping ground, but I had never packed up so +unwillingly before. Killooleet was singing, cheery as ever; but my own +heart gave a minor chord of sadness to his trill that was not there +when he sang on my ridgepole. Before leaving I had baked a loaf, big +and hard, which I fastened with stakes at the foot of the old cedar, +with a tin plate under it and a bark roof above, so that when it +rained, and insects were hidden under the leaves, and their hunting +was no fun because the woods were wet, Killooleet and his little ones +would find food, and remember me. And so we paddled away and left him +to the wilderness. + +A year later my canoe touched the same old landing. For ten months I +had been in the city, where Killooleet never sings, and where the +wilderness is only a memory. In the fall, on some long tramps, I had +occasional glimpses of the little singer, solitary now and silent, +stealing southward ahead of the winter. And in the spring he showed +himself rarely in the underbrush on country roads, eager, restless, +chirping, hurrying northward where the streams were clear and the big +woods budding. But never a song in all that time; my ears were hungry +for his voice as I leaped out to run eagerly to the big cedar. There +were the stakes, and the tin plate, and the bark roof all crushed by +the snows of winter. The bread was gone; what Killooleet had spared, +Tookhees the wood mouse had eaten thankfully. I found the old tent +poles and put up my house leisurely, a hundred happy memories +thronging about me. In the midst of them came a call, a clear +whistle,--and there he was, the same full cravat, the same bright cap, +and the same perfect song to set my nerves a-tingling: _I'm here, +sweet Killooleet-lillooleet-lillooleet!_ And when I put crumbs by the +old fireplace, he flew down to help himself, and went off with the +biggest one, as of yore, to his nest by the deer path. + + + + +III. KAGAX THE BLOODTHIRSTY. + +[Illustration: Kagax] + + +This is the story of one day, the last one, in the life of Kagax the +Weasel, who turns white in winter, and yellow in spring, and brown in +summer, the better to hide his villainy. + +It was early twilight when Kagax came out of his den in the rocks, +under the old pine that lightning had blasted. Day and night were +meeting swiftly but warily, as they always meet in the woods. The life +of the sunshine came stealing nestwards and denwards in the peace of a +long day and a full stomach; the night life began to stir in its +coverts, eager, hungry, whining. Deep in the wild raspberry thickets a +wood thrush rang his vesper bell softly; from the mountain top a night +hawk screamed back an answer, and came booming down to earth, where +the insects were rising in myriads. Near the thrush a striped chipmunk +sat chunk-a-chunking his sleepy curiosity at a burned log which a bear +had just torn open for red ants; while down on the lake shore a +cautious _plash-plash_ told where a cow moose had come out of the +alders with her calf to sup on the yellow lily roots and sip the +freshest water. Everywhere life was stirring; everywhere cries, calls, +squeaks, chirps, rustlings, which only the wood-dweller knows how to +interpret, broke in upon the twilight stillness. + +Kagax grinned and showed all his wicked little teeth as the many +voices went up from lake and stream and forest. "Mine, all mine--to +kill," he snarled, and his eyes began to glow deep red. Then he +stretched one sinewy paw after another, rolled over, climbed a tree, +and jumped down from a swaying twig to get the sleep all out of him. + +Kagax had slept too much, and was mad with the world. The night +before, he had killed from sunset to sunrise, and much tasting of +blood had made him heavy. So he had slept all day long, only stirring +once to kill a partridge that had drummed near his den and waked him +out of sleep. But he was too heavy to hunt then, so he crept back +again, leaving the bird untasted under the end of his own drumming +log. Now Kagax was eager to make up for lost time; for all time is +lost to Kagax that is not spent in killing. That is why he runs night +and day, and barely tastes the blood of his victims, and sleeps only +an hour or two of cat naps at a time--just long enough to gather +energy for more evil doing. + +As he stretched himself again, a sudden barking and snickering came +from a giant spruce on the hill just above. Meeko, the red squirrel, +had discovered a new jay's nest, and was making a sensation over it, +as he does over everything that he has not happened to see before. Had +he known who was listening, he would have risked his neck in a +headlong rush for safety; for all the wild things fear Kagax as they +fear death. But no wild thing ever knows till too late that a weasel +is near. + +Kagax listened a moment, a ferocious grin on his pointed face; then he +stole towards the sound. "I intended to kill those young hares first," +he thought, "but this fool squirrel will stretch my legs better, and +point my nose, and get the sleep out of me--There he is, in the big +spruce!" + +Kagax had not seen the squirrel; but that did not matter; he can +locate a victim better with his nose or ears than he can with his +eyes. The moment he was sure of the place, he rushed forward without +caution. Meeko was in the midst of a prolonged snicker at the scolding +jays, when he heard a scratch on the bark below, turned, looked down, +and fled with a cry of terror. Kagax was already halfway up the tree, +the red fire blazing in his eyes. + +The squirrel rushed to the end of a branch, jumped to a smaller +spruce, ran that up to the top; then, because his fright had made him +forget the tree paths that ordinarily he knew very well, he sprang out +and down to the ground, a clear fifty feet, breaking his fall by +catching and holding for an instant a swaying fir tip on the way. Then +he rushed pell-mell over logs and rocks, and through the underbrush to +a maple, and from that across a dozen trees to another giant spruce, +where he ran up and down desperately over half the branches, crossing +and crisscrossing his trail, and dropped panting at last into a little +crevice under a broken limb. There he crouched into the smallest +possible space and watched, with an awful fear in his eyes, the rough +trunk below. + +Far behind him came Kagax, grim, relentless, silent as death. He paid +no attention to scratching claws nor swaying branches, never looking +for the jerking red tip of Meeko's tail, nor listening for the loud +thump of his feet when he struck the ground. A pair of brave little +flycatchers saw the chase and rushed at the common enemy, striking him +with their beaks, and raising an outcry that brought a score of +frightened, clamoring birds to the scene. But Kagax never heeded. His +whole being seemed to be concentrated in the point of his nose. He +followed like a bloodhound to the top of the second spruce, sniffed +here and there till he caught the scent of Meeko's passage through the +air, ran to the end of a branch in the same direction and leaped to +the ground, landing not ten feet from the spot where the squirrel had +struck a moment before. There he picked up the trail, followed over +logs and rocks to the maple, up to the third branch, and across fifty +yards of intervening branches to the giant spruce where his victim sat +half paralyzed, watching from his crevice. + +Here Kagax was more deliberate. Left and right, up and down he went +with deadly patience, from the lowest branch to the top, a hundred +feet above, following every cross and winding of the trail. A dozen +times he stopped, went back, picked up the fresher trail, and went on +again. A dozen times he passed within a few feet of his victim, +smelling him strongly, but scorning to use his eyes till his nose had +done its perfect work. So he came to the last turn, followed the last +branch, his nose to the bark, straight to the crevice under the broken +branch, where Meeko crouched shivering, knowing it was all over. + +There was a cry, that no one heeded in the woods; there was a flash +of sharp teeth, and the squirrel fell, striking the ground with a +heavy thump. Kagax ran down the trunk, sniffed an instant at the body +without touching it, and darted away to the form among the ferns. He +had passed it at daylight when he was too heavy for killing. + +Halfway to the lake, he stopped; a thrilling song from a dead spruce +top bubbled out over the darkening woods. When a hermit thrush sings +like that, his nest is somewhere just below. Kagax began twisting in +and out like a snake among the bushes, till a stir in a tangle of +raspberry vines, which no ears but his or an owl's would ever notice, +made him shrink close to the ground and look up. The red fire blazed +in his eyes again; for there was Mother Thrush just settling onto her +nest, not five feet from his head. + +To climb the raspberry vines without shaking them, and so alarming the +bird, was out of the question; but there was a fire-blasted tree just +behind. Kagax climbed it stealthily on the side away from the bird, +crept to a branch over the nest, and leaped down. Mother Thrush was +preening herself sleepily, feeling the grateful warmth of her eggs and +listening to the wonderful song overhead, when the blow came. Before +she knew what it was, the sharp teeth had met in her brain. The +pretty nest would never again wait for a brooding mother in the +twilight. + +All the while the wonderful song went on; for the hermit thrush, +pouring his soul out, far above on the dead spruce top, heard not a +sound of the tragedy below. + +Kagax flung the warm body aside savagely, bit through the ends of the +three eggs, wishing they were young thrushes, and leaped to the +ground. There he just tasted the brain of his victim to whet his +appetite, listened a moment, crouching among the dead leaves, to the +melody overhead, wishing it were darker, so that the hermit would come +down and he could end his wicked work. Then he glided away to the +young hares. + +There were five of them in the form, hidden among the coarse brakes of +a little opening. Kagax went straight to the spot. A weasel never +forgets. He killed them all, one after another, slowly, deliberately, +by a single bite through the spine, tasting only the blood of the last +one. Then he wriggled down among the warm bodies and waited, his nose +to the path by which Mother Hare had gone away. He knew well she would +soon be coming back. + +Presently he heard her, _put-a-put_, _put-a-put_, hopping along the +path, with a waving line of ferns to show just where she was. Kagax +wriggled lower among his helpless victims; his eyes blazed red again, +so red that Mother Hare saw them and stopped short. Then Kagax sat up +straight among the dead babies and screeched in her face. + +The poor creature never moved a step; she only crouched low before her +own door and began to shiver violently. Kagax ran up to her; raised +himself on his hind legs so as to place his fore paws on her neck; +chose his favorite spot behind the ears, and bit. The hare +straightened out, the quivering ceased. A tiny drop of blood followed +the sharp teeth on either side. Kagax licked it greedily and hurried +away, afraid to spoil his hunt by drinking. + +But he had scarcely entered the woods, running heedlessly, when the +moss by a great stone stirred with a swift motion. There was a squeak +of fright as Kagax jumped forward like lightning--but too late. +Tookhees, the timid little wood mouse, who was digging under the moss +for twin-flower roots to feed his little ones, had heard the enemy +coming, and dove headlong into his hole, just in time to escape the +snap of Kagax's teeth. + +That angered the fiery little weasel like poking a stick at him. To be +caught napping, or to be heard running through the woods, is more than +he can possibly stand. His eyes fairly snapped as he began digging +furiously. Below, he could hear a chorus of faint squeaks, the clamor +of young wood mice for their supper. But a few inches down, and the +hole doubled under a round stone, then vanished between two roots +close together. Try as he would, Kagax could only wear his claws out, +without making any progress. He tried to force his shoulders through; +for a weasel thinks he can go anywhere. But the hole was too small. +Kagax cried out in rage and took up the trail. A dozen times he ran it +from the hole to the torn moss, where Tookhees had been digging roots, +and back again; then, sure that all the wood mice were inside, he +tried to tear his way between the obstinate roots. As well try to claw +down the tree itself. + +All the while Tookhees, who always has just such a turn in his tunnel, +and who knows perfectly when he is safe, crouched just below the +roots, looking up with steady little eyes, like two black beads, at +his savage pursuer, and listening in a kind of dumb terror to his +snarls of rage. + +Kagax gave it up at last and took to running in circles. Wider and +wider he went, running swift and silent, his nose to the ground, +seeking other mice on whom to wreak his vengeance. Suddenly he struck +a fresh trail and ran it straight to the clearing where a foolish +field mouse had built a nest in a tangle of dry brakes. Kagax caught +and killed the mother as she rushed out in alarm. Then he tore the +nest open and killed all the little ones. He tasted the blood of one +and went on again. + +The failure to catch the wood mouse still rankled in his head and kept +his eyes bright red. Suddenly he turned from his course along the lake +shore; he began to climb the ridge. Up and up he went, crossing a +dozen trails that ordinarily he would have followed, till he came to +where a dead tree had fallen and lodged against a big spruce, near the +summit. There he crouched in the underbrush and waited. + +Up near the top of the dead tree, a pair of pine martens had made +their den in the hollow trunk, and reared a family of young martens +that drew Kagax's evil thoughts like a magnet. The marten belongs to +the weasel's own family; therefore, as a choice bit of revenge, Kagax +would rather kill him than anything else. A score of times he had +crouched in this same place and waited for his chance. But the marten +is larger and stronger every way than the weasel, and, though shyer, +almost as savage in a fight. And Kagax was afraid. + +But to-night Kagax was in a more vicious mood than ever before; and a +weasel's temper is always the most vicious thing in the woods. He +stole forward at last and put his nose to the foot of the leaning +tree. Two fresh trails went out; none came back. Kagax followed them +far enough to be sure that both martens were away hunting; then he +turned and ran like a flash up the incline and into the den. + +In a moment he came out, licking his chops greedily. Inside, the young +martens lay just as they had been left by the mother; only they began +to grow very cold. Kagax ran to the great spruce, along a branch into +another tree; then to the ground by a dizzy jump. There he ran swiftly +for a good half hour in a long diagonal down towards the lake, +crisscrossing his trail here and there as he ran. + +Once more his night's hunting began, with greater zeal than before. He +was hungry now; his nose grew keen as a brier for every trail. A faint +smell stopped him, so faint that the keenest-nosed dog or fox would +have passed without turning, the smell of a brooding partridge on her +eggs. There she was, among the roots of a pine, sitting close and +blending perfectly with the roots and the brown needles. Kagax moved +like a shadow; his nose found the bird; before she could spring he was +on her back, and his teeth had done their evil work. Once more he +tasted the fresh brains with keen relish. He broke all the eggs, so +that none else might profit by his hunting, and went on again. + +On some moist ground, under a hemlock, he came upon the fresh trail of +a wandering hare--no simple, unsuspecting mother, coming back to her +babies, but a big, strong, suspicious fellow, who knew how to make a +run for his life. Kagax was still fresh and eager; here was game that +would stretch his muscles. The red lust of killing flamed into his +eyes as he jumped away on the trail. + +Soon, by the long distances between tracks, he knew that the hare was +startled. The scent was fresher now, so fresh that he could follow it +in the air, without putting his nose to the ground. + +Suddenly a great commotion sounded among the bushes just ahead, where +a moment before all was still. The hare had been lying there, watching +his back track to see what was following. When he saw the red eyes of +Kagax, he darted away wildly. A few hundred yards, and the foolish +hare, who could run far faster than his pursuer, dropped in the bushes +again to watch and see if the weasel was still after him. + +Kagax was following, swiftly, silently. Again the hare bounded away, +only to stop and scare himself into fits by watching his own trail +till the red eyes of the weasel blazed into view. So it went on for a +half hour, through brush and brake and swamp, till the hare had lost +all his wits and began to run wildly in small circles. Then Kagax +turned, ran the back track a little way, and crouched flat on the +ground. + +In a moment the hare came tearing along on his own trail--straight +towards the yellow-brown ball under a fern tip. Kagax waited till he +was almost run over; then he sprang up and screeched. That ended the +chase. The hare just dropped on his fore paws. Kagax jumped for his +head; his teeth met; the hunger began to gnaw, and he drank his fill +greedily. + +For a time the madness of the chase seemed to be in the blood he +drank. Keener than ever to kill, he darted away on a fresh trail. But +soon his feast began to tell; his feet grew heavy. Angry at himself, +he lay down to sleep their weight away. + +Far behind him, under the pine by the partridge's nest, a long dark +shadow seemed to glide over the ground. A pointed nose touched the +leaves here and there; over, the nose a pair of fierce little eyes +glowed deep red as Kagax's own. So the shadow came to the partridge's +nest, passed over it, minding not the scent of broken eggs nor of the +dead bird, but only the scent of the weasel, and vanished into the +underbrush on the trail. + +Kagax woke with a start and ran on. A big bullfrog croaked down on the +shore. Kagax stalked and killed him, leaving his carcass untouched +among the lily pads. A dead pine in a thicket attracted his suspicion. +He climbed it swiftly, found a fresh round hole, and tumbled in upon a +mother bird and a family of young woodpeckers. He killed them all, +tasting the brains again, and hunted the tree over for the father +bird, the great black logcock that makes the wilderness ring with his +tattoo. But the logcock heard claws on the bark and flew to another +tree, making a great commotion in the darkness as he blundered along, +but not knowing what it was that had startled him. + +So the night wore on, with Kagax killing in every thicket, yet never +satisfied with killing. He thought longingly of the hard winter, when +game was scarce, and he had made his way out over the snow to the +settlement, and lived among the chicken coops. "Twenty big hens in one +roost--that was killing," snarled Kagax savagely, as he strangled two +young herons in their nest, while the mother bird went on with her +frogging, not ten yards away among the lily pads, and never heard a +rustle. + +Toward morning he turned homeward, making his way back in a circle +along the top of the ridge where his den was, and killing as he went. +He had tasted too much; his feet grew heavier than they had ever been +before. He thought angrily that he would have to sleep another whole +day. And to sleep a whole day, while the wilderness was just beginning +to swarm with life, filled Kagax with snarling rage. + +A mother hare darted away from her form as the weasel's wicked eyes +looked in upon her. Kagax killed the little ones and had started after +the mother, when a shiver passed over him and he turned back to +listen. He had been moving more slowly of late; several times he had +looked behind him with the feeling that he was followed. He stole back +to the hare's form and lay hidden, watching his back track. He +shivered again. "If it were not stronger than I, it would not follow +my trail," thought Kagax. The fear of a hunted thing came upon him. He +remembered the marten's den, the strangled young ones, the two trails +that left the leaning tree. "They must have turned back long ago," +thought Kagax, and darted away. His back was cold now, cold as ice. + +But his feet grew very heavy ere he reached his den. A faint light +began to show over the mountain across the lake. Killooleet, the +white-throated sparrow, saw it, and his clear morning song tinkled +out of the dark underbrush. Kagax's eyes glowed red again; he stole +toward the sound for a last kill. Young sparrows' brains are a dainty +dish; he would eat his fill, since he must sleep all day. He found the +nest; he had placed his fore paws against the tree that held it, when +he dropped suddenly; the shivers began to course all over him. Just +below, from a stub in a dark thicket, a deep _Whooo-hoo-hoo!_ rolled +out over the startled woods. + +It was Kookooskoos, the great horned owl, who generally hunts only in +the evening twilight, but who, with growing young ones to feed, +sometimes uses the morning twilight as well. Kagax lay still as a +stone. Over him the sparrows, knowing the danger, crouched low in +their nest, not daring to move a claw lest the owl should hear. + +Behind him the same shadow that had passed over the partridge's nest +looked into the hare's form with fierce red eyes. It followed Kagax's +trail over that of the mother hare, turned back, sniffed the earth, +and came hurrying silently along the ridge. + +[Illustration: Kookooskoos] + +Kagax crept stealthily out of the thicket. He had an awful fear now of +his feet; for, heavy with the blood he had eaten, they would rustle +the leaves, or scratch on the stones, that all night long they had +glided over in silence. He was near his den now. He could see the old +pine that lightning had blasted, towering against the sky over the +dark spruces. + +Again the deep _Whooo-hoo-hoo_! rolled over the hillside. To Kagax, +who gloats over his killing except when he is afraid, it became an +awful accusation. "Who has killed where he cannot eat? who strangled a +brooding bird? who murdered his own kin?" came thundering through the +woods. Kagax darted for his den. His hind feet struck a rotten twig +that they should have cleared; it broke with a sharp snap. In an +instant a huge shadow swept down from the stub and hovered over the +sound. Two fierce yellow eyes looked in upon Kagax, crouching and +trying to hide under a fir tip. + +Kagax whirled when the eyes found him and two sets of strong curved +claws dropped down from the shadow. With a savage snarl he sprang up, +and his teeth met; but no blood followed the bite, only a flutter of +soft brown feathers. Then one set of sharp claws gripped his head; +another set met deep in his back. Kagax was jerked swiftly into the +air, and his evil doing was ended forever. + +There was a faint rustle in the thicket as the shadow of Kookooskoos +swept away to his nest. The long lithe form of a pine marten glided +straight to the fir tip, where Kagax had been a moment before. His +movements were quick, nervous, silent; his eyes showed like two drops +of blood over his twitching nostrils. He circled swiftly about the end +of the lost trail. His nose touched a brown feather, another, and he +glided back to the fir tip. A drop of blood was soaking slowly into a +dead leaf. The marten thrust his nose into it. One long sniff, while +his eyes blazed; then he raised his head, cried out once savagely, and +glided away on the back track. + + + + +IV. KOOKOOSKOOS, WHO CATCHES THE WRONG RAT. + +[Illustration: Kookooskoos] + + +Kookooskoos is the big brown owl, the _Bubo Virginianus_, or Great +Horned Owl of the books. But his Indian name is best. Almost any night +in autumn, if you leave the town and go out towards the big woods, you +can hear him calling it, _Koo-koo-skoos, koooo, kooo_, down in the +swamp. + +Kookooskoos is always catching the wrong rat. The reason is that he is +a great hunter, and thinks that every furry thing which moves must be +game; and so he is like the fool sportsman who shoots at a sound, or a +motion in the bushes, before finding out what makes it. Sometimes the +rat turns out to be a skunk, or a weasel; sometimes your pet cat; and, +once in a lifetime, it is your own fur cap, or even your head; and +then you feel the weight and the edge of Kookooskoos' claws. But he +never learns wisdom by mistakes; for, spite of his grave appearance, +he is excitable as a Frenchman; and so, whenever anything stirs in the +bushes and a bit of fur appears, he cries out to himself, _A rat, +Kookoo! a rabbit!_ and swoops on the instant. + +Rats and rabbits are his favorite food, by the way, and he never lets +a chance go by of taking them into camp. I think I never climbed to +his nest without finding plenty of the fur of both animals to tell of +his skill in hunting. + +One evening in the twilight, as I came home from hunting in the big +woods, I heard the sound of deer feeding just ahead. I stole forward +to the edge of a thicket and stood there motionless, looking and +listening intently. My cap was in my pocket, and only my head appeared +above the low firs that sheltered me. Suddenly, without noise or +warning of any kind, I received a sharp blow on the head from behind, +as if some one had struck me with a thorny stick. I turned quickly, +surprised and a good bit startled; for I thought myself utterly alone +in the woods--and I was. There was nobody there. Not a sound, not a +motion broke the twilight stillness. Something trickled on my neck; I +put up my hand, to find my hair already wet with blood. More startled +than ever, I sprang through the thicket, looking, listening everywhere +for sight or sound of my enemy. Still no creature bigger than a wood +mouse; no movement save that of nodding fir tips; no sound but the +thumping of my own heart, and, far behind me, a sudden rush and a bump +or two as the frightened deer broke away; then perfect stillness +again, as if nothing had ever lived in the thickets. + +I was little more than a boy; and I went home that night more puzzled +and more frightened than I have ever been, before or since, in the +woods. I ran into the doctor's office on my way. He found three cuts +in my scalp, and below them two shorter ones, where pointed things +seemed to have been driven through to the bone. He looked at me +queerly when I told my story. Of course he did not believe me, and I +made no effort to persuade him. Indeed, I scarcely believed myself. +But for the blood which stained my handkerchief, and the throbbing +pain in my head, I should have doubted the reality of the whole +experience. + +That night I started up out of sleep, some time towards morning, and +said before I was half awake: "It was an _owl_ that hit you on the +head--of course it was an owl!" Then I remembered that, years before, +an older boy had a horned owl, which he had taken from a nest, and +which he kept loose in a dark garret over the shed. None of us younger +boys dared go up to the garret, for the owl was always hungry, and the +moment a boy's head appeared through the scuttle the owl said _Hoooo!_ +and swooped for it. So we used to get acquainted with the big pet by +pushing in a dead rat, or a squirrel, or a chicken, on the end of a +stick, and climbing in ourselves afterwards. + +As I write, the whole picture comes back to me again vividly; the +dark, cobwebby old garret, pierced here and there by a pencil of +light, in which the motes were dancing; the fierce bird down on the +floor in the darkest corner, horns up, eyes gleaming, feathers all +a-bristle till he looked big as a bushel basket in the dim light, +standing on his game with one foot and tearing it savagely to pieces +with the other, snapping his beak and gobbling up feathers, bones and +all, in great hungry mouthfuls; and, over the scuttle, two or three +small boys staring in eager curiosity, but clinging to each other's +coats fearfully, ready to tumble down the ladder with a yell at the +first hostile demonstration. + +The next afternoon I was back in the big woods to investigate. Fifty +feet behind the thicket where I had been struck was a tall dead stub +overlooking a little clearing. "That's his watch tower," I thought. +"While I was watching the deer, he was up there watching my head, and +when it moved he swooped." + +I had no intention of giving him another flight at the same game, but +hid my fur cap some distance out in the clearing, tied a long string +to it, went back into the thicket with the other end of the string, +and sat down to wait. A low _Whooo-hoo-hoo!_ came from across the +valley to tell me I was not the only watcher in the woods. + +Towards dusk I noticed suddenly that the top of the old stub looked a +bit peculiar, but it was some time before I made out a big owl sitting +up there. I had no idea how long he had been there, nor whence he +came. His back was towards me; he sat up very straight and still, so +as to make himself just a piece, the tip end, of the stub. As I +watched, he hooted once and bent forward to listen. Then I pulled on +my string. + +With the first rustle of a leaf he whirled and poised forward, in the +intense attitude an eagle takes when he sights the prey. On the +instant he had sighted the cap, wriggling in and out among the low +bushes, and swooped for it like an arrow. Just as he dropped his legs +to strike, I gave a sharp pull, and the cap jumped from under him. He +missed his strike, but wheeled like a fury and struck again. Another +jerk, and again he missed. Then he was at the thicket where I stood; +his fierce yellow eyes glared straight into mine for a startled +instant, and he brushed me with his wings as he sailed away into the +shadow of the spruces. + +Small doubt now that I had seen my assailant of the night before; for +an owl has regular hunting grounds, and uses the same watch towers +night after night. He had seen my head in the thicket, and struck at +the first movement. Perceiving his mistake, he kept straight on over +my head; so of course there was nothing in sight when I turned. As an +owl's flight is perfectly noiseless (the wing feathers are wonderfully +soft, and all the laminae are drawn out into hair points, so that the +wings never whirr nor rustle like other birds') I had heard nothing, +though he passed close enough to strike, and I was listening intently. +And so another mystery of the woods was made plain by a little +watching. + +Years afterwards, the knowledge gained stood me in good stead in +clearing up another mystery. It was in a lumber camp--always a +superstitious place--in the heart of a Canada forest. I had followed a +wandering herd of caribou too far one day, and late in the afternoon +found myself alone at a river, some twenty miles from my camp, on the +edge of the barren grounds. Somewhere above me I knew that a crew of +lumbermen were at work; so I headed up river to find their camp, if +possible, and avoid sleeping out in the snow and bitter cold. It was +long after dark, and the moon was flooding forest and river with a +wonderful light, when I at last caught sight of the camp. The click of +my snowshoes brought a dozen big men to the door. At that moment I +felt rather than saw that they seemed troubled and alarmed at seeing +me alone; but I was too tired to notice, and no words save those of +welcome were spoken until I had eaten heartily. Then, as I started out +for another look at the wild beauty of the place under the moonlight, +a lumberman followed and touched me on the shoulder. + +"Best not go far from camp alone, sir. 'T isn't above safe +hereabouts," he said in a low voice. I noticed that he glanced back +over his shoulder as he spoke. + +"But why?" I objected. "There's nothing in these woods to be afraid +of." + +"Come back to camp and I'll tell you. It's warmer there," he said. And +I followed to hear a strange story,--how "Andy there" was sitting on a +stump, smoking his pipe in the twilight, when he was struck and cut on +the head from behind; and when he sprang up to look, there was nothing +there, nor any track save his own in the snow. The next night +Gillie's fur cap had been snatched from his head, and when _he_ turned +there was nobody in sight; and when he burst into camp, with all his +wits frightened out of him, he could scarcely speak, and his face was +deathly white. Other uncanny things had happened since, in the same +way, and coupled with a bad accident on the river, which the men +thought was an omen, they had put the camp into such a state of +superstitious fear that no one ventured alone out of doors after +nightfall. + +I thought of Kookooskoos and my own head, but said nothing. They would +only have resented the suggestion. + +Next day I found my caribou, and returned to the lumber camp before +sunset. At twilight there was Kookooskoos, an enormous fellow, looking +like the end of a big spruce stub, keeping sharp watch over the +clearing, and fortunately behind the camp where he could not see the +door. I called the men and set them crouching in the snow under the +low eaves.--"Stay there a minute and I'll show you the ghost." That +was all I told them. + +Taking the skin of a hare which I had shot that day, I hoisted it +cautiously on a stick, the lumbermen watching curiously. A slight +scratch of the stick, a movement of the fur along the splits, then a +great dark shadow shot over our heads. It struck the stick sharply +and swept on and up into the spruces across the clearing, taking +Bunny's skin with it. + +Then one big lumberman, who saw the point, jumped up with a yell and +danced a jig in the snow, like a schoolboy. There was no need of +further demonstration with a cap; and nobody volunteered his head for +a final experiment; but all remembered seeing the owl on his nightly +watch, and knew something of his swooping habits. Of course some were +incredulous at first, and had a dozen questions and objections when we +were in camp. No one likes to have a good ghost story spoiled; and, +besides, where superstition is, there the marvelous is most easily +believed. It is only the simple truth that is doubted. So I spent half +the night in convincing them that they _had_ been brought up in the +woods to be scared by an owl. + +Poor Kookooskoos! they shot him next night on his watch tower, and +nailed him to the camp door as a warning. + +I discovered another curious thing about Kookooskoos that night when I +watched to find out what had struck me. I found out why he hoots. +Sometimes, if he is a young owl, he hoots for practice, or to learn +how; and then he makes an awful noise of it, a rasping screech, before +his voice deepens. And if you are camping near and are new to the +woods, the chances are that you lie awake and shiver; for there is no +other sound like it in the wilderness. Sometimes, when you climb to +his nest, he has a terrifying _hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo_, running up +and down a deep guttural scale, like a fiendish laugh, accompanied by +a vicious snapping of the beak. And if you are a small boy, and it is +towards twilight, you climb down the tree quick and let his nest +alone. But the regular _whooo-hoo-hoo_, _whooo-hoo_, always five +notes, with the second two very short, is a hunting call, and he uses +it to alarm the game. That is queer hunting; but his ears account for +it. + +If you separate the feathers on Kookooskoos' head, you will find an +enormous ear-opening running from above his eye halfway round his +face. And the ear within is so marvelously sensitive that it can hear +the rustle of a rat in the grass, or the scrape of a sparrow's toes on +a branch fifty feet away. So he sits on his watch tower, so still that +he is never noticed, and as twilight comes on, when he can see best, +he hoots suddenly and listens. The sound has a muffled quality which +makes it hard to locate, and it frightens every bird and small animal +within hearing; for all know Kookooskoos, and how fierce he is. As the +terrifying sound rolls out of the air so near them, fur and feathers +shiver with fright. A rabbit stirs in his form; a partridge shakes on +his branch; the mink stops hunting frogs at the brook; the skunk takes +his nose out of the hole where he is eating sarsaparilla roots. A leaf +stirs, a toe scrapes, and instantly Kookooskoos is there. His fierce +eyes glare in; his great claws drop; one grip, and it's all over. For +the very sight of him scares the little creatures so, that there is no +life left in them to cry out or to run away. + +A nest which I found a few years ago shows how well this kind of +hunting succeeds. It was in a gloomy evergreen swamp, in a big tree, +some eighty feet from the ground. I found it by a pile of pellets of +hair and feathers at the foot of the tree; for the owl devours every +part of his game, and after digestion is complete, feathers, bones, +and hair are disgorged in small balls, like so many sparrow heads. +When I looked up, there at the top was a huge mass of sticks, which +had been added to year after year till it was nearly three feet +across, and half as thick. Kookooskoos was not there. He had heard me +coming and slipped away silently. + +Wishing to be sure the nest was occupied before trying the hard climb, +I went away as far as I could see the nest and hid in a thicket. +Presently a very large owl came back and stood by the nest. Soon +after, a smaller bird, the male, glided up beside her. Then I came on +cautiously, watching to see what they would do. + +At the first crack of a twig both birds started forward the male +slipped away; the female dropped below the nest, and stood behind a +limb, just her face peering through a crotch in my direction. Had I +not known she was there, I might have looked the tree over twenty +times without finding her. And there she stayed hidden till I was +halfway up the tree. + +When I peered at last over the edge of the big nest, after a +desperately hard climb, there was a bundle of dark gray down in a +little hollow in the middle. It touched me at the time that the little +ones rested on a feather bed pulled from the mother bird's own breast. +I brushed the down with my fingers. Instantly two heads came up, fuzzy +gray heads, with black pointed beaks, and beautiful hazel eyes, and a +funny long pin-feather over each ear, which made them look like little +wise old clerks just waked up. When I touched them again they +staggered up and opened their mouths,--enormous mouths for such little +fellows; then, seeing that I was an intruder, they tried to bristle +their few pin-feathers and snap their beaks. + +They were fat as two aldermen; and no wonder. Placed around the edge +of the big nest were a red squirrel, a rat, a chicken, a few frogs' +legs, and a rabbit. Fine fare that, at eighty feet from the ground. +Kookooskoos had had good hunting. All the game was partly eaten, +showing I had disturbed their dinner; and only the hinder parts were +left, showing that owls like the head and brains best. I left them +undisturbed and came away; for I wanted to watch the young grow--which +they did marvelously, and were presently learning to hoot. But I have +been less merciful to the great owls ever since, thinking of the +enormous destruction of game represented in raising two or three such +young savages, year after year, in the same swamp. + +Once, at twilight, I shot a big owl that was sitting on a limb facing +me, with what appeared to be an enormously long tail hanging below the +limb. The tail turned out to be a large mink, just killed, with a +beautiful skin that put five dollars into a boy's locker. Another time +I shot one that sailed over me; when he came down, there was a ruffed +grouse, still living, in his claws. Another time I could not touch one +that I had killed for the overpowering odor which was in his feathers, +showing that _Mephitis_, the skunk, never loses his head when +attacked. But Kookooskoos, like the fox, cares little for such +weapons, and in the spring, when game is scarce, swoops for and kills +a skunk wherever he finds him prowling away from his den in the +twilight. + +The most savage bit of his hunting that I ever saw was one dark winter +afternoon, on the edge of some thick woods. I was watching a cat, a +half-wild creature, that was watching a red squirrel making a great +fuss over some nuts which he had hidden, and which he claimed somebody +had stolen. Somewhere behind us, Kookooskoos was watching from a pine +tree. The squirrel was chattering in the midst of a whirlwind of +leaves and empty shells which he had thrown out on the snow from under +the wall; behind him the cat, creeping nearer and nearer, had crouched +with blazing eyes and quivering muscles, her whole attention fixed on +the spring, when broad wings shot silently over my hiding place and +fell like a shadow on the cat. One set of strong claws gripped her +behind the ears; the others were fastened like a vise in the spine. +Generally one such grip is enough; but the cat was strong, and at the +first touch sprang away. In a moment the owl was after her, floating, +hovering above, till the right moment came, when he dropped and struck +again. Then the cat whirled and fought like a fury. For a few moments +there was a desperate battle, fur and feathers flying, the cat +screeching like mad, the owl silent as death. Then the great claws did +their work. When I straightened up from my thicket, Kookooskoos was +standing on his game, tearing off the flesh with his feet, and +carrying it up to his mouth with the same movement, swallowing +everything alike, as if famished. + +Over them the squirrel, which had whisked up a tree at the first +alarm, was peeking with evil eyes over the edge of a limb, snickering +at the blood-stained snow and the dead cat, scolding, barking, +threatening the owl for having disturbed the search for his stolen +walnuts. + +I caught that same owl soon after in a peculiar way. A farmer near by +told me that an owl was taking his chickens regularly. Undoubtedly the +bird had been driven southward by the severe winter, and had not taken +up regular hunting grounds until he caught the cat. Then came the +chickens. I set up a pole, on the top of which was nailed a bit of +board for a platform. On the platform was fastened a small steel trap, +and under it hung a dead chicken. The next morning there was +Kookooskoos on the platform, one foot in the trap, at which he was +pulling awkwardly. Owls, from their peculiar ways of hunting, are +prone to light on stubs and exposed branches; and so Kookooskoos had +used my pole as a watch tower before carrying off his game. + +There is another way in which he is easily fooled. In the early +spring, when he is mating, and again in the autumn, when the young +birds are well fed and before they have learned much, you can bring +him close up to you by imitating his hunting call. In the wilderness, +where these birds are plenty, I have often had five or six about me at +once. You have only to go well out beyond your tent, and sit down +quietly, making yourself part of the place. Give the call a few times, +and if there is a young bird near with a full stomach, he will answer, +and presently come nearer. Soon he is in the tree over your head, and +if you keep perfectly still he will set up a great hooting that you +have called him and now do not answer. Others are attracted by his +calling; they come in silently from all directions; the outcry is +startling. The call is more nervous, more eerie, much more terrifying +close at hand than when heard in the distance. They sweep about like +great dark shadows, hoo-hoo-hooing and frolicking in their own uncanny +way; then go off to their separate watch towers and their hunting. But +the chances are that you will be awakened with a start more than once +in the night, as some inquisitive young owl comes back and gives the +hunting call in the hope of finding out what the first summons was all +about. + + + + +V. CHIGWOOLTZ THE FROG. + +[Illustration: Chigwooltz] + + +I was watching for a bear one day by an alder point, when Chigwooltz +came swimming in from the lily pads in great curiosity to see what I +was doing under the alders. He was an enormous frog, dull green with a +yellowish vest--which showed that he was a male--but with the most +brilliant ear drums I had ever seen. They fairly glowed with +iridescent color, each in its ring of bright yellow. When I tried to +catch him (very quietly, for the bear was somewhere just above on the +ridge) in order to examine these drums, he dived under the canoe and +watched me from a distance. + +In front of me, in the shallow water along shore, four more large +frogs were sunning themselves among the lily pads. I watched them +carelessly while waiting for the bear. After an hour or two I noticed +that three of these frogs changed their positions slightly, turning +from time to time so as to warm the entire body at nature's fireplace. +But the fourth was more deliberate and philosophical, thinking +evidently that if he simply sat still long enough the sun would do the +turning. When I came, about eleven o'clock, he was sitting on the +shore by a green stone, his fore feet lapped by tiny ripples, the sun +full on his back. For three hours, while I watched there, he never +moved a muscle. Then the bear came, and I left him for more exciting +things. + +Late in the afternoon I came back to get some of the big frogs for +breakfast. Chigwooltz, he with the ear drums, was the first to see me, +and came pushing his way among the lily pads toward the canoe. But +when I dangled a red ibis fly in front of him, he dived promptly, and +I saw his head come up by a black root, where he sat, thinking himself +invisible, and watched me. + +Chigwooltz the second, he of the green stone and the patient +disposition, was still sitting in the same place. The sun had turned +round; it was now warming his other side. His all-day sun bath +surprised me so that I let him alone, to see how long he would sit +still, and went fishing for other frogs. + +Two big ones showed their heads among the pads some twenty feet apart. +Pushing up so as to make a triangle with my canoe, I dangled a red +ibis impartially between them. For two or three long minutes neither +moved so much as an eyelid. Then one seemed to wake suddenly from a +trance, or to be touched by an electric wire, for he came scrambling +in a desperate hurry over the lily pads. Swimming was too slow; he +jumped fiercely out of water at the red challenge, making a great +splash and commotion. + +Fishing for big frogs, by the way, is no tame sport. The red seems to +excite them tremendously, and they take the fly like a black salmon. + +But the moment the first frog started, frog number two waked up and +darted forward, making less noise but coming more swiftly. The first +frog had jumped once for the fly and missed it, when the other leaped +upon him savagely, and a fight began, while the ibis lay neglected on +a lily pad. They pawed and bit each other fiercely for several +minutes; then the second frog, a little smaller than the other, got +the grip he wanted and held it. He clasped his fore legs tight about +his rival's neck and began to strangle him slowly. I knew well how +strong Chigwooltz is in his forearms, and that his fightings and +wrestlings are desperate affairs; but I did not know till then how +savage he can be. He had gripped from behind by a clever dive, so as +to use his weight when the right moment came. Tighter and tighter he +hugged; the big frog's eyes seemed bursting from his head, and his +mouth was forced slowly open. Then his savage opponent lunged upon him +with his weight, and forced his head under water to finish him. + +The whole thing seemed scarcely more startling to the luckless big +frog than to the watcher in the canoe. It was all so brutal, so +deliberately planned! The smaller frog, knowing that he was no match +for the other in strength, had waited cunningly till he was all +absorbed in the red fly, and then stole upon him, intending to finish +him first and the little red thing afterwards. He would have done it +too; for the big frog was at his last gasp, when I interfered and put +them both in my net. + +Meanwhile a third frog had come _walloping_ over the lily pads from +somewhere out of sight, and grabbed the fly while the other two were +fighting about it. It was he who first showed me a curious frog trick. +When I lifted him from the water on the end of my line, he raised his +hands above his head, as if he had been a man, and grasped the line, +and tried to lift himself, hand over hand, so as to take the strain +from his mouth.--And I could never catch another frog like that. + +Next morning, as I went to the early fishing, Chigwooltz, the +patient, sat by the same stone, his fore feet at the edge of the same +bronze lily leaf. At noon he was still there; in twenty-four hours at +least he had not moved a muscle. + +At twilight I was following a bear along the shore. It was the +restless season, when bears are moving constantly; scarcely a twilight +passed that I did not meet one or more on their wanderings. This one +was heading for the upper end of the lake, traveling in the shallow +water near shore; and I was just behind him, stealing along in my +canoe to see what queer thing he would do. He was in no hurry, as most +other bears were, but went nosing along shore, acting much as a fat +pig would in the same place. As he approached the alder point he +stopped suddenly, and twisted his head a bit, and set his ears, as a +dog does that sees something very interesting. Then he began to steal +forward. Could it be--I shot my canoe forward--yes, it was Chigwooltz, +still sitting by the green stone, with his eye, like Bunsby's, on the +coast of Greenland. In thirty-two hours, to my knowledge, he had not +stirred. + +Mooween the bear crept nearer; he was crouching now like a cat, +stealing along in the soft mud behind Chigwooltz so as to surprise +him. I saw him raise one paw slowly, cautiously, high above his head. +Down it came, _souse_! sending up a shower of mud and water. And +Chigwooltz the restful, who could sit still thirty-two hours without +getting stiff in the joints, and then dodge the sweep of Mooween's +paw, went splashing away _hippety-ippety_ over the lily pads to some +water grass, where he said _K'tung!_ and disappeared for good. + +A few days later Simmo and I moved camp to a grove of birches just +above the alder point. From behind my tent an old game path led down +to the bay where the big frogs lived. There were scores of them there; +the chorus at night, with its multitude of voices running from a +whistling treble to deep, deep bass, was at times tremendous. It was +here that I had the first good opportunity of watching frogs feeding. + +Chigwooltz, I found, is a perfect gourmand and a cannibal, eating, +besides his regular diet of flies and beetles and water snails, young +frogs, and crawfish, and turtles, and fish of every kind. But few have +ever seen him at his hunting, for he is active only at night or on +dark days. + +I used to watch them from the shore or from my canoe at twilight. Just +outside the lily pads a shoal of minnows would be playing at the +surface, or small trout would be rising freely for the night insects. +Then, if you watched sharply, you would see gleaming points of light, +the eyes of Chigwooltz, stealing out, with barely a ripple, to the +edge of the pads. And then, when some big feeding trout drove the +minnows or small fry close in, there would be a heavy plunge from the +shadow of the pads; and you would hear Chigwooltz splashing if the +fish were a larger one than he expected. + +That is why small frogs are so deadly afraid if you take them outside +the fringe of lily pads. They know that big hungry trout feed in from +the deeps, and that big frogs, savage cannibals every one, watch out +from the shadowy fringe of water plants. If you drop a little frog +there, in clear water, he will shoot in as fast as his frightened legs +will drive him, swimming first on top to avoid fish, diving deep as he +reaches the pads to avoid his hungry relatives; and so in to shallow +water and thick stems, where he can dodge about and the big frogs +cannot follow. + +All sorts and conditions of frogs lived in that little bay. There was +one inquisitive fellow, who always came out of the pads and swam as +near as he could get whenever I appeared on the shore. Another would +sit in his favorite spot, under a stranded log, and let me come as +close as I would; but the moment I dangled the red ibis fly in front +of him, he would disappear like a wink, and not show himself again. +Another would follow the fly in a wild kangaroo dance over the lily +pads, going round and round the canoe as if bewitched, and would do +his best to climb in after the bit of color when I pulled it up slowly +over the bark. He afforded me so much good fun that I could not eat +him; though I always stopped to give him another dance, whenever I +went fishing for other frogs just like him. Further along shore lived +another, a perfect savage, so wild that I could never catch him, which +strangled or drowned two big frogs in a week, to my certain knowledge. +And then, one night when I was trying to find my canoe which I had +lost in the darkness, I came upon a frog migration, dozens and dozens +of them, all hopping briskly in the same direction. They had left the +stream, driven by some strange instinct, just like rats or squirrels, +and were going through the woods to the unknown destination that +beckoned them so strongly that they could not but follow. + +The most curious and interesting bit of their strange life came out at +night, when they were fascinated by my light. I used sometimes to set +a candle on a piece of board for a float, and place it in the water +close to shore, where the ripples would set it dancing gently. Then I +would place a little screen of bark at the shore end of the float, +and sit down behind it in darkness. + +[Illustration: Chigwooltz] + +Presently two points of light would begin to shine, then to +scintillate, out among the lily pads, and Chigwooltz would come +stealing in, his eyes growing bigger and brighter with wonder. He +would place his forearms akimbo on the edge of the float, and lift +himself up a bit, like a little old man, and stare steadfastly at the +light. And there he would stay as long as I let him, just staring and +blinking. + +Soon two other points of light would come stealing in from the other +side, and another frog would set his elbows on the float and stare +hard across at the first-comer. And then two more shining points, and +two more, till twelve or fifteen frogs were gathered about my beacon, +as thick as they could find elbow room on the float, all staring and +blinking like so many strange water owls come up from the bottom to +debate weighty things, with a little flickering will-o'-the-wisp +nodding grave assent in the midst of them. But never a word was +spoken; the silence was perfect. + +Sometimes one, more fascinated or more curious than the others, would +climb onto the float, and put his nose solemnly into the light. Then +there would be a loud sizzle, a jump, and a splash; the candle would +go out, and the wondering circle of frogs scatter to the lily pads +again, all swimming as if in a trance, dipping their heads under water +to wash the light from their bewildered eyes. + +They were quite fearless, almost senseless, at such times. I would +stretch out my hand from the shadow, pick up an unresisting frog that +threatened too soon to climb onto the float, and examine him at +leisure. But Chigwooltz is wedded to his idols; the moment I released +him he would go, fast as his legs could carry him, to put his elbows +on the float and stare at the light again. + +Among the frogs, and especially among the toads, as among most wild +animals, certain individuals attach themselves strongly to man, drawn +doubtless by some unknown but no less strongly felt attraction. It was +so there in the wilderness. The first morning after our arrival at the +birch grove I was down at the shore, preparing a trout for baking in +the ashes, when Chigwooltz, of the ear drums, biggest of all the +frogs, came from among the lily pads. He had lost all fear apparently; +he swam directly up to me, touching my hands with his nose, and even +crawling out to my feet in the greatest curiosity. + +After that he took up his abode near the foot of the game path. I had +only to splash the water there with my finger when he would come from +beside a green stone, or from under a log or the lily pads--for he +had a dozen hiding places--and swim up to me to be fed, or petted, or +to have his back scratched. + +He ate all sorts of things, insects, bread, beef, game and fish, +either raw or cooked. I would attach a bit of meat to a string or +straw, and wiggle it before him, to make it seem alive. The moment he +saw it (he had a queer way sometimes of staring hard at a thing +without seeing it) he would crouch and creep towards it, nearer and +nearer, softly and more softly, like a cat stalking a chipmunk. Then +there would be a red flash and the meat would be gone. The red flash +was his tongue, which is attached at the outer end and folds back in +his mouth. It is, moreover, large and sticky, and he can throw it out +and back like lightning. All you see is the red flash of it, and his +game is gone. + +One day, to try the effects of nicotine on a new subject, I took a bit +of Simmo's black tobacco and gave it to Chigwooltz. He ate it +thankfully, as he did everything else I gave him. In a little while he +grew uneasy, sitting up and rubbing his belly with his fore paws. +Presently he brought his stomach up into his mouth, turned it inside +out to get rid of the tobacco, washed it thoroughly in the lake, +swallowed it down again, and was ready for his bread and beef. A most +convenient arrangement that; and also a perfectly unbiased opinion on +a much debated subject. + +Chigwooltz, unlike many of my pets, was not in the least dependent on +my bounty. Indeed, he was a remarkable hunter on his own account, and +what he took from me he took as hospitality, not charity. One morning +he came to me with the tail of a small trout sticking out of his +mouth. The rest of the fish was below, being digested. Another day, +towards twilight, I saw him resting on the lily pads, looking very +full, with a suspicious-looking object curling out over his under lip. +I wiggled my finger in the water, and he came from pure sociability, +for he was beyond eating any more. The suspicious-looking object +proved to be a bird's foot, and beside it was a pointed wing tip. That +was too much for my curiosity. I opened his mouth and pulled out the +bird with some difficulty, for Chigwooltz had been engaged some time +in the act of swallowing his game and had it well down. It proved to +be a full-grown male swallow, without a mark anywhere to show how he +had come by his death. Chigwooltz looked at me reproachfully, but +swallowed his game promptly the moment I had finished examining it. + +There was small doubt in my mind that he had caught his bird fairly, +by a quick spring as the swallow touched the water almost at his +nose, near one of his numerous lurking places. Still it puzzled me a +good deal till one early morning, when I saw him in broad daylight do +a much more difficult thing than snapping up a swallow. + +I was coming down the game path to the shore when a bird, a tree +sparrow I thought, flew to the ground just ahead of me, and hopped to +the water to drink. I watched him a moment curiously, then with +intense interest as I saw a ripple steal out of the lily pads towards +him. The ripple was Chigwooltz. + +The sparrow had finished drinking and was absorbed in a morning bath. +Chigwooltz stole nearer and nearer, sinking himself till only his eyes +showed above water. The ripple that flowed away on either side was +gentle as that of a floating leaf. Then, just as the bird had sipped +and lifted its head for a last swallow, Chigwooltz hurled himself out +of water. One snap of his big mouth, and the sparrow was done for. + +An hour later, when I came down to my canoe, he was sitting low on the +lily pads, winking sleepily now and then, with eight little sparrow's +toes curling over the rim of his under lip, like a hornpout's +whiskers. + + + + +VI. CLOUD WINGS THE EAGLE. + +[Illustration: Old Whitehead] + + +"Here he is again! here's Old Whitehead, robbing the fish-hawk." + +I started up from the little _commoosie_ beyond the fire, at Gillie's +excited cry, and ran to join him on the shore. A glance out over +Caribou Point to the big bay, where innumerable whitefish were +shoaling, showed me another chapter in a long but always interesting +story. Ismaquehs, the fish-hawk, had risen from the lake with a big +fish, and was doing his best to get away to his nest, where his young +ones were clamoring. Over him soared the eagle, still as fate and as +sure, now dropping to flap a wing in Ismaquehs' face, now touching him +with his great talons gently, as if to say, "Do you feel that, +Ismaquehs? If I grip once 't will be the end of you and your fish +together. And what will the little ones do then, up in the nest on +the old pine? Better drop him peacefully; you can catch +another.--_Drop him_! I say." + +[Illustration: Ismaquehs] + +Up to that moment the eagle had merely bothered the big hawk's flight, +with a gentle reminder now and then that he meant no harm, but wanted +the fish which he could not catch himself. Now there was a change, a +flash of the king's temper. With a roar of wings he whirled round the +hawk like a tempest, bringing up short and fierce, squarely in his +line of flight. There he poised on dark broad wings, his yellow eyes +glaring fiercely into the shrinking soul of Ismaquehs, his talons +drawn hard back for a deadly strike. And Simmo the Indian, who had run +down to join me, muttered: "Cheplahgan mad now. Ismaquehs find-um out +in a minute." + +But Ismaquehs knew just when to stop. With a cry of rage he dropped, +or rather threw, his fish, hoping it would strike the water and be +lost. On the instant the eagle wheeled out of the way and bent his +head sharply. I had seen him fold wings and drop before, and had held +my breath at the speed. But dropping was of no use now, for the fish +fell faster. Instead he swooped downward, adding to the weight of his +fall the push of his strong wings, glancing down like a bolt to catch +the fish ere it struck the water, and rising again in a great +curve--up and away steadily, evenly as the king should fly, to his +own little ones far away on the mountain. + +Weeks before, I had had my introduction to Old Whitehead, as Gillie +called him, on the Madawaska. We were pushing up river on our way to +the wilderness, when a great outcry and the _bang-bang_ of a gun +sounded just ahead. Dashing round a wooded bend, we came upon a man +with a smoking gun, a boy up to his middle in the river, trying to get +across, and, on the other side, a black sheep running about _baaing_ +at every jump. + +"He's taken the lamb; he's taken the lamb!" shouted the boy. Following +the direction of his pointing finger, I saw Old Whitehead, a splendid +bird, rising heavily above the tree-tops across the clearing. Reaching +back almost instinctively, I clutched the heavy rifle which Gillie put +into my hand and jumped out of the canoe; for with a rifle one wants +steady footing. It was a long shot, but not so very difficult; Old +Whitehead had got his bearings and was moving steadily, straight away. +A second after the report of the rifle, we saw him hitch and swerve in +the air; then two white quills came floating down, and as he turned we +saw the break in his broad white tail. And that was the mark that we +knew him by ever afterwards. + +That was nearly eighty miles by canoe from where we now stood, though +scarcely ten in a straight line over the mountains; for the rivers and +lakes we were following doubled back almost to the starting point; and +the whole wild, splendid country was the eagle's hunting ground. +Wherever I went I saw him, following the rivers for stranded trout and +salmon, or floating high in air where he could overlook two or three +wilderness lakes, with as many honest fish-hawks catching their +dinners. I had promised the curator of a museum that I would get him +an eagle that summer, and so took to hunting the great bird +diligently. But hunting was of little use, except to teach me many of +his ways and habits; for he seemed to have eyes and ears all over him; +and whether I crept like a snake through the woods, or floated like a +wild duck in my canoe over the water, he always saw or heard me, and +was off before I could get within shooting distance. + +Then I tried to trap him. I placed two large trout, with a steel trap +between them, in a shallow spot on the river that I could watch from +my camp on a bluff, half a mile below. Next day Gillie, who was more +eager than I, set up a shout; and running out I saw Old Whitehead +standing in the shallows and flopping about the trap. We jumped into a +canoe and pushed up river in hot haste, singing in exultation that we +had the fierce old bird at last. When we doubled the last point that +hid the shallows, there was Old Whitehead, still tugging away at a +fish, and splashing the water not thirty yards away. I shall not soon +forget his attitude and expression as we shot round the point, his +body erect and rigid, his wings half spread, his head thrust forward, +eyelids drawn straight, and a strong fierce gleam of freedom and utter +wildness in his bright eyes. So he stood, a magnificent creature, till +we were almost upon him,--when he rose quietly, taking one of the +trout. The other was already in his stomach. He was not in the trap at +all, but had walked carefully round it. The splashing was made in +tearing one fish to pieces with his claws, and freeing the other from +a stake that held it. + +After that he would not go near the shallows; for a new experience had +come into his life, leaving its shadow dark behind it. He who was king +of all he surveyed from the old blasted pine on the crag's top, who +had always heretofore been the hunter, now knew what it meant to be +hunted. And the fear of it was in his eyes, I think, and softened +their fierce gleam when I looked into them again, weeks later, by his +own nest on the mountain. + +Simmo entered also into our hunting, but without enthusiasm or +confidence. He had chased the same eagle before--all one summer, in +fact, when a sportsman, whom he was guiding, had offered him twenty +dollars for the royal bird's skin. But Old Whitehead still wore it +triumphantly; and Simmo prophesied for him long life and a natural +death. "No use hunt-um dat heagle," he said simply. "I try once an' +can't get near him. He see everyt'ing; and wot he don't see, he hear. +'Sides, he kin _feel_ danger. Das why he build nest way off, long +ways, O don' know where." This last with a wave of his arm to include +the universe. Cheplahgan, Old Cloud Wings, he proudly called the bird +that had defied him in a summer's hunting. + +At first I had hunted him like any other savage; partly, of course, to +get his skin for the curator; partly, perhaps, to save the settler's +lambs over on the Madawaska; but chiefly just to kill him, to exult in +his death flaps, and to rid the woods of a cruel tyrant. Gradually, +however, a change came over me as I hunted; I sought him less and less +for his skin and his life, and more and more for himself, to know all +about him. I used to watch him by the hour from my camp on the big +lake, sailing quietly over Caribou Point, after he had eaten with his +little ones, and was disposed to let Ismaquehs go on with his fishing +in peace. He would set his great wings to the breeze and sit like a +kite in the wind, mounting steadily in an immense spiral, up and up, +without the shadow of effort, till the eye grew dizzy in following. +And I loved to watch him, so strong, so free, so sure of +himself--round and round, up and ever up, without hurry, without +exertion; and every turn found the heavens nearer and the earth spread +wider below. Now head and tail gleam silver white in the sunshine now +he hangs motionless, a cross of jet that a lady might wear at her +throat, against the clear, unfathomable blue of the June +heavens--there! he is lost in the blue, so high that I cannot see any +more. But even as I turn away he plunges down into vision again, +dropping with folded wings straight down like a plummet, faster and +faster, larger and larger, through a terrifying rush of air, till I +spring to my feet and catch the breath, as if I myself were falling. +And just before he dashes himself to pieces he turns in the air, head +downward, and half spreads his wings, and goes shooting, slanting down +towards the lake, then up in a great curve to the tree tops, where he +can watch better what Kakagos, the rare woods-raven, is doing, and +what game he is hunting. For that is what Cheplahgan came down in such +a hurry to find out about. + +Again he would come in the early morning; sweeping up river as if he +had already been a long day's journey, with the air of far-away and +far-to-go in his onward rush. And if I were at the trout pools, and +very still, I would hear the strong silken rustle of his wings as he +passed. At midday I would see him poised over the highest mountain-top +northward, at an enormous altitude, where the imagination itself could +not follow the splendid sweep of his vision; and at evening he would +cross the lake, moving westward into the sunset on tireless +pinions--always strong, noble, magnificent in his power and +loneliness, a perfect emblem of the great lonely magnificent +wilderness. + +One day as I watched him, it swept over me suddenly that forest and +river would be incomplete without him. The thought of this came back +to me, and spared him to the wilderness, on the last occasion when I +went hunting for his life. + +That was just after we reached the big lake, where I saw him robbing +the fish-hawk. After much searching and watching I found a great log +by the outlet where Old Whitehead often perched. There was a big eddy +hard by, on the edge of a shallow, and he used to sit on the log, +waiting for fish to come out where he could wade in and get them. +There was a sickness among the suckers that year (it comes regularly +every few years, as among rabbits), and they would come struggling out +of the deep water to rest on the sand, only to be caught by the minks +and fish-hawks and bears and Old Whitehead, all of whom were waiting +and hungry for fish. + +For several days I put a big bait of trout and whitefish on the edge +of the shallows. The first two baits were put out late in the +afternoon, and a bear got them both the next night. Then I put them +out in the early morning, and before noon Cheplahgan had found them. +He came straight as a string from his watch place over the mountain, +miles away, causing me to wonder greatly what strange sixth sense +guided him; for sight and smell seemed equally out of the question. +The next day he came again. Then I placed the best bait of all in the +shallows, and hid in the dense underbrush near, with my gun. + +He came at last, after hours of waiting, dropping from above the +tree-tops with a heavy rustling of pinions. And as he touched the old +log, and spread his broad white tail, I saw and was proud of the gap +which my bullet had made weeks before. He stood there a moment erect +and splendid, head, neck, and tail a shining white; even the dark +brown feathers of his body glinted in the bright sunshine. And he +turned his head slowly from side to side, his keen eyes flashing, as +if he would say, "Behold, a king!" to Chigwooltz the frog, and +Tookhees the wood mouse, and to any other chance wild creature that +might watch him from the underbrush at his unkingly act of feeding on +dead fish. Then he hopped down--rather awkwardly, it must be +confessed; for he is a creature of the upper deeps, who cannot bear to +touch the earth--seized a fish, which he tore to pieces with his claws +and ate greedily. Twice I tried to shoot him; but the thought of the +wilderness without him was upon me, and held me back. Then, too, it +seemed so mean to pot him from ambush when he had come down to earth, +where he was at a disadvantage; and when he clutched some of the +larger fish in his talons, and rose swiftly and bore away westward, +all desire to kill him was gone. There were little Cloud Wings, it +seemed, which I must also find and watch. After that I hunted him more +diligently than before, but without my gun. And a curious desire, +which I could not account for, took possession of me: to touch this +untamed, untouched creature of the clouds and mountains. + +Next day I did it. There were thick bushes growing along one end of +the old log on which the eagle rested. Into these I cut a tunnel with +my hunting-knife, arranging the tops in such a way as to screen me +more effectively. Then I put out my bait, a good two hours before the +time of Old Whitehead's earliest appearance, and crawled into my den +to wait. + +I had barely settled comfortably into my place, wondering how long +human patience could endure the sting of insects and the hot close air +without moving or stirring a leaf, when the heavy silken rustle +sounded close at hand, and I heard the grip of his talons on the log. +There he stood, at arm's length, turning his head uneasily, the light +glinting on his white crest, the fierce, untamed flash in his bright +eye. Never before had he seemed so big, so strong, so splendid; my +heart jumped at the thought of him as our national emblem. I am glad +still to have seen that emblem once, and felt the thrill of it. + +But I had little time to think, for Cheplahgan was restless. Some +instinct seemed to warn him of a danger that he could not see. The +moment his head was turned away, I stretched out my arm. Scarcely a +leaf moved with the motion, yet he whirled like a flash and crouched +to spring, his eyes glaring straight into mine with an intensity that +I could scarce endure. Perhaps I was mistaken, but in that swift +instant the hard glare in his eyes seemed to soften with fear, as he +recognized me as the one thing in the wilderness that dared to hunt +him, the king. My hand touched him fair on the shoulder; then he shot +into the air, and went sweeping in great circles over the tree-tops, +still looking down at the man, wondering and fearing at the way in +which he had been brought into the man's power. + +But one thing he did not understand. Standing erect on the log, and +looking up at him as he swept over me, I kept thinking, "I did it, I +did it, Cheplahgan, old Cloud Wings. And I had grabbed your legs, and +pinned you down, and tied you in a bag, and brought you to camp, but +that I chose to let you go free. And that is better than shooting you. +Now I shall find your little ones and touch them too." + +For several days I had been watching Old Whitehead's lines of flight, +and had concluded that his nest was somewhere in the hills northwest +of the big lake. I went there one afternoon, and while confused in the +big timber, which gave no outlook in any direction, I saw, not Old +Whitehead, but a larger eagle, his mate undoubtedly, flying straight +westward with food towards a great cliff, that I had noticed with my +glass one day from a mountain on the other side of the lake. + +When I went there, early next morning, it was Cheplahgan himself who +showed me where his nest was. I was hunting along the foot of the +cliff when, glancing back towards the lake, I saw him coming far +away, and hid in the underbrush. He passed very near, and following, I +saw him standing on a ledge near the top of the cliff. Just below him, +in the top of a stunted tree growing out of the face of the rock was a +huge mass of sticks that formed the nest, with a great mother-eagle +standing by, feeding the little ones. Both birds started away silently +when I appeared, but came back soon and swept back and forth over me, +as I sat watching the nest and the face of the cliff through my glass. +No need now of caution. Both birds seemed to know instinctively why I +had come, and that the fate of the eaglets lay in my hands if I could +but scale the cliff. + +It was scaring business, that three-hundred-foot climb up the sheer +face of the mountain. Fortunately the rock was seamed and scarred with +the wear of centuries; bushes and stunted trees grew out of countless +crevices, which gave me sure footing, and sometimes a lift of a dozen +feet or more on my way up. As I climbed, the eagles circled lower and +lower; the strong rustling of their wings was about my head +continually; they seemed to grow larger, fiercer, every moment, as my +hold grew more precarious, and the earth and the pointed tree-tops +dropped farther below. There was a good revolver in my pocket, to use +in case of necessity; but had the great birds attacked me I should +have fared badly, for at times I was obliged to grip hard with both +hands, my face to the cliff, leaving the eagles free to strike from +above and behind. I think now that had I shown fear in such a place, +or shouted, or tried to fray them away, they would have swooped upon +me, wing and claw, like furies. I could see it in their fierce eyes as +I looked up. But the thought of the times when I had hunted him, and +especially the thought of that time when I had reached out of the +bushes and touched him, was upon Old Whitehead and made him fear. So I +kept steadily on my way, apparently giving no thought to the eagles, +though deep inside I was anxious enough, and reached the foot of the +tree in which the nest was made. + +I stood there a long time, my arm clasping the twisted old boll, +looking out over the forest spread wide below, partly to regain +courage, partly to reassure the eagles, which were circling very near +with a kind of intense wonder in their eyes, but chiefly to make up my +mind what to do next. The tree was easy to climb, but the nest--a huge +affair, which had been added to year after year--filled the whole +tree-top, and I could gain no foothold, from which to look over and +see the eaglets, without tearing the nest to pieces. I did not want to +do that, and I doubted whether the mother-eagle would stand it. A +dozen times she seemed on the point of dropping on my head to tear it +with her talons; but always she veered off as I looked up quietly, and +Old Whitehead, with the mark of my bullet strong upon him, swept +between her and me and seemed to say, "Wait, wait. I don't understand; +but he can kill us if he will--and the little ones are in his power." +Now he was closer to me than ever, and the fear was vanishing. But so +also was the fierceness. + +From the foot of the tree the crevice in which it grew led upwards to +the right, then doubled back to the ledge above the nest, upon which +Cheplahgan was standing when I discovered him. The lip of this crevice +made a dizzy path that one might follow by moving crabwise, his face +to the cliff, with only its roughnesses to cling to with his fingers. +I tried it at last, crept up and out twenty feet, and back ten, and +dropped with a great breath of relief to a broad ledge covered with +bones and fish scales, the relics of many a savage feast. Below me, +almost within reach, was the nest, with two dark, scraggly young birds +resting on twigs and grass, with fish, flesh and fowl in a gory, +skinny, scaly ring about them--the most savage-looking household into +which I ever looked unbidden. + +But even as I looked and wondered, and tried to make out what other +game had been furnished the young savages I had helped to feed, a +strange thing happened, which touched me as few things ever have among +the wild creatures. The eagles had followed me close along the last +edge of rock, hoping no doubt in their wild hearts that I would slip, +and end their troubles, and give my body as food to the young. Now, as +I sat on the ledge, peering eagerly into the nest, the great +mother-bird left me and hovered over her eaglets, as if to shield them +with her wings from even the sight of my eyes. But Old Whitehead still +circled over me. Lower he came, and lower, till with a supreme effort +of daring he folded his wings and dropped to the ledge beside me, +within ten feet, and turned and looked into my eyes. "See," he seemed +to say, "we are within reach again. You touched me once; I don't know +how or why. Here I am now, to touch or to kill, as you will; only +spare the little ones." + +A moment later the mother-bird dropped to the edge of the nest. And +there we sat, we three, with the wonder upon us all, the young eagles +at our feet, the cliff above, and, three hundred feet below, the +spruce tops of the wilderness reaching out and away to the mountains +beyond the big lake. I sat perfectly still, which is the only way to +reassure a wild creature; and soon I thought Cheplahgan had lost his +fear in his anxiety for the little ones. But the moment I rose to go +he was in the air again, circling restlessly above my head with his +mate, the same wild fierceness in his eyes as he looked down. A +half-hour later I had gained the top of the cliff and started eastward +towards the lake, coming down by a much easier way than that by which +I went up. Later I returned several times, and from a distance watched +the eaglets being fed. But I never climbed to the nest again. + +One day, when I came to the little thicket on the cliff where I used +to lie and watch the nest through my glass, I found that one eaglet +was gone. The other stood on the edge of the nest, looking down +fearfully into the abyss, whither, no doubt, his bolder nest mate had +flown, and calling disconsolately from time to time. His whole +attitude showed plainly that he was hungry and cross and lonesome. +Presently the mother-eagle came swiftly up from the valley, and there +was food in her talons. She came to the edge of the nest, hovered over +it a moment, so as to give the hungry eaglet a sight and smell of +food, then went slowly down to the valley, taking the food with her, +telling the little one in her own way to come and he should have it. +He called after her loudly from the edge of the nest, and spread his +wings a dozen times to follow. But the plunge was too awful; his heart +failed him; and he settled back in the nest, and pulled his head down +into his shoulders, and shut his eyes, and tried to forget that he was +hungry. The meaning of the little comedy was plain enough. She was +trying to teach him to fly, telling him that his wings were grown and +the time was come to use them; but he was afraid. + +In a little while she came back again, this time without food, and +hovered over the nest, trying every way to induce the little one to +leave it. She succeeded at last, when with a desperate effort he +sprang upward and flapped to the ledge above, where I had sat and +watched him with Old Whitehead. Then, after surveying the world +gravely from his new place, he flapped back to the nest, and turned a +deaf ear to all his mother's assurances that he could fly just as +easily to the tree-tops below, if he only would. + +Suddenly, as if discouraged, she rose well above him. I held my +breath, for I knew what was coming. The little fellow stood on the +edge of the nest, looking down at the plunge which he dared not take. +There was a sharp cry from behind, which made him alert, tense as a +watch-spring. The next instant the mother-eagle had swooped, striking +the nest at his feet, sending his support of twigs and himself with +them out into the air together. + +He was afloat now, afloat on the blue air in spite of himself, and +flapped lustily for life. Over him, under him, beside him hovered the +mother on tireless wings, calling softly that she was there. But the +awful fear of the depths and the lance tops of the spruces was upon +the little one; his flapping grew more wild; he fell faster and +faster. Suddenly--more in fright, it seemed to me, than because he had +spent his strength--he lost his balance and tipped head downward in +the air. It was all over now, it seemed; he folded his wings to be +dashed in pieces among the trees. Then like a flash the old +mother-eagle shot under him; his despairing feet touched her broad +shoulders, between her wings. He righted himself, rested an instant, +found his head; then she dropped like a shot from under him, leaving +him to come down on his own wings. A handful of feathers, torn out by +his claws, hovered slowly down after them. + +It was all the work of an instant before I lost them among the trees +far below. And when I found them again with my glass, the eaglet was +in the top of a great pine, and the mother was feeding him. + +And then, standing there alone in the great wilderness, it flashed +upon me for the first time just what the wise old prophet meant; +though he wrote long ago, in a distant land, and another than Cloud +Wings had taught her little ones, all unconscious of the kindly eyes +that watched out of a thicket: "As the eagle stirreth up her nest, +fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, +beareth them on her wings,--so the Lord." + + + + +VII. UPWEEKIS THE SHADOW. + +[Illustration: Upweekis] + + +"Long 'go, O long time 'go," so says Simmo the Indian, Upweekis the +lynx came to Clote Scarpe one day with a complaint. "See," he said, +"you are good to everybody but me. Pekquam the fisher is cunning and +patient; he can catch what he will. Lhoks the panther is strong and +tireless; nothing can get away from him, not even the great moose. And +Mooween the bear sleeps all winter, when game is scarce, and in summer +eats everything,--roots and mice and berries and dead fish and meat +and honey and red ants. So he is always full and happy. But my eyes +are no good; they are bright, like Cheplahgan the eagle's, yet they +cannot see anything unless it moves; for you have made every creature +that hides just like the place he hides in. My nose is worse; it +cannot smell Seksagadagee the grouse, though I walk over him asleep +in the snow. And my feet make a noise in the leaves, so that Moktaques +the rabbit hears me, and hides, and laughs behind me when I go to +catch him. And I am always hungry. Make me now like the shadows that +play, in order that nothing may notice me when I go hunting." + +So Clote Scarpe, the great chief who was kind to all animals, gave +Upweekis a soft gray coat that is almost invisible in the woods, +summer or winter, and made his feet large, and padded them with soft +fur; so that indeed he is like the shadows that play, for you can +neither see nor hear him. But Clote Scarpe remembered Moktaques the +rabbit also, and gave him two coats, a brown one for summer and a +white one for winter. Consequently he is harder than ever to see when +he is quiet; and Upweekis must still depend upon his wits to catch +him. As Upweekis has few wits to spare, Moktaques often sees him close +at hand, and chuckles in his form under the brown ferns, or sits up +straight under the snow-covered hemlock tips, and watches the big lynx +at his hunting. + +Sometimes, on a winter night, when you camp in the wilderness, and the +snow is sifting down into your fire, and the woods are all still, a +fierce screech breaks suddenly out of the darkness just behind your +wind-break of boughs. You jump to your feet and grab your rifle; but +Simmo, who is down on his knees before the fire frying pork, only +turns his head to listen a moment, and says: "Upweekis catch-um rabbit +dat time." Then he gets closer to the fire, for the screech was not +pleasant, and goes on with his cooking. + +You are more curious than he, or you want the big cat's skin to take +home with you. You steal away towards the cry, past the little +_commoosie_, or shelter, that you made hastily at sundown when the +trail ended. There, with your back to the fire and the _commoosie_ +between, the light does not dazzle your eyes; you can trace the +shadows creeping in and out stealthily among the underbrush. But if +Upweekis is there--and he probably is--you do not see him. He is a +shadow among the shadows. Only there is this difference: shadows move +no bushes. As you watch, a fir-tip stirs; a bit of snow drops down. +You gaze intently at the spot. Then out of the deep shadow two living +coals are suddenly kindled. They grow larger and larger, glowing, +flashing, burning holes into your eyes till you brush them swiftly +with your hand. A shiver runs over you, for to look into the eyes of +a lynx at night, when the light catches them, is a scary experience. +Your rifle jumps to position; the glowing coals are quenched on the +instant. Then, when your eyes have blinked the fascination out of +them, the shadows go creeping in and out again, and Upweekis is lost +amongst them. + +Sometimes, indeed, you see him again. Moktaques, the big white hare, +who forgets a thing the moment it is past, sees you standing there and +is full of curiosity. He forgets that he was being hunted a moment +ago, and comes hopping along to see what you are. You back away toward +the fire. He scampers off in a fright, but presently comes hopping +after you. Watch the underbrush behind him sharply. In a moment it +stirs stealthily, as if a shadow were moving it; and there is the +lynx, stealing along in the snow with his eyes blazing. Again +Moktaques feels that he is hunted, and does the only safe thing; he +crouches low in the snow, where a fir-tip bends over him, and is still +as the earth. His color hides him perfectly. + +Upweekis has lost the trail again; he wavers back and forth, like a +shadow under a swinging lamp, turning his great head from side to +side. He cannot see nor hear nor smell his game; but he saw a bit of +snow fly a moment ago, and knows that it came from Moktaques' big +pads. Don't stir now; be still as the great spruce in whose shadow +you stand; and, once in a hunter's lifetime perhaps, you will see a +curious tragedy. + +The lynx settles himself in the snow, with all four feet close +together, ready for a spring. As you watch and wonder, a screech rings +out through the woods, so sharp and fierce that no rabbit's nerves can +stand it close at hand and be still. Moktaques jumps straight up in +the air. The lynx sees it, whirls, hurls himself at the spot. Another +screech, a different one, and then you know that it's all over. + +And that is why Upweekis' cry is so fierce and sudden on a winter +night. Your fire attracts the rabbits. Upweekis knows this, or is +perhaps attracted himself and comes also, and hides among the shadows. +But he never catches anything unless he blunders onto it. That is why +he wanders so much in winter and passes twenty rabbits before he +catches one. So when he knows that Moktaques is near, watching the +light, but remaining himself invisible, Upweekis crouches for a +spring; then he screeches fearfully. Moktaques hears it and is +startled, as anybody else would be, hearing such a cry near him. He +jumps in a fright and pays the penalty. + +If the lynx is a big one, and very hungry, as he generally is in +winter, you may get some unpleasant impressions of him in another way +when you venture far from your fire. His eyes blaze out at you from +the darkness, just two big glowing spots, which are all you see, and +which disappear at your first motion. Then as you strain your eyes, +and watch and listen, you feel the coals upon you again from another +place; and there they are, under a bush on your left, creeping closer +and blazing deep red. They disappear suddenly as the lynx turns his +head, only to reappear and fascinate you from another point. So he +plays with you as if you were a great mouse, creeping closer all the +time, swishing his stub tail fiercely to lash himself up to the +courage point of springing. But his movements are so still and shadowy +that unless he follows you as you back away to the fire, and so comes +within the circle of light, the chances are that you will never see +him. + +Indeed the chances are always that way, day or night, unless you turn +hunter and set a trap for him in the rabbit paths which he follows +nightly, and hang a bait over it to make him look up and forget his +steps. In summer he goes to the burned lands for the rabbits that +swarm in the thickets, and to rear his young in seclusion. You find +his tracks there all about, and the marks of his killing; but though +you watch and prowl all day and come home in the twilight, you will +learn little. He hears you and skulks away amid the lights and +shadows of the hillside, and so hides himself--in plain sight, +sometimes, like a young partridge--that he manages to keep a clean +record in the notebook where you hoped to write down all about him. + +In winter you cross his tracks, great round tracks that wander +everywhere through the big woods, and you think: Now I shall find him +surely. But though you follow for miles and learn much about him, +finding where he passed this rabbit close at hand, without suspecting +it, and caught that one by accident, and missed the partridge that +burst out of the snow under his very feet,--still Upweekis himself +remains only a shadow of the woods. Once, after a glorious long tramp +on his trail, I found the spot where he had been sleeping a moment +before. But beside that experience I must put fifty other trails that +I have followed, of which I never saw the end nor the beginning. And +whenever I have found out anything about Upweekis it has generally +come unexpectedly, as most good things do. + +Once the chance came as I was watching a muskrat at his supper. It was +twilight in the woods. I had drifted in close to shore in my canoe to +see what Musquash was doing on top of a rock. All muskrats have +favorite eating places--a rock, a stranded log, a tree boll that leans +out over the water, and always a pretty spot--whither they bring food +from a distance, evidently for the purpose of eating it where they +feel most at home. This one had gathered a half dozen big fresh-water +clams onto his dining table, and sat down in the midst to enjoy the +feast. He would take a clam in his fore paws, whack it a few times on +the rock till the shell cracked, then open it with his teeth and +devour the morsel inside. He ate leisurely, tasting each clam +critically before swallowing, and sitting up often to wash his +whiskers or to look out over the lake. A hermit thrush sang +marvelously sweet above him; the twilight colors glowed deep and +deeper in the water below, where his shadow was clearly eating clams +also, in the midst of heaven's splendor.--Altogether a pretty scene, +and a moment of peace that I still love to remember. I quite forgot +that Musquash is a villain. But the tragedy was near, as it always is +in the wilderness. Suddenly a movement caught my eye on the bank +above. Something was waving nervously under the bushes. Before I could +make out what it was, there was a fearful rush, a gleam of wild yellow +eyes, a squeak from the muskrat. Then Upweekis, looking gaunt and dark +and strange in his summer coat, was crouched on the rock with Musquash +between his great paws, growling fiercely as he cracked the bones. He +bit his game all over, to make sure that it was quite dead, then took +it by the back of the neck, glided into the bushes with his stub tail +twitching, and became a shadow again. + +Another time I was perched up in a lodged tree, some twenty feet from +the ground, watching a big bait of fish which I had put in an open +spot for anything that might choose to come and get it. I was hoping +for a bear, and so climbed above the ground that he might not get my +scent should he come from leeward. It was early autumn, and my +intentions were wholly peaceable. I had no weapon of any kind. + +Late in the afternoon something took to chasing a red squirrel near +me. I heard them scurrying through the trees, but could see nothing. +The chase passed out of hearing, and I had almost forgotten it, for +something was moving in the underbrush near my bait, when back it came +with a rush. The squirrel, half dead with fright, leaped from a +spruce-tip to the ground, jumped onto the tree in which I sat, and +raced up the incline, almost to my feet, where he sprang to a branch +and sat chattering hysterically between two fears. After him came a +pine marten, following swiftly, catching the scent of his game, not +from the bark or the ground, but apparently from the air. Scarcely had +he jumped upon my tree when there was a screech and a rush in the +underbrush just below him, and out of the bushes came a young lynx to +join in the chase. He missed the marten on the ground, but sprang to +my tree like a flash. I remember still that the only sound I was +conscious of at the time was the ripping of his nails in the dead +bark. He had been seeking my bait undoubtedly--for it was a good lynx +country, and Upweekis loves fish like a cat--when the chase passed +under his nose and he joined it on the instant. + +Halfway up the incline the marten smelled me, or was terrified by the +noise behind him and leaped aside. A branch upon which I was leaning +swayed or snapped, and the lucivee stopped as if struck, crouching +lower and lower against the tree, his big yellow expressionless eyes +glaring straight into mine. A moment only he stood the steady look; +then his eyes wavered; he turned his head, leaped for the underbrush, +and was gone. + +Another moment and Meeko the squirrel had forgotten his fright and +peril and everything else save his curiosity to find out who I was and +all about me. He had to pass quite close to me to get to another tree, +but anything was better than going back where the marten might be +waiting; so he was presently over my head, snickering and barking to +make me move, and scolding me soundly for disturbing the peace of the +woods. In summer Upweekis is a solitary creature, rearing his young +away back on the wildest burned lands, where game is plenty and where +it is almost impossible to find him except by accident. In winter also +he roams alone for the most part; but occasionally, when rabbits are +scarce, as they are periodically in the northern woods, he gathers in +small bands for the purpose of pulling down big game that he would +never attack singly. Generally Upweekis is skulking and cowardly with +man; but when driven by hunger (as I found out once) or when hunting +in bands, he is a savage beast and must be followed cautiously. + +I had heard much of the fierceness of these hunting bands from +settlers and hunters; and once a friend of mine, an old backwoodsman, +had a narrow escape from them. He had a dog, Grip, a big brindled cur, +of whose prowess in killing "varmints" he was always bragging, calling +him the best "lucififer" dog in all Canada. Lucififer, by the way, is +a local name for the lynx on the upper St. John, where Grip and his +master lived. + +One day in winter the master missed a young heifer and went on his +trail, with Grip and his axe for companions. Presently he came to lynx +tracks, then to signs of a struggle, then plump upon six or seven of +the big cats snarling savagely over the body of the heifer. Grip, the +lucififer dog, rushed in blindly, and in two minutes was torn to +ribbons. Then the lynxes came creeping and snarling towards the man, +who backed away, shouting and swinging his axe. He killed one by a +lucky blow, as it sprang for his chest. The others drove him to his +own door; but he would never have reached it, so he told me, but for a +long strip of open land that he had cleared back into the woods. He +would face and charge the beasts, which seemed more afraid of his +voice than of the axe, then run desperately to keep them from circling +and getting between him and safety. When he reached the open strip +they followed a little way along the edges of the underbrush, but +returned one at a time when they were sure he had no further mind to +disturb their feast or their fighting. + +It is curious that when Upweekis and his hunting pack pull down game +in this way the first thing they do is to fight over it. There may be +meat enough and to spare, but under their fearful hunger is the old +beastly instinct for each one to grab all for himself; so they fall +promptly to teeth and claws before the game is dead. The fightings at +such times are savage affairs, both to the eye and ear. One forgets +that Upweekis is a shadow, and thinks that he must be a fiend. + +One day in winter, when after caribou, I came upon a very large lynx +track, the largest I have ever seen. It was two days old; but it led +in my direction, toward the caribou barrens, and I followed it to see +what I should see. + +Presently it joined four other lynx trails, and a mile farther on all +five trails went forward in great flying leaps, each lynx leaving a +hole in the snow as big as a bucket at every jump. A hundred yards of +this kind of traveling and the trails joined another trail,--that of a +wounded caribou from the barrens. His tracks showed that he had been +traveling with difficulty on three legs. Here was a place where he had +stood to listen; and there was another place where even untrained eyes +might see that he had plunged forward with a start of fear. It was a +silent story, but full of eager interest in every detail. + +The lucivee tracks now showed different tactics. They crossed and +crisscrossed the trail, appearing now in front, now behind, now on +either side the wounded bull, evidently closing in upon him warily. +Here and there was a depression in the snow where one had crouched, +growling, as the game passed. Then the struggle began. First, there +was a trampled place in the snow where the bull had taken a stand and +the big cats went creeping about him, waiting for a chance to +spring all together. He broke away from that, but the three-legged +gallop speedily exhausted him. Only when he trots is a caribou +tireless. The lynxes followed the deadly cat-play began again. First +one, then another leaped, only to be shaken off; then two, then all +five were upon the poor brute, which still struggled forward. The +record was written red all over the snow. + +[Illustration: The lynxes and caribou] + +As I followed it cautiously, a snarl sounded just ahead. I kicked off +my snowshoes and circled noiselessly to the left, so as to look out +over a little opening. There lay the stripped carcass of the caribou +with two lynxes still upon it, growling fearfully at each other as +they pulled at the bones. Another lynx crouched in the snow, under a +bush, watching the scene. Two others circled about each other +snarling, looking for an opening, but too well fed to care for a fight +just then. Two or three foxes, a pine marten, and a fisher moved +ceaselessly in and out, sniffing hungrily, and waiting for a chance to +seize every scrap of bone or skin that was left unguarded for an +instant. Above them a dozen moose birds kept the same watch +vigilantly. As I stole nearer, hoping to get behind an old log where I +could lie and watch the spectacle, some creature scurried out of the +underbrush at one side. I was watching the movement, when a loud +_kee-yaaah!_ startled me; I whirled towards the opening. From behind +the old log a fierce round head with tasseled ears rose up, and the +big lynx, whose trail I had first followed, sprang into sight snarling +and spitting viciously. + +The feast stopped at the first alarm. The marten disappeared +instantly. The foxes and the fisher and one lynx slunk away. Another, +which I had not seen, stalked up to the carcass and put his fore paws +upon it, and turned his savage head in my direction. Evidently other +lynxes had come in to the kill beside the five I had followed. Then +all the big cats crouched in the snow and stared at me steadily out of +their wild yellow eyes. + +It was only for a moment. The big lynx on my side of the log was in a +fighting temper; he snarled continuously. Another sprang over the log +and crouched beside him, facing me. Then began a curious scene, of +which I could not wait to see the end. The two lynxes hitched nearer +and nearer to where I stood motionless, watching. They would creep +forward a step or two, then crouch in the snow, like a cat warming her +feet, and stare at me unblinkingly for a few moments. Then another +hitch or two, which brought them nearer, and another stare. I could +not look at one steadily, to make him waver; for the moment my eyes +were upon him the others hitched closer; and already two more lynxes +were coming over the log. I had to draw the curtain hastily with a +bullet between the yellow eyes of the biggest lynx, and a second +straight into the chest of his fellow-starer, just as he wriggled down +into the snow for a spring. The others had leaped away snarling as the +first heavy report rolled through the woods. + +Another time, in the same region, a solitary lynx made me +uncomfortable for half an afternoon. It was Sunday, and I had gone for +a snowshoe tramp, leaving my rifle behind me. On the way back to camp +I stopped for a caribou head and skin, which I had _cached_ on the +edge of a barren the morning before. The weather had changed; a bitter +cold wind blew after me as I turned toward camp. I carried the head +with its branching antlers on my shoulder; the skin hung down, to keep +my back warm, its edges trailing in the snow. + +Gradually I became convinced that something was following me; but I +turned several times without seeing anything. "It is only a fisher," I +thought, and kept on steadily, instead of going back to examine my +trail; for I was hoping for a glimpse of the cunning creature whose +trail you find so often running side by side with your own, and who +follows you if you have any trace of game about you, hour after hour +through the wilderness, without ever showing himself in the light. +Then I whirled suddenly, obeying an impulse; and there was Upweekis, a +big, savage-looking fellow, just gliding up on my trail in plain +sight, following the broad snowshoe track and the scent of the fresh +caribou skin without difficulty, poor trailer though he be. + +He stopped and sat down on his feet, as a lucivee generally does when +you surprise him, and stared at me steadily. When I went on again I +knew that he was after me, though he had disappeared from the trail. + +Then began a double-quick of four miles, the object being to reach +camp before night should fall and give the lucivee the advantage. It +was already late enough to make one a bit uneasy. He knew that I was +hurrying he grew bolder, showing himself openly on the trail behind +me. I turned into an old swamping road, which gave me a bit of open +before and behind. Then I saw him occasionally on either side, or +crouching half hid until I passed. Clearly he was waiting for night; +but to this day I am not sure whether it was the man or the caribou +skin upon which he had set his heart. The scent of flesh and blood was +in his nose, and he was too hungry to control himself much longer. + +I cut a good club with my big jack-knife, and, watching my chance, +threw off the caribou head and jumped for him as he crouched in the +snow. He leaped aside untouched, but crouched again instantly, showing +all his teeth, snarling horribly. Three times I swung at him warily. +Each time he jumped aside and watched for his opening; but I kept the +club in play before his eyes, and it was not yet dark enough. Then I +yelled in his face, to teach him fear, and went on again. + +Near camp I shouted for Simmo to bring my rifle; but he was slow in +understanding, and his answering shout alarmed the savage creature +near me. His movements became instantly more wary, more hidden. He +left the open trail; and once, when I saw him well behind me, his head +was raised high, listening. I threw down the caribou head to keep him +busy, and ran for camp. In a few minutes I was stealing back again +with my rifle; but Upweekis had felt the change in the situation and +was again among the shadows, where he belongs. I lost his trail in the +darkening woods. + +There was another lynx which showed me, one day, a different side to +Upweekis' nature. It was in summer, when every creature in the +wilderness seems an altogether different creature from the one you +knew last winter, with new habits, new duties, new pleasures, and even +a new coat to hide him better from his enemies. Opposite my island +camp, where I halted a little while, in a summer's roving, was a +burned ridge; that is, it had been burned over years before; now it +was a perfect tangle, with many an open sunny spot, however, where +berries grew by handfuls. Rabbits swarmed there, and grouse were +plenty. As it was forty miles back from the settlements, it seemed a +perfect place for Upweekis to make a den in. And so it was. I have no +doubt there were a dozen litters of kittens on that two miles of +ridge; but the cover was so dense that nothing smaller than a deer +could be seen moving. + +For two weeks I hunted the ridge whenever I was not fishing, stealing +in and out among the thickets, depending more upon ears than eyes, but +seeing nothing of Upweekis, save here and there a trampled fern, or a +blood-splashed leaf, with a bit of rabbit fur, or a great round cat +track, to tell the story. Once I came upon a bear and two cubs among +the berries; and once, when the wind was blowing down the hill, I +walked almost up to a bull caribou without seeing him. He was watching +my approach curiously, only his eyes, ears, and horns showing above +the tangle where he stood. Down in the coverts it was always intensely +still, with a stillness that I took good care not to break. So when +the great brute whirled with a snort and a tremendous crash of +bushes, almost under my nose, it raised my hair for a moment, not +knowing what the creature was, nor which way he was heading. But +though every day brought its experience, and its knowledge, and its +new wonder at the ways of wild things, I found no trace of the den, +nor of the kittens I had hoped to watch. All animals are silent near +their little ones, so there was never a cry by night or day to guide +me. + +Late one afternoon, when I had climbed to the top of the ridge and was +on my way back to camp, I ran into an odor, the strong, disagreeable +odor that always hovers about the den of a carnivorous animal. I +followed it through a thicket, and came to an open stony place, with a +sharp drop of five or six feet to dense cover below. The odor came +from this cover, so I jumped down; when--_yeow, karrrr, pft-pft!_ +Almost under my feet a gray thing leaped away snarling, followed by +another. I had the merest glimpse of them; but from the way they +bristled and spit and arched their backs, I knew that I had stumbled +upon a pair of the lynx kittens, for which I had searched so long in +vain. + +They had, probably, been lying out on the warm stones, until, hearing +strange footsteps, they had glided away to cover. When I crashed down +near them they had been scared into showing their temper; else I had +never seen them in the underbrush. Fortunately for me, the fierce old +mother was away. Had she been there, I should undoubtedly have had +more serious business on hand than watching her kittens. + +They had not seen more of me than my shoes and stockings; so when I +stole after them, to see what they were like, they were waiting under +a bush to see what I was like. They jumped away again, spitting, +without seeing me, alarmed by the rustle which I could not avoid +making in the cover. So I followed them, just a quiver of leaves here, +a snarl there, and then a rush away, until they doubled back towards +the rocky place, where, parting the underbrush cautiously, I saw a +dark hole among the rocks of a little opening. The roots of an +upturned tree arched over the hole, making a broad doorway. In this +doorway stood two half-grown lucivees, fuzzy and gray and +savage-looking, their backs still up, their wild eyes turned in my +direction apprehensively. Seeing me they drew farther back into the +den, and I saw nothing more of them save now and then their round +heads, or the fire in their yellow eyes. + +It was too late for further observation that day. The fierce old +mother lynx would presently be back; they would let her know of the +intruder in some way; and they would all keep close in the den. I +found a place, some dozen yards above, where it would be possible to +watch them, marked the spot by a blasted stub, to which I made a +compass of broken twigs; and then went back to camp. + +Next morning I omitted the early fishing, and was back at the place +before the sun looked over the ridge. Their den was all quiet, in deep +shadow. Mother Lynx was still away on the early hunting. I intended to +kill her when she came back. My rifle lay ready across my knees. Then +I would watch the kittens a little while, and kill them also. I wanted +their skins, all soft and fine with their first fur. And they were too +big and fierce to think of taking them alive. My vacation was over. +Simmo was already packing up, to break camp that morning. So there +would be no time to carry out my long-cherished plan of watching young +lynxes at play, as I had before watched young foxes and bears and owls +and fish-hawks, and indeed almost everything, except Upweekis, in the +wilderness. + +Presently one of the lucivees came out, yawned, stretched, raised +himself against a root. In the morning stillness I could hear the cut +and rip of his claws on the wood. We call the action sharpening the +claws; but it is only the occasional exercise of the fine flexor +muscles that a cat uses so seldom, yet must use powerfully when the +time comes. The second lucivee came out of the shadow a moment later +and leaped upon the fallen tree where he could better watch the +hillside below. For half an hour or more, while I waited expectantly, +both animals moved restlessly about the den, or climbed over the roots +and trunk of the fallen tree. They were plainly cross; they made no +attempt at play, but kept well away from each other with a wholesome +respect for teeth and claws and temper. Breakfast hour was long past, +evidently, and they were hungry. + +Suddenly one, who was at that moment watching from the tree trunk, +leaped down; the second joined him, and both paced back and forth +excitedly. They had heard the sounds of a coming that were too fine +for my ears. A stir in the underbrush, and Mother Lynx, a great savage +creature, stalked out proudly. She carried a dead hare gripped across +the middle of the back. The long ears on one side, the long legs on +the other, hung limply, showing a fresh kill. She walked to the +doorway of her den, crossed it back and forth two or three times, +still carrying the hare as if the lust of blood were raging within her +and she could not drop her prey even to her own little ones, which +followed her hungrily, one on either side. Once, as she turned toward +me, one of the kittens seized a leg of the hare and jerked it +savagely. The mother whirled on him, growling deep down in her throat; +the youngster backed away, scared but snarling. At last she flung the +game down. The kittens fell upon it like furies, growling at each +other, as I had seen the stranger lynxes growling once before over the +caribou. In a moment they had torn the carcass apart and were +crouched, each one over his piece, gnarling like a cat over a rat, and +stuffing themselves greedily in utter forgetfulness of the mother +lynx, which lay under a bush some distance away and watched them. + +In a half hour the savage meal was over. The little ones sat up, +licked their chops, and began to tongue their broad paws. The mother +had been blinking sleepily; now she rose and came to her young. A +change had come over the family. The kittens ran to meet the dam as if +they had not seen her before, rubbing softly against her legs, or +sitting up to rub their whiskers against hers--a tardy thanks for the +breakfast she had provided. The fierce old mother too seemed +altogether different. She arched her back against the roots, purring +loudly, while the little ones arched and purred against her sides. +Then she bent her savage head and licked them fondly with her tongue, +while they rubbed as close to her as they could get, passing between +her legs as under a bridge, and trying to lick her face in return; +till all their tongues were going at once and the family lay down +together. + +It was time to kill them now. The rifle lay ready. But a change had +come over the watcher too. Hitherto he had seen Upweekis as a +ferocious brute, whom it was good to kill. This was altogether +different. Upweekis could be gentle also, it seemed, and give herself +for her little ones. And a bit of tenderness, like that which lay so +unconscious under my eyes, gets hold of a man, and spikes his guns +better than moralizing. So the watcher stole away, making as little +noise as he could, following his compass of twigs to where the canoes +lay ready and Simmo was waiting. + +Sometime, I hope, Simmo and I will camp there again, in winter. And +then I shall listen with a new interest for a cry in the night which +tells me that Moktaques the rabbit is hiding close at hand in the +snow, where a young lynx of my acquaintance cannot find him. + + + + +VIII. HUKWEEM THE NIGHT VOICE. + +[Illustration: Hukweem] + + +Hukweem the loon must go through the world crying for what he never +gets, and searching for one whom he never finds; for he is the +hunting-dog of Clote Scarpe. So said Simmo to me one night in +explaining why the loon's cry is so wild and sad. + +Clote Scarpe, by the way, is the legendary hero, the Hiawatha of the +northern Indians. Long ago he lived on the Wollastook, and ruled the +animals, which all lived peaceably together, understanding each +other's language, and "nobody ever ate anybody," as Simmo says. But +when Clote Scarpe went away they quarreled, and Lhoks the panther and +Nemox the fisher took to killing the other animals. Malsun the wolf +soon followed, and ate all he killed; and Meeko the squirrel, who +always makes all the mischief he can, set even the peaceable animals +by the ears, so that they feared and distrusted each other. Then they +scattered through the big woods, living each one for himself; and now +the strong ones kill the weak, and nobody understands anybody any +more. + +There were no dogs in those days. Hukweem was Clote Scarpe's hunting +companion when he hunted the great evil beasts that disturbed the +wilderness; and Hukweem alone, of all the birds and animals, remained +true to his master. For hunting makes strong friendship, says Simmo; +and that is true. Therefore does Hukweem go through the world, looking +for his master and calling him to come back. Over the tree-tops, when +he flies low looking for new waters; high in air, out of sight, on his +southern migrations; and on every lake where he is only a voice, the +sad night voice of the vast solitary unknown wilderness--everywhere +you hear him seeking. Even on the seacoast in winter, where he knows +Clote Scarpe cannot be--for Clote Scarpe hates the sea--Hukweem +forgets himself, and cries occasionally out of pure loneliness. + +When I asked what Hukweem says when he cries--for all cries of the +wilderness have their interpretation--Simmo answered: "Wy, he say two +ting. First he say, _Where are you? O where are you_? Dass what you +call-um his laugh, like he crazy. Denn, wen nobody answer, he say, _O +I so sorry, so sorry_! _Ooooo-eee_! like woman lost in woods. An' +dass his tother cry." + +[Illustration: Hukweem] + +This comes nearer to explaining the wild unearthliness of Hukweem's +call than anything else I know. It makes things much simpler to +understand, when you are camped deep in the wilderness, and the night +falls, and out of the misty darkness under the farther shore comes a +wild shivering call that makes one's nerves tingle till he finds out +about it--_Where are you? O where are you?_ That is just like Hukweem. + +Sometimes, however, he varies the cry, and asks very plainly: "Who are +you? O who are you?" There was a loon on the Big Squattuk lake, where +I camped one summer, which was full of inquisitiveness as a blue jay. +He lived alone at one end of the lake, while his mate, with her brood +of two, lived at the other end, nine miles away. Every morning and +evening he came close to my camp--very much nearer than is usual, for +loons are wild and shy in the wilderness--to cry out his challenge. +Once, late at night, I flashed a lantern at the end of the old log +that served as a landing for the canoes, where I had heard strange +ripples; and there was Hukweem, examining everything with the greatest +curiosity. + +Every unusual thing in our doings made him inquisitive to know all +about it. Once, when I started down the lake with a fair wind, and a +small spruce set up in the bow of my canoe for a sail, he followed me +four or five miles, calling all the way. And when I came back to camp +at twilight with a big bear in the canoe, his shaggy head showing over +the bow, and his legs up over the middle thwart, like a little old +black man with his wrinkled feet on the table, Hukweem's curiosity +could stand it no longer. He swam up within twenty yards, and circled +the canoe half a dozen times, sitting up straight on his tail by a +vigorous use of his wings, stretching his neck like an inquisitive +duck, so as to look into the canoe and see what queer thing I had +brought with me. + +He had another curious habit which afforded him unending amusement. +There was a deep bay on the west shore of the lake, with hills rising +abruptly on three sides. The echo here was remarkable; a single shout +brought a dozen distinct answers, and then a confusion of tongues as +the echoes and re-echoes from many hills met and mingled. I discovered +the place in an interesting way. + +One evening at twilight, as I was returning to camp from exploring the +upper lake, I heard a wild crying of loons on the west side. There +seemed to be five or six of the great divers, all laughing and +shrieking like so many lunatics. Pushing over to investigate, I +noticed for the first time the entrance to a great bay, and paddled up +cautiously behind a point, so as to surprise the loons at their game. +For they play games, just as crows do. But when I looked in, there was +only one bird, Hukweem the Inquisitive. I knew him instantly by his +great size and beautiful markings. He would give a single sharp call, +and listen intently, with head up, swinging from side to side as the +separate echoes came ringing back from the hills. Then he would try +his cackling laugh, _Ooo-ah-ha-ha-ha-hoo, ooo-ah-ha-ha-ha-hoo_, and as +the echoes began to ring about his head he would get excited, sitting +up on his tail, flapping his wings, cackling and shrieking with glee +at his own performance. Every wild syllable was flung back like a shot +from the surrounding hills, till the air seemed full of loons, all +mingling their crazy cachinnations with the din of the chief +performer. The uproar made one shiver. Then Hukweem would cease +suddenly, listening intently to the warring echoes. Before the +confusion was half ended he would get excited again, and swim about in +small circles, spreading wings and tail, showing his fine feathers as +if every echo were an admiring loon, pleased as a peacock with himself +at having made such a noise in a quiet world. + +There was another loon, a mother bird, on a different lake, whose two +eggs had been carried off by a thieving muskrat; but she did not know +who did it, for Musquash knows how to roll the eggs into water and +carry them off, before eating, where the mother bird will not find the +shells. She came swimming down to meet us the moment our canoe entered +the lake; and what she seemed to cry was, "Where are they? O where are +they?" She followed us across the lake, accusing us of robbery, and +asking the same question over and over. + +But whatever the meaning of Hukweem's crying, it seems to constitute a +large part of his existence. Indeed, it is as a cry that he is chiefly +known--the wild, unearthly cry of the wilderness night. His education +for this begins very early. Once I was exploring the grassy shores of +a wild lake when a mother loon appeared suddenly, out in the middle, +with a great splashing and crying. I paddled out to see what was the +matter. She withdrew with a great effort, apparently, as I approached, +still crying loudly and beating the water with her wings. "Oho," I +said, "you have a nest in there somewhere, and now you are trying to +get me away from it." This was the only time I have ever known a loon +to try that old mother bird's trick. Generally they slip off the nest +while the canoe is yet half a mile away, and swim under water a long +distance, and watch you silently from the other side of the lake. + +I went back and hunted awhile for the nest among the bogs of a little +bay; then left the search to investigate a strange call that sounded +continuously farther up the shore. It came from some hidden spot in +the tall grass, an eager little whistling cry, reminding me somehow of +a nest of young fish-hawks. + +As I waded cautiously among the bogs, trying to locate the sound, I +came suddenly upon the loon's nest--just the bare top of a bog, where +the mother bird had pulled up the grass and hollowed the earth enough +to keep the eggs from rolling out. They were there on the bare ground, +two very large olive eggs with dark blotches. I left them undisturbed +and went on to investigate the crying, which had stopped a moment as I +approached the nest. + +Presently it began again behind me, faint at first, then louder and +more eager, till I traced it back to Hukweem's household. But there +was nothing here to account for it, only two innocent-looking eggs on +top of a bog. I bent over to examine them more closely. There, on the +sides, were two holes, and out of the holes projected the points of +two tiny bills. Inside were two little loons, crying at the top of +their lungs, "Let me out! O let me out! It's hot in here. Let me +out--_Oooo-eee! pip-pip-pip_!" + +But I left the work of release to the mother bird, thinking she knew +more about it. Next day I went back to the place, and, after much +watching, saw two little loons stealing in and out among the bogs, +exulting in their freedom, but silent as two shadows. The mother bird +was off on the lake, fishing for their dinner. + +Hukweem's fishing is always an interesting thing to watch. +Unfortunately he is so shy that one seldom gets a good opportunity. +Once I found his favorite fishing ground, and came every day to watch +him from a thicket on the shore. It was of little use to go in a +canoe. At my approach he would sink deeper and deeper in the water, as +if taking in ballast. How he does this is a mystery; for his body is +much lighter than its bulk of water. Dead or alive, it floats like a +cork; yet without any perceptible motion, by an effort of will +apparently, he sinks it out of sight. You are approaching in your +canoe, and he moves off slowly, swinging his head from side to side so +as to look at you first with one eye, then with the other. Your canoe +is swift; he sees that you are gaining, that you are already too near. +He swings on the water, and sits watching you steadily. Suddenly he +begins to sink, deeper and deeper, till his back is just awash. Go a +little nearer, and now his body disappears; only his neck and head +remain above water. Raise your hand, or make any quick motion, and he +is gone altogether. He dives like a flash, swims deep and far, and +when he comes to the surface will be well out of danger. + +If you notice the direction of his bill as it enters the water, you +can tell fairly well about where he will come up again. It was +confusing at first, in chasing him, to find that he rarely came up +where he was expected. I would paddle hard in the direction he was +going, only to find him far to the right or left, or behind me, when +at last he showed himself. That was because I followed his body, not +his bill. Moving in one direction, he will turn his head and dive. +That is to mislead you, if you are following him. Follow his bill, as +he does himself, and you will be near him when he rises; for he rarely +turns under water. + +With two good men to paddle, it is not difficult to tire him out. +Though he swims with extraordinary rapidity under water--fast enough +to follow and catch a trout--a long deep dive tires him, and he must +rest before another. If you are chasing him, shout and wave your hat +the moment he appears, and paddle hard the way his bill points as he +dives again. The next time he comes up you are nearer to him. Send him +down again quick, and after him. The next time he is frightened to see +the canoe so close, and dives deep, which tires him the more. So his +disappearances become shorter and more confused; you follow him more +surely because you can see him plainly now as he goes down. Suddenly +he bursts out of water beside you, scattering the spray into your +canoe. Once he came up under my paddle, and I plucked a feather from +his back before he got away. + +This last appearance always scares him out of his wits, and you get +what you have been working hard for--a sight of Hukweem getting under +way. Away he goes in a smother of spray, beating the water with his +wings, kicking hard to lift himself up; and so for a hundred yards, +leaving a wake like a stern-wheel steamer, till he gathers headway +enough to rise from the water. + +After that first start there is no sign of awkwardness. His short +wings rise and fall with a rapidity that tries the eye to follow, like +the rush of a coot down wind to decoys. You can hear the swift, strong +beat of them, far over your head, when he is not calling. His flight +is very rapid, very even, and often at enormous altitudes. But when he +wants to come down he always gets frightened, thinking of his short +wings, and how high he is, and how fast he is going. On the ocean, in +winter, where he has all the room he wants, he sometimes comes down in +a great incline, miles long, and plunges through and over a dozen +waves, like a dolphin, before he can stop. But where the lake is +small, and he cannot come down that way, he has a dizzy time of it. + +Once, on a little lake in September, I used to watch for hours to get +a sight of the process. Twelve or fifteen loons were gathered there, +holding high carnival. They called down every migrating loon that +passed that way; their numbers increased daily. Twilight was the +favorite time for arriving. In the stillness I would hear Hukweem far +away, so high that he was only a voice. Presently I would see him +whirling over the lake in a great circle.--"Come down, O come down," +cry all the loons. "I'm afraid, _ooo-ho-ho-ho-ho-hoooo-eee_, I'm +afraid," says Hukweem, who is perhaps a little loon, all the way from +Labrador on his first migration, and has never come down from a height +before. "Come on, O come _oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-hon_. It won't hurt you; we +did it; come on," cry all the loons. + +Then Hukweem would slide lower with each circle, whirling round and +round the lake in a great spiral, yelling all the time, and all the +loons answering. When low enough, he would set his wings and plunge +like a catapult at the very midst of the assembly, which scattered +wildly, yelling like schoolboys--"Look out! he'll break his neck; +he'll hit you; he'll break your back if he hits you."--So they +splashed away in a desperate fright, each one looking back over his +shoulder to see Hukweem come down, which he would do at a terrific +pace, striking the water with a mighty splash, and shooting half +across the lake in a smother of white, before he could get his legs +under him and turn around. Then all the loons would gather round him, +cackling, shrieking, laughing, with such a din as the little loon +never heard in his life before; and he would go off in the midst of +them, telling them, no doubt, what a mighty thing it was to come down +from so high and not break his neck. + +A little later in the fall I saw those same loons do an astonishing +thing. For several evenings they had been keeping up an unusual racket +in a quiet bay, out of sight of my camp. I asked Simmo what he thought +they were doing.--"O, I don' know, playin' game, I guess, jus' like +one boy. Hukweem do dat sometime, wen he not hungry," said Simmo, +going on with his bean-cooking. That excited my curiosity; but when I +reached the bay it was too dark to see what they were playing. + +One evening, when I was fishing at the inlet, the racket was different +from any I had heard before. There would be an interval of perfect +silence, broken suddenly by wild yelling; then the ordinary loon talk +for a few minutes, and another silence, broken by a shriller outcry. +That meant that something unusual was going on, so I left the trout, +to find out about it. + +When I pushed my canoe through the fringe of water-grass on the point +nearest the loons, they were scattered in a long line, twelve or +fifteen of them, extending from the head of the bay to a point nearly +opposite me. At the other end of the line two loons were swimming +about, doing something which I could not make out. Suddenly the loon +talk ceased. There may have been a signal given, which I did not hear. +Anyway, the two loons faced about at the same moment and came tearing +down the line, using wings and feet to help in the race. The upper +loons swung in behind them as they passed, so as to watch the finish +better; but not a sound was heard till they passed my end of the line +in a close, hard race, one scarcely a yard ahead of the other, when +such a yelling began as I never heard before. All the loons gathered +about the two swimmers; there was much cackling and crying, which grew +gradually quieter; then they began to string out in another long line, +and two more racers took their places at one end of it. By that time +it was almost dark, and I broke up the race trying to get nearer in my +canoe so as to watch things better. Twice since then I have heard +from summer campers of their having seen loons racing across a lake. I +have no doubt it is a frequent pastime with the birds when the summer +cares for the young are ended, and autumn days are mellow, and fish +are plenty, and there are long hours just for fun together, before +Hukweem moves southward for the hard solitary winter life on the +seacoast. + +Of all the loons that cried out to me in the night, or shared the +summer lakes with me, only one ever gave me the opportunity of +watching at close quarters. It was on a very wild lake, so wild that +no one had ever visited it before in summer, and a mother loon felt +safe in leaving the open shore, where she generally nests, and placing +her eggs on a bog at the head of a narrow bay. I found them there a +day or two after my arrival. + +I used to go at all hours of the day, hoping the mother would get used +to me and my canoe, so that I could watch her later, teaching her +little ones; but her wildness was unconquerable. Whenever I came in +sight of the nest-bog, with only the loon's neck and head visible, +standing up very straight and still in the grass, I would see her slip +from the nest, steal away through the green cover to a deep place, and +glide under water without leaving a ripple. Then, looking sharp over +the side into the clear water, I would get a glimpse of her, just a +gray streak with a string of silver bubbles, passing deep and swift +under my canoe. So she went through the opening, and appeared far out +in the lake, where she would swim back and forth, as if fishing, until +I went away. As I never disturbed her nest, and always paddled away +soon, she thought undoubtedly that she had fooled me, and that I knew +nothing about her or her nest. + +Then I tried another plan. I lay down in my canoe, and had Simmo +paddle me up to the nest. While the loon was out on the lake, hidden +by the grassy shore, I went and sat on a bog, with a friendly alder +bending over me, within twenty feet of the nest, which was in plain +sight. Then Simmo paddled away, and Hukweem came back without the +slightest suspicion. As I had supposed, from the shape of the nest, +she did not sit on her two eggs; she sat on the bog instead, and +gathered them close to her side with her wing. That was all the +brooding they had, or needed; for within a week there were two bright +little loons to watch instead of the eggs. + +After the first success I used to go alone and, while the mother bird +was out on the lake, would pull my canoe up in the grass, a hundred +yards or so below the nest. From here I entered the alders and made +my way to the bog, where I could watch Hukweem at my leisure. After a +long wait she would steal into the bay very shyly, and after much fear +and circumspection glide up to the canoe. It took a great deal of +looking and listening to convince her that it was harmless, and that I +was not hiding near in the grass. Once convinced, however, she would +come direct to the nest; and I had the satisfaction at last of +watching a loon at close quarters. + +She would sit there for hours--never sleeping apparently, for her eye +was always bright--preening herself, turning her head slowly, so as to +watch on all sides, snapping now and then at an obtrusive fly, all in +utter unconsciousness that I was just behind her, watching every +movement. Then, when I had enough, I would steal away along a caribou +path, and push off quietly in my canoe without looking back. She saw +me, of course, when I entered the canoe, but not once did she leave +the nest. When I reached the open lake, a little searching with my +glass always showed me her head there in the grass, still turned in my +direction apprehensively. + +I had hoped to see her let the little ones out of their hard shell, +and see them first take the water; but that was too much to expect. +One day I heard them whistling in the eggs; the next day, when I +came, there was nothing to be seen on the nest-bog. I feared that +something had heard their whistling and put an untimely end to the +young Hukweems while mother bird was away. But when she came back, +after a more fearful survey than usual of the old bark canoe, two +downy little fellows came bobbing to meet her out of the grass, where +she had hidden them and told them to stay till she came back. + +It was a rare treat to watch them at their first feeding, the little +ones all eagerness, bobbing about in the delight of eating and the +wonder of the new great world, the mother all tenderness and +watchfulness. Hukweem had never looked to me so noble before. This +great wild mother bird, moving ceaselessly with marvelous grace about +her little ones, watching their play with exquisite fondness, and +watching the great dangerous world for their sakes, now chiding them +gently, now drawing near to touch them with her strong bill, or to rub +their little cheeks with hers, or just to croon over them in an +ecstasy of that wonderful mother love which makes the summer +wilderness beautiful,--in ten minutes she upset all my theories, and +won me altogether, spite of what I had heard and seen of her +destructiveness on the fishing grounds. After all, why should she not +fish as well as I? And then began the first lessons in swimming and +hiding and diving, which I had waited so long to see. + +Later I saw her bring little fish, which she had slightly wounded, +turn them loose in shallow water, and with a sharp cluck bring the +young loons out of their hiding, to set them chasing and diving wildly +for their own dinners. But before that happened there was almost a +tragedy. + +One day, while the mother was gone fishing, the little ones came out +of their hiding among the grasses, and ventured out some distance into +the bay. It was their first journey alone into the world; they were +full of the wonder and importance of it. Suddenly, as I watched, they +began to dart about wildly, moving with astonishing rapidity for such +little fellows, and whistling loudly. From the bank above, a swift +ripple had cut out into the water between them and the only bit of bog +with which they were familiar. Just behind the ripple were the sharp +nose and the beady eyes of Musquash, who is always in some mischief of +this kind. In one of his prowlings he had discovered the little brood; +now he was manoeuvering craftily to keep the frightened youngsters +moving till they should be tired out, while he himself crept carefully +between them and the shore. + +Musquash knows well that when a young loon, or a shelldrake, or a +black duck, is caught in the open like that, he always tries to get +back where his mother hid him when she went away. That is what the +poor little fellows were trying to do now, only to be driven back and +kept moving wildly by the muskrat, who lifted himself now and then +from the water, and wiggled his ugly jaws in anticipation of the +feast. He had missed the eggs in his search; but young loon would be +better, and more of it.--"There you are!" he snapped viciously, +lunging at the nearest loon, which flashed under water and barely +escaped. + +I had started up to interfere, for I had grown fond of the little wild +things whose growth I had watched from the beginning, when a great +splashing began on my left, and I saw the old mother bird coming like +a fury. She was half swimming, half flying, tearing over the water at +a great pace, a foamy white wake behind her.--"Now, you little +villain, take your medicine. It's coming; it's coming," I cried +excitedly, and dodged back to watch. But Musquash, intent on his evil +doing (he has no need whatever to turn flesh-eater), kept on viciously +after the exhausted little ones, paying no heed to his rear. + +Twenty yards away the mother bird, to my great astonishment, flashed +out of sight under water. What could it mean! But there was little +time to wonder. Suddenly a catapult seemed to strike the muskrat from +beneath and lift him clear from the water. With a tremendous rush and +sputter Hukweem came out beneath him, her great pointed bill driven +through to his spine. Little need of my help now. With another +straight hard drive, this time at eye and brain, she flung him aside +disdainfully and rushed to her shivering little ones, questioning, +chiding, praising them, all in the same breath, fluttering and +cackling low in an hysteric wave of tenderness. Then she swam twice +around the dead muskrat and led her brood away from the place. + +Perhaps it was to one of those same little ones that I owe a service +for which I am more than grateful. It was in September, when I was at +a lake ten miles away--the same lake into which a score of frolicking +young loons gathered before moving south, and swam a race or two for +my benefit. I was lost one day, hopelessly lost, in trying to make my +way from a wild little lake where I had been fishing, to the large +lake where my camp was. It was late afternoon. To avoid the long hard +tramp down a river, up which I had come in the early morning, I +attempted to cut across through unbroken forest without a compass. +Traveling through a northern forest in summer is desperately hard +work. The moss is ankle deep, the underbrush thick; fallen logs lie +across each other in hopeless confusion, through and under and over +which one must make his laborious way, stung and pestered by hordes of +black flies and mosquitoes. So that, unless you have a strong instinct +of direction, it is almost impossible to hold your course without a +compass, or a bright sun, to guide you. + +I had not gone half the distance before I was astray. The sun was long +obscured, and a drizzling rain set in, without any direction whatever +in it by the time it reached the underbrush where I was. I had begun +to make a little shelter, intending to put in a cheerless night there, +when I heard a cry, and looking up caught a glimpse of Hukweem +speeding high over the tree-tops. Far down on my right came a faint +answering cry, and I hastened in its direction, making an Indian +compass of broken twigs as I went along. Hukweem was a young loon, and +was long in coming down. The crying ahead grew louder. Stirred up from +their day rest by his arrival, the other loons began their sport +earlier than usual. The crying soon became almost continuous, and I +followed it straight to the lake. + +Once there, it was a simple matter to find the river and my old canoe +waiting patiently under the alders in the gathering twilight. Soon I +was afloat again, with a sense of unspeakable relief that only one +can appreciate who has been lost and now hears the ripples sing under +him, knowing that the cheerless woods lie behind, and that the +camp-fire beckons beyond yonder point. The loons were hallooing far +away, and I went over--this time in pure gratitude--to see them again. +But my guide was modest and vanished post-haste into the mist the +moment my canoe appeared. + +Since then, whenever I hear Hukweem in the night, or hear others speak +of his unearthly laughter, I think of that cry over the tree-tops, and +the thrilling answer far away. And the sound has a ring to it, in my +ears, that it never had before. Hukweem the Night Voice found me +astray in the woods, and brought me safe to a snug camp.--That is a +service which one does not forget in the wilderness. + + + + + + GLOSSARY OF INDIAN NAMES. + + + +Cheplahgan, _chep-lah'-gan_, the bald eagle. + +Chigwooltz, _chig-wooltz'_, the bullfrog. + +Clote Scarpe, a legendary hero, like Hiawatha, of the + Northern Indians. Pronounced variously, Clote + Scarpe, Groscap, Gluscap, etc. + +Hukweem, _huk-weem'_, the great northern diver, or loon. + +Ismaques, _iss-ma-ques'_, the fish-hawk. + +Kagax, _kag'-ax_, the weasel. + +Killooleet, _kil'-loo-leet_, the white-throated sparrow. + +Kookooskoos, _koo-koo-skoos'_, the great horned owl. + +Lhoks, _locks_, the panther. + +Malsun, _mal'-sun_, the wolf. + +Meeko, _meek'-o_, the red squirrel. + +Megaleep, _meg'-a-leep_, the caribou. + +Milicete, _mil'-i-cete_, the name of an Indian tribe; + written also Malicete. + +Moktaques, _mok-ta'-ques_, the hare. + +Mooween, _moo-ween'_, the black bear. + +Nemox, _nem'-ox_, the fisher. + +Pekquam, _pek-wam'_, the fisher. + +Seksagadagee, _sek'-sa-ga-da'-gee_, the grouse. + +Tookhees, _tok'-hees_, the wood mouse. + +Upweekis, _up-week'-iss_, the Canada lynx. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wilderness Ways, by William J Long + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILDERNESS WAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 15950.txt or 15950.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/5/15950/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Melissa Er-Raqabi, Sankar +Viswanathan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team +at https://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |