diff options
Diffstat (limited to '27933.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 27933.txt | 5119 |
1 files changed, 5119 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/27933.txt b/27933.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5058f6f --- /dev/null +++ b/27933.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5119 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of Forest Neighbors, by William Davenport +Hulbert, Illustrated by A. R. Dugmore, Walter M. Hardy, Gleeson, and +Arthur Hemming + + +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: Forest Neighbors + Life Stories of Wild Animals + + +Author: William Davenport Hulbert + + + +Release Date: January 29, 2009 [eBook #27933] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOREST NEIGHBORS*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Emmy, and the Project Gutenberg Online +Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 27933-h.htm or 27933-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/3/27933/27933-h/27933-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/3/27933/27933-h.zip) + + + + + +FOREST NEIGHBORS + + _"And the Northern Lights come down, + To dance with the houseless snow; + And God, Who clears the grounding berg, + And steers the grinding floe, + He hears the cry of the little kit-fox, + And the lemming, on the snow."_ + + RUDYARD KIPLING. + +[Illustration: _The Beaver Lumbering._] + + +FOREST NEIGHBORS + +Life Stories of Wild Animals + +by + +WILLIAM DAVENPORT HULBERT + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +Doubleday, Page & Co. +Garden City +New York +1914 + +Copyright, 1900, 1901, and 1902, by +the S. S. Mcclure Co. + +Copyright, 1902, by +Doubleday, Page & Co. + + + + + _To my Sister_ + KATHARINE GRACE HULBERT + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION xi + + THE BIOGRAPHY OF A BEAVER 1 + + THE KING OF THE TROUT STREAM 41 + + THE STRENUOUS LIFE OF A CANADA LYNX 83 + + POINTERS FROM A PORCUPINE QUILL 125 + + THE ADVENTURES OF A LOON 163 + + THE MAKING OF A GLIMMERGLASS BUCK 199 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + The Beaver Lumbering _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + + "On the grass in the warm, quiet sunshine of + an autumn afternoon" 6 + + Building the Dam 22 + + Nesting Grounds 62 + + "He tried jumping out of the water" 72 + + "The hole was suddenly darkened, and a round, + hairy face looked in" 100 + + "He was a very presentable young lynx" 110 + + "They both stood still and looked at each other" 120 + + "High up in the top of a tall hemlock" 132 + + "He quickly made his way to the beach" 148 + + "He went under as simply as you would step out + of bed" 166 + + "She herself was a rarely beautiful sight" 170 + + "The old earth sliding southward fifty miles + an hour" 180 + + "He was a baby to be proud of" 202 + + "The buck was nearing the prime of life" 226 + + "Wherever they went they were always struggling + and fighting" 230 + + + + +_INTRODUCTION_ + + +_Some thirty years ago, while out on one of his landlooking trips in +the woods of Northern Michigan, my father came upon a little lake which +seemed to him the loveliest that he had ever seen, though he had visited +many in the course of his explorations. The wild ponds are very apt to +be shallow and muddy, with low, marshy shores; but this one was deep and +clear, and its high banks were clothed with a splendid growth of beech, +maple and birch. Tall elms stood guard along the water's edge, and here +and there the hardwood forest was broken by dark hemlock groves, and +groups of lordly pine-trees, lifting their great green heads high above +their deciduous neighbors. Only in one place, around the extreme eastern +end, the ground was flat and wet; and there the tamarack swamp showed +golden yellow in October, and light, delicate green in late spring. Wild +morning-glories grew on the grassy point that put out from the northern +shore, and in the bays the white water-lilies were blossoming. Nearly +two miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, it lay basking and +shimmering in the sunshine, a big, broad, beautiful sheet of water set +down in the very heart of the woods._ + +_There were no settlers anywhere near, nor even any Indians, yet there +was no lack of inhabitants. Bears and wolves and a host of smaller +animals were to be found, and along the shores were runways that had +been worn deep in the soil by the tread of generation after generation +of dainty little cloven hoofs. I suppose that some of those paths have +been used by the deer for hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years._ + +_The lands around the entire lake were offered for sale by the United +States Government at the ridiculously low price which Uncle Sam has +asked for most of his possessions; and with the help of some friends my +father bought the whole shore. During the years which followed he was +occupied in various ways, and some of the best recollections of my +boyhood are of the days and the nights which I spent with him on his +fishing-tug, steaming about the Straits of Mackinac and the northern +part of Lake Huron. But he could not forget the Glimmerglass, that +little wild lake up in the woods. He had fallen in love with it at first +sight, and at last he took his family and went there to live._ + +_Human neighbors were scarce around the lake, and perhaps that was one +reason why we took such a lively interest in the other residents--those +who were there ahead of us. "Him and me's chums," my small sister said +of the red-squirrel that hung around the log-barn. And some of the +animals seemed to take a very lively interest in us. The chipmunks came +into the house occasionally, on foraging expeditions; and so, I regret +to say, did the skunks. There was a woodchuck who used to come to the +back door, looking for scraps, and who learned to sit bolt upright and +hold a pancake in his fore paws while he nibbled at it, without being in +the least disturbed by the presence and the comments of half a dozen +spectators. The porcupines became a never-ending nuisance, for they made +almost nightly visits to the woodshed. To kill them was of little use, +for the next night--or perhaps before morning--there were others to take +their places. Once in a while one of them would climb up onto the roof +of the house; and between his teeth and his feet and the rattling of his +quills on the shingles, the racket that he made was out of all +proportion to his size._ + + It is sweet to lie at evening in your little trundle-bed, + And to listen to a porky gnawing shingles overhead; + Porky, porky, porky, porky; + Gnawing shingles overhead. + +_The wolves had been pretty nearly exterminated since my father's first +visit to the lake, and we saw little or nothing of them. The bears +seemed to be more numerous, but they were very shy and retiring. We +found their tracks more often than we came upon the animals themselves. +Some of the cat tribe remained, and occasionally placed themselves in +evidence. My brother came in one day from a long tramp on snow-shoes, +and told how he had met one of them standing guard over the remains of a +deer, and how the lynx had held him up and made him go around. Beavers +were getting scarce, though a few were still left on the more secluded +streams. Deer, on the contrary, were very plentiful. Many a time they +invaded our garden-patch and helped themselves to our fresh vegetables._ + +_One August afternoon a flock of eight young partridges, of that +spring's hatching, coolly marched out of the woods and into the +clearing, as if they were bent on investigating their new neighbors. +Partridges appear to be subject to occasional fits of stupidity, and to +temporary (or possibly permanent) loss of common-sense; but it may be +that in this case the birds were too young and inexperienced to realize +what they were doing. Or perhaps they knew that it was Sunday, and that +the rules of the household forbade shooting on that day. If so, their +confidence was sadly misplaced. We didn't shoot them, but we did +surround them, and by working carefully and cautiously we "shooed" them +into an empty log-house. And the next day we had them for dinner._ + +_Around the shores of the Glimmerglass a few loons and wild-ducks +usually nested, and in the autumn the large flocks from the Far North +often stopped there for short visits, on their way south for the winter. +They were more sociable than you would suppose--or at least the loons +were--and the same small girl who had made friends with the red-squirrel +learned to talk to the big birds._ + +_Down in the water the herring and a large species of salmon trout made +their homes, and probably enjoyed themselves till they met with the +gill-net and the trolling-hook. But herring and salmon trout did not +satisfy us; we wanted brook trout, too. And so one day a shipment of +babies arrived from the hatchery at Sault Ste. Marie, and thus we first +became acquainted with the habits of infant fishes, and learned +something of their needs and the methods of their foster-parents._ + +_One after another our neighbors introduced themselves, each in his own +way. And they were good neighbors, all of them. Even the porcupines and +the skunks were interesting--in their peculiar fashion--and I wish there +were none worse than they in the city's slums._ + +_I have said good-by to the Glimmerglass, and it may be that I shall +never again make my home by its shores. But the life of the woods goes +on, and will still go on as long as man will let it. I suppose that, +even as I write, the bears are "holeing up" for the winter, and the deer +are growing anxious because the snow is covering the best of their food, +and they of the cat tribe are getting down to business, and hunting in +deadly earnest. The loons and the ducks have pulled out for the Gulf of +Mexico, and the squirrels are glad that they have such a goodly store of +nuts laid up for the next four months. The beavers have retired to their +lodges--that is, if Charley Roop and his fellows have left any of them +alive. The partridges--well, the partridges will just have to get along +the best way they can. I guess they'll pull through somehow. The +porcupines are all right, as you will presently see if you read this +book. They don't have to worry. Down in the bed of the trout stream the +trout eggs are getting ready--getting ready. And out on the lake itself +the frost is at work, and the ice-sheet is forming, and under that cold, +white lid the Glimmerglass will wait till another year brings round +another spring-time--the spring-time that will surely come to all of us +if only we hold on long enough._ + +_Chicago, December, 1901._ + + + + +THE BIOGRAPHY OF A BEAVER + + +A BROAD, flat tail came down on the water with a whack that sent the +echoes flying back and forth across the pond, and its owner ducked his +head, arched his back, and dived to the bottom. It was a very curious +tail, for besides being so oddly paddle-shaped it was covered with what +looked like scales, but were really sections and indentations of hard, +horny, blackish-gray skin. Except its owner's relations, there was no +one else in all the animal kingdom who had one like it. But the +strangest thing about it was the many different ways in which he used +it. Just now it was his rudder--and a very good rudder, too. + +In a moment his little brown head reappeared, and he and his brothers +and sisters went chasing each other round and round the pond, ducking +and diving and splashing, raising such a commotion that they sent the +ripples washing all along the grassy shores, and having the jolliest +kind of a time. It isn't the usual thing for young beavers to be out in +broad daylight, but all this happened in the good old days before the +railways came, when northern Michigan was less infested with men than +it is now. + +When the youngsters wanted a change they climbed up onto a log, and +nudged and hunched each other, poking their noses into one another's fat +little sides, and each trying to shove his brother or sister back into +the water. By and by they scrambled out on the bank, and then, when +their fur had dripped a little, they set to work to comb it. Up they sat +on their hind legs and tails--the tail was a stool now, you see--and +scratched their heads and shoulders with the long brown claws of their +small, black, hairy hands. Then the hind feet came up one at a time, and +combed and stroked their sides till the moisture was gone and the fur +was soft and smooth and glossy as velvet. After that they had to have +another romp. They were not half as graceful on land as they had been in +the water. In fact they were not graceful at all, and the way they stood +around on their hind legs, and shuffled, and pranced, and wheeled like +baby hippopotami, and slapped the ground with their tails, was one of +the funniest sights in the heart of the woods. And the funniest and +liveliest of them all was the one who owned that tail--the tail which, +when I last saw it, was lying on the ground in front of Charlie Roop's +shack. He was the one whom I shall call the Beaver--with a big B. + +But even young beavers will sometimes grow tired of play, and at last +they all lay down on the grass in the warm, quiet sunshine of the autumn +afternoon. The wind had gone to sleep, the pond glittered like steel in +its bed of grassy beaver-meadow, the friendly woods stood guard all +around, the enemy was far away, and it was a very good time for five +furry little babies to take a nap. + +The city in which the tail first made its appearance was a very ancient +one, and may have been the oldest town on the North American continent. +Nobody knows when the first stick was laid in the dam that changed a +small natural pond into a large artificial one, and thus opened the way +for further municipal improvements; but it was probably centuries ago, +and for all we can tell it may have been thousands of years back in the +past. Generation after generation of beavers had worked on that dam, +building it a little higher and a little higher, a little longer and a +little longer, year after year; and raising their lodges as the pond +rose around them. Theirs was a maritime city, for most of its streets +were of water, like those of Venice; rich cargoes of food-stuffs came +floating to its very doors, and they themselves were navigators from +their earliest youth, and took to the water as naturally as ducks or +Englishmen. They were lumbermen, too, and when the timber was all cut +from along the shores of the pond they dug canals across the low, level, +marshy ground, back to the higher land where the birch and the poplar +still grew, and floated the branches and the smaller logs down the +artificial water-ways. And there were land roads, as well as canals, for +here and there narrow trails crossed the swamp, showing where +generations of busy workers had passed back and forth between the felled +tree and the water's edge. Streets, canals, public works, dwellings, +commerce, lumbering, rich stores laid up for the winter--what more do +you want to constitute a city, even if the houses are few in number, and +the population somewhat smaller than that of London or New York? + +[Illustration: "_On the grass in the warm, quiet sunshine of an autumn +afternoon._"] + +There was a time, not very long before the Beaver was born, when for a +few years the city was deserted. The trappers had swept through the +country, and the citizens' skulls had been hung up on the bushes, while +their skins went to the great London fur market. Few were left alive, +and those few were driven from their homes and scattered through the +woods. The trappers decided that the ground was worked out, and most of +them pushed on to the north and west in search of regions not yet +depopulated. Then, one by one, the beavers came back to their old +haunts. The broken dam was repaired; new lodges were built, and new +beavers born in them; and again the ancient town was alive with the play +of the babies and the labors of the civil engineers. Not as populous, +perhaps, as it had once been, but alive, and busy, and happy. And so it +was when our Beaver came into the world. + +The first year of his life was an easy one, especially the winter, when +there was little for anyone to do except to eat, to sleep, and now and +then to fish for the roots of the yellow water-lily in the soft mud at +the bottom of the pond. During that season he probably accomplished more +than his parents did, for if he could not toil he could at least grow. +Of course they may have been growing, too, but it was less noticeable in +them than in him. Not only was he increasing in size and weight, but he +was storing up strength and strenuousness for the work that lay before +him. It would take much muscle to force those long yellow teeth of his +through the hard, tough flesh of the maple or the birch or the poplar. +It would take vigor and push and enterprise to roll the heavy billets +of wood over the grass-tufts to the edge of the water. And, most of all, +it would take strength and nerve and determination to tear himself away +from a steel trap and leave a foot behind. So it was well for the +youngster that for a time he had nothing to do but grow. + +Spring came at last, and many of the male beavers prepared to leave home +for a while. The ladies seemed to prefer not to be bothered by the +presence of men-folk during the earliest infancy of the children; so the +men, probably nothing loath, took advantage of the opportunity to see +something of the world, wandering by night up and down the streams, and +hiding by day in burrows under the banks. For a time they enjoyed it, +but as the summer dragged by they came straggling home one after +another. The new babies who had arrived in their absence had passed the +most troublesome age, and it was time to begin work again. The dam and +the lodges needed repairs, and there was much food to be gathered and +laid up for the coming winter. + +Now, on a dark autumn night, behold the young Beaver toiling with might +and main. His parents have felled a tree, and it is his business to help +them cut up the best portions and carry them home. He gnaws off a small +branch, seizes the butt end between his teeth, swings it over his +shoulder, and makes for the water, keeping his head twisted around to +the right or left so that the end of the branch may trail on the ground +behind him. Sometimes he even rises on his hind legs, and walks almost +upright, with his broad, strong tail for a prop to keep him from tipping +over backward if his load happens to catch on something. Arrived at the +canal or at the edge of the pond, he jumps in and swims for town, still +carrying the branch over his shoulder, and finally leaves it on the +growing pile in front of his father's lodge. Or perhaps the stick is too +large and too heavy to be carried in such a way. In that case it must be +cut into short billets and rolled, as a cant-hook man rolls a log down a +skidway. Only the Beaver has no cant-hook to help him, and no skidway, +either. All he can do is to push with all his might, and there are so +many, many grass-tufts and little hillocks in the way! And sometimes the +billet rolls down into a hollow, and then it is very hard to get it out +again. He works like a beaver, and pushes and shoves and toils with +tremendous energy, but I am afraid that more than one choice stick never +reaches the water. + +These were his first tasks. Later on he learned to fell trees himself. +Standing up on his hind legs and tail, with his hands braced against the +trunk, he would hold his head sidewise, open his mouth wide, set his +teeth against the bark, and bring his jaws together with a savage nip +that left a deep gash in the side of the tree. A second nip deepened the +gash, and gave it more of a downward slant, and two or three more +carried it still farther into the tough wood. Then he would choose a new +spot a little farther down, and start a second gash, which was made to +slant up toward the first. And when he thought that they were both deep +enough he would set his teeth firmly in the wood between them, and pull +and jerk and twist at it until he had wrenched out a chip--a chip +perhaps two inches long, and from an eighth to a quarter of an inch +thick. He would make bigger ones when he grew to be bigger himself, but +you mustn't expect too much at first. Chip after chip was torn out in +this way, and gradually he would work around the tree until he had +completely encircled it. Then the groove was made deeper, and after a +while it would have to be broadened so that he could get his head +farther into it. He seemed to think it was of immense importance to get +the job done as quickly as possible, for he worked away with tremendous +energy and eagerness, as if felling that tree was the only thing in the +world that was worth doing. Once in a while he would pause for a moment +to feel of it with his hands, and to glance up at the top to see whether +it was getting ready to fall, and several times he stopped long enough +to take a refreshing dip in the pond; but he always hurried back, and +pitched in again harder than ever. In fact, he sometimes went at it so +impetuously that he slipped and rolled over on his back. Little by +little he dug away the tree's flesh until there was nothing left but its +heart, and at last it began to crack and rend. The Beaver jumped aside +to get out of the way, and hundreds and hundreds of small, tender +branches, and delicious little twigs and buds came crashing down where +he could cut them off and eat them or carry them away at his leisure. + +And so the citizens labored, and their labor brought its rich reward, +and everybody was busy and contented, and life was decidedly worth +living. + +But one black November night our hero's father, the wisest old beaver in +all the town, went out to his work and never came home again. A trapper +had found the rebuilt city--a scientific trapper who had studied his +profession for years, and who knew just how to go to work. He kept away +from the lodges as long as he could, so as not to frighten anyone; and +before he set a single trap he looked the ground over very carefully, +located the different trails that ran back from the water's edge toward +the timber, visited the stumps of the felled trees, and paid particular +attention to the tooth-marks on the chips. No two beavers leave marks +that are exactly alike. The teeth of one are flatter or rounder than +those of another, while a third has large or small nicks in the edges of +his yellow chisels; and each tooth leaves its own peculiar signature +behind it. By noting all these things the trapper concluded that a +particular runway in the wet, grassy margin of the pond was the one by +which a certain old beaver always left the water in going to his night's +labor. That beaver, he decided, would best be the first one taken, for +he was probably the head of a family, and an elderly person of much +wisdom and experience; and if one of his children should be caught first +he might become alarmed, and take the lead in a general exodus. + +So the trapper set a heavy double-spring trap in the edge of the water +at the foot of the runway, and covered it with a thin sheet of moss. +And that night, as the old beaver came swimming up to the shore, he put +his foot down where he shouldn't, and two steel jaws flew up and clasped +him around the thigh. He had felt that grip before. Was not half of his +right hand gone, and three toes from his left hind foot? But this was a +far more serious matter than either of those adventures. It was not a +hand that was caught this time, nor yet a toe, or toes. It was his right +hind leg, well up toward his body, and the strongest beaver that ever +lived could not have pulled himself free. Now when a beaver is +frightened, he of course makes for deep water. There, he thinks, no +enemy can follow him; and, what is more, it is the highway to his lodge, +and to the burrow that he has hollowed in the bank for a refuge in case +his house should be attacked. So this beaver turned and jumped back into +the water the way he had come; but, alas! he took his enemy with him. +The heavy trap dragged him to the bottom like a stone, and the short +chain fastened to a stake kept him from going very far toward home. For +a few minutes he struggled with all his might, and the soft black mud +rose about him in inky clouds. Then he quieted down and lay very, very +still; and the next day the trapper came along and pulled him out by +the chain. + +Something else happened the same night. Another wise old beaver, the +head man of another lodge, was killed by a falling tree. He ought to +have known better than to let such a thing happen. I really don't see +how he could have been so careless. But the best of us will make +mistakes at times, and any pitcher may go once too often to the well. I +suppose that he had felled hundreds of trees and bushes, big and little, +in the course of his life, and he had never yet met with an accident; +but this time he thought he would take one more bite after the tree had +really begun to fall. So he thrust his head again into the narrowing +notch, and the wooden jaws closed upon him with a nip that was worse +than his own. He tried to draw back, but it was too late, his skull +crashed in, and his life went out like a candle. + +And so, in a few hours, the city lost two of its best citizens--the very +two whom it could least afford to lose. If they had been spared they +might, perhaps, have known enough to scent the coming danger, and to +lead their families and neighbors away from the doomed town, deeper into +the heart of the wilderness. As it was, the trapper had things all his +own way, and by working carefully and cautiously he added skin after +skin to his store of beaver-pelts. I haven't time to tell you of all the +different ways in which he set his traps, nor can we stop to talk of the +various baits that he used, from castoreum to fresh sticks of birch or +willow, or of those other traps, still more artfully arranged, which had +no bait at all, but were cunningly hidden where the poor beavers would +be almost certain to step into them before they saw them. After all, it +was his awful success that mattered, rather than the way in which he +achieved it. Our friend's mother was one of the next to go, and the way +his brothers and sisters disappeared one after another was a thing to +break one's heart. + +One night the Beaver himself came swimming down the pond, homeward +bound, and as he dived and approached the submarine entrance of the +lodge he noticed some stakes driven into the mud--stakes that had never +been there before. They seemed to form two rows, one on each side of his +course, but as there was room enough for him to pass between them he +swam straight ahead without stopping. His hands had no webs between the +fingers, and were of little use in swimming, so he had folded them back +against his body; but his big feet were working like the wheels of a +twin-screw steamer, and he was forging along at a great rate. Suddenly, +half-way down the lines of stakes, his breast touched the pan of a steel +trap, and the jaws flew up quick as a wink and strong as a vise. +Fortunately there was nothing that they could take hold of. They struck +him so hard that they lifted him bodily upward, but they caught only a +few hairs. + +Even a scientific trapper may sometimes make mistakes, and when this one +came around to visit his trap, and found it sprung but empty, he thought +that the beavers must have learned its secret and sprung it on purpose. +There was no use, he decided, in trying to catch such intelligent +animals in their own doorway, and he took the trap up and set it in a +more out-of-the-way place. And so one source of danger was removed, just +because the Beaver was lucky enough to touch the pan with his breast +instead of with a foot. + +A week later he was really caught by his right hand, and met with one of +the most thrilling adventures of his life. Oh, but that was a glorious +night! Dark as a pocket, no wind, thick black clouds overhead, and the +rain coming down in a steady, steady drizzles--just the kind of a night +that the beavers love, when the friendly darkness shuts their little +city in from all the rest of the world, and when they feel safe and +secure. Then, how the long yellow teeth gouge and tear at the tough +wood, how the trees come tumbling down, and how the branches and the +little logs come hurrying in to augment the winter food-piles! Often of +late the Beaver had noticed an unpleasant odor along the shores, an odor +that frightened him and made him very uneasy, but to-night the rain had +washed it all away, and the woods smelled as sweet and clean as if God +had just made them over new. And on this night, of all others, the +Beaver put his hand squarely into a steel trap. + +He was in a shallow portion of the pond, and the chain was too short for +him to reach water deep enough to drown him; but now a new danger +appeared, for there on the low, mossy bank was an otter, glaring at him +through the darkness. Beaver-meat makes a very acceptable meal for an +otter, and the Beaver knew it. And he knew, also, how utterly helpless +he was, either to fly or to resist, with that heavy trap on his arm, and +its chain binding him to the stake. His heart sank like lead, and he +trembled from his nose to the end of his tail, and whimpered and cried +like a baby. But, strange to say, it was the trapper who saved him, +though, of course, it was done quite unintentionally. As the otter +advanced to the attack there came a sudden sharp click, and in another +second he too was struggling for dear life. Two traps had been set in +the shallow water. The Beaver had found one, and the otter the other. + +The full story of that night, with all its details of fear and suffering +and pain, will never be written; and probably it is as well that it +should not be. But I can give you a few of the facts, if you care to +hear them. The Beaver soon found that he was out of the otter's reach, +and with his fears relieved on that point he set to work to free himself +from the trap. Round and round he twisted, till there came a little +snap, and the bone of his arm broke short off in the steel jaws. Then +for a long, long time he pulled and pulled with all his might, and at +last the tough skin was rent apart, and the muscles and sinews were torn +out by the roots. His right hand was gone, and he was so weak and faint +that it seemed as if all the strength and life of his whole body had +gone with it. No matter. He was free, and he swam away to the nearest +burrow and lay down to rest. The otter tried to do the same, but he was +caught by the thick of his thigh, and his case was a hopeless one. Next +day the trapper found him alive, but very meek and quiet, worn out with +fear and useless struggles. In the other trap were a beaver's hand and +some long shreds of flesh and sinew that must once have reached well up +into the shoulder. + +We shall have to hurry over the events of the next winter--the last +winter in the city's history. By the time the Beaver's wound was +healed--Nature was good to him, and the skin soon grew over the torn +stump--the pond was covered with ice. The beavers, only half as numerous +as they had been a few weeks before, kept close in their lodges and +burrows, and for a time they lived in peace and quiet, and their numbers +suffered no further diminution. Then the trapper took to setting his +traps through the ice, and before long matters were worse than ever. By +spring the few beavers that remained were so thoroughly frightened that +the ancient town was again abandoned--this time forever. The lodges fell +to ruins, the burrows caved in, the dam gave way, the pond and canals +were drained, and that was the end of the city. + +Yet not quite the end, after all. The beavers have vanished from their +old habitation, but their work remains in the broad meadows cleared of +timber by their teeth, and covered with rich black soil by the +inundations from their dam. There is an Indian legend which says that +after the Creator separated the land from the water He employed gigantic +beavers to smooth it down and prepare it for the abode of men. However +that may be, the farmers of generations to come will have reason to rise +up and bless those busy little citizens--but I don't suppose they will +ever do it. + +One city was gone, but there were two that could claim the honor of +being our Beaver's home at different periods of his life. The first, as +we have already seen, was ancient and historic. The second was +brand-new. Let us see how it had its beginning. The Beaver got married +about the time he left his old home; and this, by the way, is a very +good thing to do when you want to start a new town. Except for his +missing hand, his wife was so like him that it would have puzzled you to +tell which was which. I think it is very likely that she was his twin +sister, but of course that's none of our business. Do you want to know +what they looked like? They measured about three feet six inches from +tip of nose to tip of tail, and they weighed perhaps thirty pounds +apiece. Their bodies were heavy and clumsy, and were covered with thick, +soft, grayish under-fur, which in turn was overlaid with longer hairs of +a glistening chestnut-brown, making a coat that was thoroughly +water-proof as well as very beautiful. Their heads were somewhat like +those of gigantic rats, with small, light-brown eyes, little round ears +covered with hair, and long orange-colored incisors looking out from +between parted lips. One portrait will answer for both of them. + +They wandered about for some time, looking for a suitable location, and +examining several spots along the beds of various little rivers, none of +which seemed to be just right. But at last they found, in the very heart +of the wilderness, a place where a shallow stream ran over a hard stony +bottom, and here they set to work. It was a very desirable situation in +every respect. At one side stood a large tree, so close that it could +probably be used as a buttress for the dam when the latter was +sufficiently lengthened to reach it; while above the shallow the ground +was low and flat on both sides for some distance back from the banks, so +that the pond would have plenty of room to spread out. If they could +have spoken they would probably have said that the place was a dam site +better than any other they had seen. + +[Illustration: _Building the Dam._] + +Alder bushes laid lengthwise of the current were the first materials +used, and for a time the water filtered through them with hardly a +pause. Then the beavers began laying mud and stones and moss on this +brush foundation, scooping them up with their hands, and holding them +under their chins as they waddled or swam to the dam. The Beaver himself +was not very good at this sort of work, for his right hand was gone, as +we know, and it was not easy for him to carry things; but he did the +best he could, and together they accomplished a great deal. The mud and +the grass and such-like materials were deposited mainly on the upper +face of the dam, where the pressure of the water only sufficed to drive +them tighter in among the brush; and thus, little by little, a smooth +bank of earth was presented to the current, backed up on the lower side +by a tangle of sticks and poles. Its top was very level and straight, +and along its whole length the water trickled over in a succession of +tiny rills. This was important, for if all the overflow had been in one +place the stream might have been so strong and rapid as to eat into +the dam, and perhaps carry away the whole structure. + +The first year the beavers did not try to raise the stream more than a +foot above its original level. There was much other work to be done--a +house to be built, and food to be laid in for the winter--and if they +spent too much time on the dam they might freeze or starve before +spring. A few rods up-stream was a grassy point which the rising waters +had transformed into an island, and here they built their lodge, a +hollow mound of sticks and mud, with a small, cave-like chamber in the +centre, from which two tunnels led out under the pond--"angles," the +trappers call them. The walls were masses of earth and wood and stones, +so thick and solid that even a man with an axe would have found it +difficult to penetrate them. Only at the very apex of the mound there +was no mud, nothing but tangled sticks through which a breath of fresh +air found its way now and then. In spite of this feeble attempt at +ventilation I am obliged to admit that the atmosphere of the lodge was +often a good deal like that of the Black Hole of Calcutta, but beavers +are so constituted that they do not need much oxygen, and they did not +seem to mind it. In all other respects the house was neat and clean. +The floor was only two or three inches above the level of the water in +the angles, and would naturally have been a bed of mud; but they mixed +little twigs with it, and stamped and pounded it down till it was hard +and smooth. I think likely the Beaver's tail had something to do with +this part of the work, as well as with finishing off the dam, for he was +fond of slapping things with it, and it was just the right shape for +such use. In fact, I fear that if it had not been for the tail, and for +other tails like it, neither of the cities would ever have been as +complete as they were. With the ends of projecting sticks cut off to +leave the walls even and regular, and with long grass carried in to make +the beds, the lodge was finished and ready. + +And now you might have seen the beavers coming home to rest after a +night's labor at felling timber--swimming across the pond toward the +island, with only the tops of their two little heads showing above the +water. In front of the lodge each tail-rudder gives a slap and a twist, +and they dive for the submarine door of one of the angles. In another +second they are swimming along the dark, narrow tunnel, making the water +surge around them. Suddenly the roof of the passage rises, and their +heads pop up into the air. A yard or two farther, and they enter the +chamber of the lodge, with its level floor and its low, arched roof. And +there in the darkness they lie down on their grass beds and go to sleep. +It is good to have a home of your own where you may take your ease when +the night's work is done. + +Near the upper end of the pond, where the bank was higher, they dug a +long burrow, running back ten or fifteen feet into the ground. This was +to be the last resort if, by any possibility, the lodge should ever be +invaded. It was a weary task, digging that burrow, for its mouth was +deep under the water, and every few minutes they had to stop work and +come to the surface for breath. Night after night they scooped and +shovelled, rushing the job as fast as they knew how, but making pretty +slow progress in spite of all their efforts. It was done at last, +however, and they felt easier in their minds when they knew that it was +ready for use in case of necessity. From its mouth in the depths of the +pond it sloped gradually upward to a dry chamber under the roots of a +large birch; and here, where a few tiny holes were not likely to be +noticed from the outside, two or three small openings, almost hidden by +the moss and dead leaves, let in the air and an occasional ray of +light. The big tree made a solid roof overhead, and the chamber was +large enough, with a little crowding, to accommodate a whole family of +beavers. + +There was only one other heavy task, and that was the gathering of the +wood, which, with its bark, was to serve as food through the winter. +This too was finally finished, and the very last things that the beavers +did that fall were to put another coat of mud on the outside of the +lodge, and to see that the dam was in the best possible condition. No +repairing could be done after the ice made; and if the dam should give +way at any time during the winter, the pond would be drained, and the +entrances of the lodge and the burrow would be thrown open to any +prowling marauders that might happen to pass that way. So it was +imperative to have things in good order before cold weather came on. + +There came a quiet, windless day, when the sky was gray, and when the +big snow-flakes came floating lazily down, some to lose themselves in +the black water, and some to robe the woods and the shores in white. At +nightfall the clouds broke up, the stars shone forth, and the air grew +odder and keener till long crystal spears shot out across the pond, and +before morning a sheet of glass had spread from shore to shore. I do not +think it was unwelcome. The beavers were shut in for the winter, or +could only go abroad with considerable difficulty, but they had each +other, and there was a little world of their own down under the ice and +snow. The chamber of the lodge was home, and just outside was their food +storehouse--the big pile of wood which it had cost so much labor to +gather. One of the entrances was shorter and straighter than the other, +and through this they used to bring in sticks from the heap, and lay +them on the floor between the beds, where they could devour the bark at +their leisure. If they grew restless, and wanted to go farther afield, +there was the bottom of the pond to be explored, and the big luscious +lily-roots to be dug up for a change of diet. It was a peaceful time, a +time of rest from the labors of the past year, and of growing fat and +strong for those of the year to come. We have much goods laid up for +many months; let us eat, drink, and be merry, and hope that the trappers +will not come to-morrow. + +The babies came in May, and I suppose that the young father and mother +were almost as proud and happy as some of you who are in similar +circumstances. The Beaver did not wander very far from home that spring +and summer, nor was he away very long at a time. + +There were five of the children, and they were very pretty--about as +large as rats, and covered with thick, soft, silky, reddish-brown fur, +but without any of the longer, coarser, chestnut-colored hairs that +formed their parents' outer coats. They were very playful, too, as the +father and mother had been in their own youthful days. For a while they +had to be nursed, like other babies; but by and by the old beavers began +to bring in little twigs for them, about the size of lead-pencils; and +if you had been there, and your eyes had been sharp enough to pierce the +gloom, you might have seen the youngsters exercising their brand new +teeth, and learning to sit up and hold sticks in their baby hands while +they ate the bark. And wouldn't you have liked to be present on the +night when they first went swimming down the long, dark tunnel; and, +rising to the surface, looked around on their world of woods and +water--on the quiet pond, with its glassy smoothness broken only by +their own ripples; on the tall trees, lifting their fingers toward the +sky; and on the stars, marching silently across the heavens, and looking +down with still, unwinking eyes on another family of babies that had +come to live and love and be happy for a little while on God's earth? + +One of the children was killed by an otter before the summer was over, +but I am glad to say that the other four grew up and were a credit to +their parents. + +The babies were not the only addition to the new city during that year, +for about mid-summer another pair of beavers came and built a lodge near +the upper end of the pond. It was a busy season for everybody--for our +old friends as well as for the new-comers. The food-sticks which had +been peeled off their bark during the winter furnished a good supply of +construction material, and the dam was built up several inches higher, +and was lengthened to the buttress-tree on one side, and for a distance +of two or three rods on the other, so as to keep the water from flowing +around the ends. As the water-level rose it became necessary to build up +the floor of the lodge in order to keep it from being flooded; and that, +in turn, necessitated raising the roof by the simple process of +hollowing it out from within and adding more material on the outside. In +the same way the lodge was made both longer and broader, to accommodate +the growing family and the still further increase that was to be +expected the following spring. More burrows were dug in the shore of +the pond--you can't have too many of them--and a much larger stock of +food wood was gathered, for there were six mouths, instead of two, to be +fed through the coming winter. The father and mother worked very hard, +and even the babies helped with the lighter tasks, such as carrying home +small branches, and mending little leaks in the dam. The second pair of +beavers was also busy with lodge and burrow and storehouse, and so the +days slipped by very rapidly. + +Only once that year did a man come to town, and then he did not do +anything very dreadful. He was not a trapper, he was only an amateur +naturalist who wanted to see the beavers at their work, and who thought +he was smart enough to catch them at it. His plan was simple enough; he +made a breach in the dam one night, and then climbed a tree and waited +for them to come and mend it. It was bright moonlight, and he thought he +would see the whole thing and learn some wonderful secrets. + +The Beaver was at work in the woods not very far away, and presently he +came down to the edge of the pond, rolling a heavy birch cutting before +him. He noticed at once that the water was falling, and he started +straight for the dam to see what was the matter. The amateur naturalist +saw him coming, a dark speck moving swiftly down the pond, with a long +V-shaped ripple spreading out behind him like the flanks of a flock of +wild geese. But the beaver was doing some thinking while he swam. He had +never before known the water to fall so suddenly and rapidly; there must +be a very bad break in the dam. How could it have happened? It looked +suspicious. It looked very suspicious indeed; and just before he reached +the dam he stopped to reconnoitre, and at once caught sight of the +naturalist up in the tree. His tail rose in the air and came down with +the loudest whack that had ever echoed across the pond, a stroke that +sent the spray flying in every direction, and that might have been heard +three-quarters of a mile away. His wife heard it, and paused in her work +of felling a tree; the children heard it, and the neighbors heard it; +and they all knew it meant business. The Beaver dived like a loon and +swam for dear life, and he did not come to the surface again till he had +reached the farther end of the pond and was out of sight behind a grassy +point. There he stayed, now and then striking the water with his tail +as a signal that the danger was not yet over. It isn't every animal that +can use his caudal appendage as a stool, as a rudder, as a third hind +leg, as a trowel for smoothing the floor of his house, and as a tocsin +for alarming his fellow-citizens. + +The naturalist roosted in the tree till his teeth were chattering and he +was fairly blue with cold, and then he scrambled down and went back to +his camp, where he had a violent chill. The next night it rained, and as +he did not want to get wet there was nothing to do but stay in his tent. +When he visited the pond again the dam had been repaired and the water +was up to its usual level. He decided that watching beavers wasn't very +interesting, hardly worth the trouble it cost; and he guessed he knew +enough about them, anyhow. So the next day he packed up his camping +outfit and went home. + +In the following year the population was increased to eighteen, for six +more babies arrived in our Beaver's lodge, and four in his neighbors'. +In another twelvemonth the first four were old enough to build lodges +and found homes of their own; and so the city grew, and our Beaver and +his wife were the original inhabitants, the first settlers, the most +looked-up-to of all the citizens. You are not to suppose, however, that +the Beaver was mayor of the town. There was no city government. The +family was the unit, and each household was a law unto itself. But that +did not keep him from being the oldest, the wisest, the most knowing of +all the beavers in the community, just as his father had been before him +in another town. + +I don't believe you care to hear all about the years that followed. They +were years of peace and growth, of marriages and homebuilding, of many +births and a few deaths, of winter rest and summer labor, and of quiet +domestic happiness. There was little excitement, and, best of all, there +were no trappers. The time came when the Beaver might well say, as he +looked around on the community which he and his wife had founded, that +he was a citizen of no mean city. + +But this could not last. A great calamity was coming--a calamity beside +which the slow destruction of the former town would seem tame and +uninteresting. + +One bright February day the Beaver and his wife left their lodge to look +for lily-roots. They had found a big fat one and were just about to +begin their feast, when they heard foot-steps on the ice over their +heads, and the voices of several men talking eagerly. They made for the +nearest burrow as fast as they could go, and stayed there the rest of +the day, and when they returned to their lodge they found--but I'm going +too fast. + +The men were Indians and half-breeds, and they were in high feather over +their discovery. Around this pond there must be enough beaver-skins to +keep them in groceries and tobacco and whiskey for a long time to come. +But to find a city is one thing, and to get hold of its inhabitants is +another and a very different one. One of the Indians was an elderly man +who in the old days had trapped beaver in Canada for the Hudson Bay +Company, and he assumed the direction of the work. First of all they +chopped holes in the ice and drove a line of stakes across the stream +just above the pond, so that no one might escape in that direction. +Then, by pounding on the ice, and cutting more holes in it here and +there, they found the entrances to all the lodges and most of the +burrows, and closed them also with stakes driven into the bottom. +Fortunately they did not find the burrow where our Beaver and his wife +had taken refuge. They were about to break open the roofs of the lodges +when the old man proposed that they should play a trick on one of the +beaver families--a trick which his father had taught him when he was a +boy, and when the beavers were many in the woods around Lake Superior. +He described it with enthusiasm, and his companions agreed that it would +be great fun. For a time there was much chopping of ice and driving of +stakes, and then all was quiet again. + +By and by one of our Beaver's children began to feel hungry, and as his +father and mother had not come home he decided to go out to the +wood-pile and get something to eat. So he took a header from his bed +into the water, and swam down the angle. The door had been unbarred +again, and he passed out without difficulty, but when he reached the +pile he found it surrounded by a fence made of stakes set so close +together that he could not pass between them. He swam clear around it, +and at last found one gap just wide enough to admit his body. He passed +in, and as he did so his back grazed a small twig which had been thrust +down through a hole in the ice, and the watching Indians saw it move, +and knew that a beaver had entered the trap. He picked out a nice stick +of convenient size, and started to return to the lodge. But where was +that gap in the fence? This was the place, he was sure. Here were two +stakes between which he had certainly passed as he came in, but now +another stood squarely between them, and the gate was barred. He swam +all round the wood-pile, looking for a way out, and poking his little +brown nose between the stakes, but there was no escape, and when he came +back to the entrance and found it still closed his last hope died, and +he gave up in despair. His heart and lungs and all his circulatory +apparatus had been so designed by the Great Architect that he might live +for many minutes under water, but they could not keep him alive +indefinitely. Overhead was the ice, and all around was that cruel fence. +Only a rod away was home, where his brothers and sisters were waiting +for him, and where there was air to breathe and life to live--but he +could not reach it. You have all read or heard how a drowning man feels, +and I suppose it is much the same with a drowning beaver. They say it is +an easy death. + +By and by a hooked stick came down through a hole in the ice and drew +him out, the gate was unbarred, the twig was replaced, and the Indians +waited for another hungry little beaver to come for his dinner. That's +enough. You know now what the parents found when they came home--or +rather what they didn't find. + +It would have taken too long to dispose of the whole city in this way, +so the Indians finally broke the dam and let the water out of the pond, +and then they tore open the lodges and all the burrows they could find, +and the inhabitants were put to the--not the sword, but the axe and the +club. Of all those who had been so happy and prosperous, the old Beaver +and his wife were the only ones who escaped; and their lives were spared +only because the Indians failed to find their hiding-place. + +That was the end of the second city, but it was not quite the end of the +beavers. A few miles up-stream they dug a short burrow in the bank and +tried to make a new home. In May another baby came, but only one, and it +was dead before it was born. Next day the mother died too, and the +Beaver left the burrow and went out into the world alone. I really think +his heart was broken, though it continued to beat for several months +longer. + +Just northeast of the Glimmerglass there lies a long, narrow pond, whose +shores are very low and swampy, and whose waters drain into the larger +lake through a short stream only a few rods in length. Hundreds, +perhaps thousands, of years ago the narrow strip of land that separates +them may possibly have been a beaver-dam, but to-day it is hard to tell +it from one of Nature's own formations. In the course of his lonely +wanderings the Beaver reached this pond, and here he established himself +to spend his last few weeks. He was aging rapidly. Such a little while +ago he had seemed in the very prime of life, and had been one of the +handsomest beavers in the woods, with fur of the thickest and softest +and silkiest, and a weight of probably sixty pounds. Now he was thin and +lean, his hair was falling out, his teeth were losing their sharp edges +and becoming blunt and almost useless, and even his flat tail was +growing thicker and more rounded, and its whack was not as startling as +of old when he brought it down with all his might on the surface of the +water. + +Yet even now the old instinct flamed up and burned feebly for a little +while. Or shall we say the old love of work, and of using the powers and +faculties that God had given him? Why should the thing that is called +genius in a man be set down as instinct when we see it on a somewhat +smaller scale in an animal? Whatever it was, the ruling passion was +still strong. All his life he had been a civil engineer; and now, one +dark, rainy autumn night, he left his shallow burrow, swam down the pond +to its outlet, and began to build a dam. The next day, pushing up the +shallow stream in my dug-out canoe, I saw the alder-cuttings lying in +its bed, with the marks of his dull teeth on their butts. God knows why +he did it, or what he was thinking about as he cut those bushes and +dragged them into the water. I don't; but sometimes I wonder if a wild +dream of a new lodge, a new mate, a new home, and a new city was +flitting through his poor, befogged old brain. + +It was only a few nights later that he put his foot into Charlie Roop's +beaver-trap, jumped for deep water, and was drowned like his father +before him. Charlie afterward showed me the pelt, which he had stretched +on a hoop made of a little birch sapling. It was not a very good pelt, +for, as I said, the Beaver had been losing his hair, but Charlie thought +he might get a dollar or two for it. Whether he needed the dollar more +than the Beaver needed his skin was a question which it seemed quite +useless to discuss. + +As we left the shack I noticed the tail lying on the ground just outside +the door. + +"Why don't you eat it?" I asked. "Don't you know that a beaver's tail is +supposed to be one of the finest delicacies in the woods?" + +"Huh!" said Charlie. "I'd rather have salt pork." + + + + +THE KING OF THE TROUT STREAM + + +IT was winter, and the trout stream ran low in its banks, hidden from +the sky by a thick shell of ice and snow, and not seeing the sun for a +season. But the trout stream was used to that, and it slipped along in +the darkness, undismayed and not one whit disheartened; talking to +itself in low, murmuring tones, and dreaming of the time when spring +would come back and all the rivers would be full. + +Mingled with its waters, and borne onward and downward by the ceaseless +flow of its current, went multitudes of the tiniest air-bubbles, most of +them too small ever to be seen by a human eye, yet large enough to be +the very breath of life to thousands and thousands of creatures. Some of +them found their way to the gills of the brook trout, and some to the +minnows, and the herrings, and the suckers, and the star-gazers; some +fed the little crustacea, and the insect larvae, and the other tiny water +animals that make up the lower classes of society; and some passed +undetained down the river and out into Lake Superior. But there were +others that worked down into the gravel of the riverbed; and there, in +the nooks and crannies between the pebbles, they found a vast number of +little balls of yellow-brown jelly, about as large as small peas, which +seemed to be in need of their kindly ministrations. And the air-bubbles +touched the trout eggs gently and lovingly, and in some mysterious and +wonderful way their oxygen passed in through the pores of the shells, +and the embryos within were quickened and stirred to a new vigor and a +more rapid growth. + +Not all of the eggs were alive. Some had been crushed between the +stones; some were buried in sediment, which had choked the pores and +kept away the friendly oxygen until they smothered; and some had never +really lived at all. But one danger they had been spared, for there were +no saw-mills on the stream to send a flood of fungus-breeding sawdust +down with the current. And in spite of all the misfortunes and disasters +to which trout eggs are liable, a goodly number of them were doing quite +as well as could be expected. I suppose one could hardly say that they +were being incubated, for, according to the dictionaries, to incubate is +to sit upon, and certainly there was no one sitting on them. Their +mothers had not come near them since the day they were laid. But the +gravel hid them from the eyes of egg-eating fishes and musk-rats; the +water kept them cold, but not too cold; the fresh oxygen came and +encouraged them if ever they grew tired and dull, and so the good work +went on. + +Through each thin, leathery, semi-transparent shell you could have seen, +if you had examined it closely, a pair of bright, beady eyes, and a dark +little thread of a backbone that was always curled up like a horseshoe +because there wasn't room for it to lie straight. But along the outside +of the curve of each spinal column a set of the tiniest and daintiest +muscles was getting ready for a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull +all together. And one day, late in the winter, when the woods were just +beginning to think about spring, the muscles in one particular egg +tugged with all their little might, the backbone straightened with a +great effort, the shell was ripped open, and the tail of a brand-new +brook trout thrust itself out into the water and wiggled pathetically. + +But his head and shoulders were still inside, and for a while it looked +as if he would never get them free. His tail was shaped somewhat like a +paddle set on edge, for a long, narrow fin ran from the middle of his +back clear around the end of it and forward again on the under side of +his body, and with this for an oar he struggled and writhed and +squirmed, and went bumping blindly about among the pebbles like a kitten +with its head in the cream pitcher. And at last, with the most vigorous +squirm and wriggle of all, he backed clear of the shell in which he had +lain for so many weeks and months, and, weak and weary from his +exertions, lay down on a stone to rest. + +He had to lie on his side, for attached to his breast was a large, +round, transparent sac which looked very much like the egg out of which +he had just come. In fact it really was the egg, or at least a portion +of it, for it held a large part of what had been the yolk. If you could +have examined him with a microscope you would have seen a most strange +and beautiful thing. His little body was so delicate and transparent +that one could see the arteries pulsing and throbbing in time with the +beating of his heart, and some of those arteries found their way into +the food-sac, where they kept branching and dividing, and growing +smaller and more numerous. And in the very smallest of the tiny tubes a +wonderful process was going on--as wonderful as the way in which the +oxygen fed the embryos through the shell. Somehow, by life's marvellous +alchemy, the blood was laying hold of the material of the yolk, turning +it into more blood, and carrying it away to be used in building up bone +and muscle everywhere from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. +You might not have detected the actual transformation, but you could +have seen the beating of the engine, and the throbbing rush of the +little red rivers, all toiling with might and main to make a big, strong +trout out of this weak and diminutive baby. And you could have seen the +corpuscles hurrying along so thick and fast that at times they blocked +up the passages, and the current was checked till the heart could bring +enough pressure to bear to burst the dam and send them rushing on again. +For the corpuscles of a trout's blood are considerably larger than those +of most fishes, and they sometimes get "hung up," like a drive of logs +sent down a stream hardly large enough to float it. + +With a full haversack to be drawn upon in such a convenient manner the +Troutlet was not obliged to take food through his mouth or to think +about hustling around in search of a living. This was very fortunate, +for the stream was full of hungry beasts of prey who would be very +likely to gobble him up quick the first time he went abroad; and, +besides, his frail little body was still so weak and delicate that he +could not bear the light of day. So, instead of swimming away to seek +his fortune, he simply dived down deeper into the gravel, and stayed +there. For some weeks he led a very quiet life among the pebbles, and +the only mishap that befell him during that time was the direct result +of his retiring disposition. In his anxiety to get as far away from the +world as possible he one day wedged himself into a cranny so narrow that +he couldn't get out again. He couldn't even breathe, for his gill-covers +were squeezed down against the sides of his head as if he were in a +vise. A trout's method of respiration is to open his mouth and fill it +with water, and then to close it again and force the water out through +his gills, between his cheeks and his shoulders, about where his neck +would be if he had one. It's very simple when you once know how, but you +can't do it with your gill-covers clamped down. His tail wiggled more +pathetically than ever, and did its level best to pull him out, but +without success. He was wedged in so tightly that he couldn't move, and +he was fast smothering, like a baby that has rolled over on its face +upon the pillow. But at the last moment, when his struggles had grown +feebler and feebler until they had almost ceased, something stirred up +the gravel around him and set him free. He never knew what did it. +Perhaps a deer or a bear waded through the stream; or a saw-log may have +grounded for a moment in the shallow; or possibly it was only the +current, for by this time most of the snow had melted, and the little +river was working night and day to carry the water out of the woods. But +whatever it was, he was saved. + +He stayed in the gravel nearly a month, but his yolk-sac was gradually +shrinking, and after a time it drew itself up into a little cleft in his +breast and almost disappeared. There was nothing left of it but a little +amber-colored bead, and it could no longer supply food enough for his +growing body. There were times when he felt decidedly hungry. And other +changes had come while he lay and waited in the gravel. The embryonic +fin which had made his tail so like a paddle was gone, the true dorsal +and caudal and anal fins had taken their proper shape, and he looked a +little less like a tadpole and a little more like a fish. He was +stronger than he had been at first, and he was losing his dread of the +sunlight; and so at last he left the gravel-bed, to seek his rightful +place in the world of moving, murmuring waters. + +He was rather weak and listless at first, and quite given to resting in +the shallows and back water, and taking things as easily as possible. +But that was to be expected for a time, and he was much better off than +some of the other trout babies. He saw one that had two heads and only +one body, and another with two heads and two bodies joined together at +the tail. Still others there were who had never been strong enough to +straighten their backbones, and who had lain in the egg till the shell +wore thin and let them out head first, which is not at all the proper +way for a trout to hatch. Even now they still retained the horseshoe +curve, and could never swim straight ahead, but only spin round and +round like whirligigs. These cripples and weaklings seemed to have got +on pretty well as long as their food-sacs lasted, but now that they had +to make their own living they were at a serious disadvantage. They all +disappeared after a day or two, and our friend never saw them again. +They couldn't stand the real struggle of life. + +Many a strong, healthy baby disappeared at the same time, and if there +had not been so many of them it is not likely that any would have +survived the first few days and weeks. Even as it was, I doubt if more +than one fish out of each thousand eggs ever lived to grow up. It is not +difficult to guess where they went. Our Trout had hardly emerged from +his hiding-place in the gravel when a queer, ugly, big-headed little +fish darted at him from under a stone, with his jaws open and an awful +cavity yawning behind them. The Troutlet dodged between a couple of +pebbles and escaped, but another youngster just beyond him was caught +and swallowed alive. That was his first meeting with the star-gazer, who +kills more babies than ever Herod did. Then there were minnows, and +herrings, and lizards, and frogs, and weasels, and water-snakes, and +other butchers of all sorts and sizes, too numerous to mention. And +perhaps the worst of all were the older trout, who never seemed to have +the least compunction about eating their small relations, and who were +so nimble and lively that it was almost impossible to keep out of their +way. Our friend spent most of his time in the shallow water near the +banks, where larger fishes were not so likely to follow him, but even +there he had many narrow escapes and was obliged to keep himself hidden +as much as possible under chips and dead leaves, and behind stones. + +Often he found himself in great peril when he least suspected it. Once +he lay for some time in the edge of a dark forest of water-weeds, only +an inch from a lumpish, stupid-looking creature, half covered with mud, +that was clinging to one of the stems. The animal appeared so dull and +unintelligent that the young Trout paid little attention to him until +another baby came up and approached a trifle closer. Then, quick as a +flash, the creature shot out an arm nearly three-quarters of an inch +long, bearing on its end two horrible things which were not exactly +claws, nor fingers, nor teeth, but which partook of the nature of all +three, and which came together on the infant's soft, helpless little +body like a pair of tongs or the jaws of a steel trap, and drew him in +to where the real jaws were waiting to make mince-meat of him. Our +friend fled so precipitately that he did not see the end of the tragedy, +but neither did he ever see that baby again. Before the summer had +passed, the dull, lumpish-looking creature had become a magnificent +insect, with long, gauzy wings, clad in glittering mail, and known to +everybody as a dragon-fly, but I doubt if any of his performances in the +upper air were ever half as dragon-like as the deeds of darkness that he +did when he was an ugly, shapeless larva down under the water. + +Fortunately, not all the larvae in the stream were thus to be feared. +Many were so small that the Troutlet could eat them, instead of letting +them eat him; and nowhere were they more plentiful than in this same +forest of water-weeds. His first taste of food was a great experience, +and gave him some entirely new ideas of life. One day he was lying with +his head up-stream, as was his usual habit, when a particularly fat, +plump little larva, torn from his home by the remorseless river, came +drifting down with the current. He looked very tempting, and our friend +sallied out from under a stick and caught him on the fly, just as he had +seen the star-gazer catch his own brother. The funny little creature +wriggled deliciously on his tongue, and he held him between his jaws for +a moment in a kind of ecstasy; but he couldn't quite make up his mind to +swallow him, and presently he spat him out again and went back to the +shadow of his stick to rest and think about it. It was the first time in +his life that he had ever done such a thing, and he felt rather +overwhelmed, but an hour or two later he tried it again, and this time +the living morsel did not stop in his mouth, but went straight on down. + +It was really something more than a new experience--this first mouthful +of food--for it marked a turning-point in his career. Up to this time he +had lived entirely on the provisions which his parents had left him, but +henceforth he was independent and could take care of himself. He was no +longer an embryo; he was a real fish, a genuine _Salvelinus fontinalis_, +as carnivorous as the biggest and fiercest of all his relations. The +cleft in his breast might close up now, and the last remnant of his +yolk-sac vanish forever. He was done with it. He had graduated from the +nursery, and had found his place on the battle-field of life. + +It must be admitted, however, that he did not look much like a mature +trout, even now. He was less than three-quarters of an inch long, and +his big head, bulging eyes, and capacious mouth were out of all +proportion to his small and feeble body. But time and food were all +that was needed to set these matters right; and now that he had learned +how, he set to work and did his level best. I should be afraid to guess +how many tiny water-creatures, insects and larvae and crustaceae, found +their way down his throat, but it is pretty safe to say that he often +ate more than his own weight in a single day. And so he grew in size and +strength and symmetry, and from being a quiet, languid baby, always +hiding in dark corners, and attending strictly to his own affairs, he +became one of the liveliest and most inquisitive little fishes in all +the stream. To a certain extent he developed a fondness for travelling, +and in company with other troutlets of his own age and size he often +journeyed from place to place in search of new surroundings and new +things to eat. In fly-time he found a bountiful food-supply in the +mosquitoes and black-flies that swarmed over the stream, and it was fun +to see him leap from the water, catch one of them in his mouth, and drop +back with a triumphant little splash. It wasn't really very considerate +in him to prey on those biting, stinging flies, for in after years they +would be his best defenders against anglers and fishermen, but +consideration doesn't seem to be one of the strong points in a brook +trout's character. + +It would take too long to tell of all his youthful doings during the +next year, and of all his narrow escapes, and the many tight places that +he got into and out of. It was a wonder that he ever pulled through at +all, but I suppose it is necessary that a few trout should grow up, for, +if they didn't, who would there be to eat the little ones? + +Once a kingfisher dived for him, missed him by a hair's-breadth, and +flew back, scolding and chattering, to his perch on an old stub that +leaned far out over the water. And once he had a horrible vision of an +immense loon close behind him, with long neck stretched out, and huge +bill just ready to make the fatal grab. He dodged and got away, but it +frightened him about as badly as anything can frighten a creature with +no more nerves than a fish. And many other such adventures he had--too +many to enumerate. However, I don't think they ever troubled him very +much except for the moment. He grew more wary, no doubt, but he didn't +do much worrying. Somehow or other he always escaped by the skin of his +teeth, and the next spring he was swallowing the new crop of young fry +with as little concern as his older relations had shown in trying to +swallow him. So far he seemed to be one of the few who are foreordained +to eat and not be eaten, though it was more than likely that in the end +he, too, would die a violent death. + +When he was about a year and a half old he noticed that all the larger +trout in the stream were gathering in places where the water was +shallow, the bottom pebbly, and the current rapid; and that they acted +as if they thought they had very important business on hand. He wanted +to do as the others did, and so it happened that he went back again to +the gravelly shallow where the air-bubbles had first found him. By this +time he was about as large as your finger, or possibly a trifle larger, +and he had all the bumptiousness of youth and was somewhat given to +pushing himself in where he wasn't wanted. + +The male trout were the first to arrive, and they promptly set to work +to prepare nests for their mates, who were expected a little later. It +was a simple process. All they did was to shove the gravel aside with +their noses and fins and tails, and then fan the sediment away until +they had made nice, clean little hollows in the bed of the stream; but +there was a good deal of excitement and jealousy over it, and every +little while they had to stop and have a scrap. The biggest and +strongest always wanted the best places, and if they happened to take a +fancy for a location occupied by a smaller and weaker fish, they drove +him out without ceremony and took possession by right of the conqueror. +For the most part their fighting seemed rather tame, for they did little +more than butt each other in the ribs with their noses, but once in a +while they really got their dander up and bit quite savagely. And when +the lady trout came to inspect the nests that had been prepared for +them, then times were livelier than ever, and the jealousy and rivalry +ran very high, indeed. + +Of course our Trout was too young to bear a very prominent part in these +proceedings, but he and some companions of about his own age skirmished +around the edges of the nesting grounds, and seemed to take a wicked +delight in teasing the old males and running away just in time to escape +punishment. And when the nests began to be put to practical use, the +yearlings were very much in evidence. Strictly fresh eggs are as good +eating down under the water as they are on land, and, partly on this +account, and partly because direct sunshine is considered very injurious +to them, the mothers always covered them with gravel as quickly as +possible. But in spite of the best of care the current was constantly +catching some of them and sweeping them away, and our young friend would +creep up as near as he dared, and whenever one of the yellow-brown balls +came his way he would gobble it down with as little remorse as he had +felt for his first larva. Now and then an irate father would turn upon +him fiercely and chase him off, but in a few minutes he would be back +again, watching for eggs as eagerly as ever. Once, indeed, he had a +rather close call, for the biggest old male in all the stream came after +him with mouth open as if he would swallow him whole, as he could very +easily have done. Our friend was almost caught when the big fellow +happened to glance back and saw another trout coming to visit his wife, +and promptly abandoned the chase and went home to see about it. + +A year later our Trout went again to the gravelly shallow, and this +time, being six inches long and about thirty months old, he decided to +make a nest of his own. He did so, and had just induced a most beautiful +young fish of the other sex to come and examine it, with a view to +matrimony, when that same big bully appeared on the scene, promptly +turned him out of house and home, and began courting the beautiful young +creature himself. It was very exasperating, not to say humiliating, but +it was the sort of thing that one must expect when one is only a +two-year-old. + +The next year he had better luck. As another summer passed away, and the +cooler weather came on, he arrayed himself in his wedding finery, and it +almost seemed as if he had stolen some of the colors of the swamp +maples, in their gay fall dress, and was using them to deck himself out +and make a brave display. In later years he was larger and heavier, but +I don't think he was ever much handsomer than he was in that fourth +autumn of his life. His back was a dark, dusky, olive-green, with +mottlings that were still darker and duskier. His sides were lighter--in +some places almost golden yellow; and scattered irregularly over them +were the small, bright carmine spots that gave him one of his _aliases_, +the "Speckled Trout." Beneath he was usually of a pale cream color, but +now that he had put on his best clothes his vest was bright orange, and +some of his fins were variegated with red and white, while others were a +fiery yellow. He was covered all over with a suit of armor made of +thousands and thousands of tiny scales, so small and fine that the eye +could hardly separate them, and from the bony shoulder-girdle just +behind his gills a raised line, dark and slightly waving, ran back to +his tail, like the sheer-line of a ship. There were other fishes that +were more slender and more finely modelled than he, and possibly more +graceful, but in him there was something besides beauty--something that +told of power and speed and doggedness. He was like a man-o'-war dressed +out in all her bunting for some great gala occasion, but still showing +her grim, heavy outlines beneath her decorations. His broad mouth opened +clear back under his eyes, and was armed with rows of backward-pointing +teeth, so sharp and strong that when they once fastened themselves upon +a smaller fish they never let him go again. The only way out from +between those jaws was down his throat. His eyes were large and bright, +and were set well apart; and the bulge of his forehead between them +hinted at more brains than are allotted to some of the people of the +stream. Altogether, he was a most gallant and knightly little fish, and +it would certainly have been a pity if he hadn't found a mate. + +[Illustration: _Nesting Grounds._] + +And now he started the third time for the gravelly shallow, and +travelled as he had never travelled before in all his life. Streams are +made to swim against--every brook trout knows that--and the faster they +run, the greater is the joy of breasting them. The higher the +water-fall, the prouder do you feel when you find you can leap it. And +our friend was in a mood for swimming, and for swimming with all his +might. Never had he felt so strong and vigorous and so full of life and +energy, and he made his fins and his tail go like the oars of a +racing-shell. Now he was working up the swift current of a long rapid +like a bird in the teeth of the wind. Now he was gathering all his +strength for the great leap to the top of the water-fall. And now, +perhaps, he rested for a little while in a quiet pool, and presently +went hurrying on again, diving under logs and fallen trees, swinging +round the curves, darting up the still places where the water lay +a-dreaming, and wriggling over shallow bars where it was not half deep +enough to cover him; until at last he reached the old familiar place +where so many generations of brook trout had first seen the light of day +and felt the cold touch of the snow-water. + +As before, he and the other males arrived at the nesting grounds some +days in advance of their mates, and spent the intervening time in +scooping hollows in the gravel and quarrelling among themselves. Two or +three times he was driven from a choice location by someone who was +bigger than he, but he always managed in some way to regain it, or else +stole another from a smaller fish; and when the ladies finally appeared +he had a fine large nest in a pleasant situation a little apart from +those of his rivals. But for some reason the first candidates who came +to look at it declined to stay. Perhaps they were not quite ready to +settle down, or perhaps they were merely disposed to insist on the +feminine privilege of changing their minds. But finally there came one +who seemed to be quite satisfied, and with whom the Trout himself had +every reason to be pleased. + +She was not a native of the stream, but of one of the hatcheries of the +Michigan Fish Commission; and while he was lying in the gravel she was +one of a vast company inhabiting a number of black wooden troughs that +stood in a large, pleasant room filled with the sound of running water. +Here there were no yearlings nor musk-rats nor saw-bill ducks looking +for fresh eggs, nor any dragons nor star-gazers lying in wait for the +young fry. Instead there were nice, kind men, who kept the hatching +troughs clean and the water at the right temperature, and who gently +stirred up the troutlets with a long goose-feather whenever too many of +them crowded together in one corner, trying to get away from the hateful +light. Under this sort of treatment most of the thirty million babies in +the hatchery lived and thrived. Only a few thousands of them were brook +trout, but among those thousands one of the smartest and most precocious +was the one in whom we are just now most interested. She was always +first into the dark corners, as long as dark corners seemed desirable; +and later, when they began to come up into the light and partake of the +pulverized beef-liver which their attendants offered them, there was no +better swimmer or more voracious feeder than she. All this was +especially fortunate because there was a very hard and trying experience +before her--one in which she would have need of all her strength and +vitality, and in which her chances of life would be very small, indeed. +It came with planting time, when she and a host of her companions were +whisked through a rubber tube and deposited in a big can made of +galvanized iron, in which they were borne away to the trout stream. The +journey was a long one, they were pretty badly cramped for room, and +before they reached their destination the supply of oxygen in the water +became exhausted. The baby trout began to think they had blown out the +gas, and they all crowded to the surface, where, if anywhere, the minute +bubbles that keep one alive are to be found. They gulped down great +mouthfuls of water and forced it out through their gills as fast as ever +they could, but, somehow, all the life seemed to be gone out of it, and +it did them no good whatever. Pretty soon a few turned over on their +backs and died, and every last one of them would have suffocated if the +man who had charge of the party hadn't noticed what was going on and +come to the rescue. Picking up a dipperful of water and troutlets, and +holding it high in the air, he poured it back into the can with much +dashing and splashing. Hundreds and hundreds of tiny bubbles were caught +in the rush and carried down to the bottom, and so the oxygen came back +again to the tired gills, and the danger was over. + +The emigrants reached the trout stream at last, and one would have +supposed that their troubles were ended. In reality the chapter of +trials and tribulations had only just begun, for the same fishes and +frogs and lizards that had so persecuted our friend and his brothers and +sisters were on hand to welcome the new arrivals, and very few escaped. +And so, in spite of its quiet beginnings in the peaceful surroundings +of the hatchery, this young lady trout's life proved quite as exciting +and adventurous as our friend's, and it is possible that the good care +which she received during her early infancy really served to make things +all the harder for her when she came to be thrown entirely on her own +resources. The mere change in the temperature of the water when she was +turned out of the can was quite a shock to her nervous system; and, +whereas most trout are somewhat acquainted with the dangers and +hardships of the stream, almost from the time they rip their shells +open, she did not even know that there was such a place until she was +set down in it and told to shift for herself. + +However, by dint of strength, speed, agility, and good judgment in +selecting hiding-places--and also, in all probability, by a run of +remarkably good luck--she made her way unharmed through all the perils +of babyhood and early youth, and now she was one of the most beautiful +little three-year-old pirates that ever swooped down upon a helpless +victim. + +As she and our friend swam side by side, her nose and the end of her +tail were exactly even with his. Her colors were the same that he had +worn before he put on his wedding garments, and if you had seen them +together in the early summer I don't believe you could ever have told +them apart. They were a well-matched pair, more evenly mated, probably, +than is usual in fish marriages. + +But they were not to be allowed to set up housekeeping together without +fighting for the privilege. Hardly had she finished inspecting the nest, +and made up her mind that it would answer, and that he was, on the +whole, quite eligible as a husband, when a third trout appeared and +attempted to do as the big bully had done the year before. This time, +however, our young friend's blood was up, and, though the enemy was +considerably larger than he, he was ready to strike for his altars and +his fires. He made a quick rush, like a torpedo-boat attacking a +man-of-war, and hit the intruder amidships, ramming him with all his +might. Then the enemy made as sudden a turn, and gave our Trout a poke +in the ribs, and for a few minutes they dodged back and forth, and round +and round, and over and under each other, each getting in a punch +whenever he had a chance. So far it seemed only a trial of strength and +speed and dexterity, and if our Trout was not quite as large and +powerful as the other, yet he proved himself the quicker and the more +agile and lively. But before it was over he did more than that, for, +suddenly ranging up on the enemy's starboard quarter, he opened his +mouth, and the sharp teeth of his lower jaw tore a row of bright scales +from his adversary's side, and left a long, deep gash behind. That +settled it. The big fellow lit out as fast as he could go, and our Trout +was left in undisputed possession. + +The nesting season cannot last forever, and by and by, when the days +were very short and the nights were very long, when the stars were +bright, and when each sunrise found the hoar-frost lying thick and heavy +on the dead and fallen leaves, the last trout went in search of better +feeding grounds, and again the gravelly shallow seemed deserted. But it +was only seeming. There were no eggs in sight--the frogs, the rats, the +ducks, and the yearlings had taken care of that, and I am very much +afraid that our friend may have eaten a few himself, on the sly, when +his wife wasn't looking--but hidden away among the pebbles there were +thousands, and the old, old miracle was being re-enacted, and multitudes +of little live creatures were getting ready for the time when something +should tell them to tear their shells open and come out into the world. + +One of the Trout's most remarkable adventures, and the one which +probably taught him more than any other, came during the hot weather of +the following summer. The stream had grown rather too warm for comfort, +and lately he had got into the habit of frequenting certain deep, quiet +pools where icy springs bubbled out of the banks and imparted a very +grateful coolness to the slow current. It was delightful to spend a long +July afternoon in the wash below one of these fountains, having a lazy, +pleasant time, and enjoying the touch of the cold water as it went +sliding along his body from nose to tail. One sunshiny day, as he lay in +his favorite spring-hole, thinking about nothing in particular, and just +working his fins enough to keep from drifting down stream, a fly lit on +the surface just over his head--a bright, gayly colored fly of a species +which was entirely new to him, but which looked as if it must be very +finely flavored. As it happened, there had been several days of very +warm, sultry weather, and even the fish had grown sullen and lazy, but +this afternoon the wind had whipped around to the north, straight off +Lake Superior, and all the animals in the Great Tahquamenon Swamp felt +as if they had been made over new. How the brook trout could have known +of it so quickly, down under the water, is a mystery; but our friend +seemed to wake up all of a sudden, and to realize that he hadn't been +eating as much as usual, and that he was hungry. He made a dash at the +fly and seized it, but he had no sooner got it between his lips than he +spat it out again. There was something wrong with it. Instead of being +soft and juicy and luscious, as all flies ought to be, it was stiff, and +dry, and hard, and it had a long, crooked stinger that was different +from anything belonging to any other fly that he had ever tasted. It +disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and the Trout sank back to the +bottom of the pool. + +But presently three more flies came down together, and lit in a row, one +behind another. They were different from the first, and he decided to +try again. He chose the foremost of the three, and found it quite as +ill-tasting as the other had been; but this time he didn't spit it out, +for the stinger was a little too quick for him, and before he could let +go it was fast in his lip. For the next few minutes he tore around the +pool as if he was crazy, frightening some of the smaller fishes almost +out of their wits, and sending them rushing up-stream in a panic. He +himself had more than once been badly scared by seeing other trout do +just what he was doing, but he had never realized what it all meant. Now +he understood. + +The first thing he did was to go shooting along the surface for several +feet, throwing his head from side to side as he went, and doing his best +to shake that horrible fly out of his mouth. But it wouldn't shake, so +he tried jumping out of the water and striking at the line with his +tail. That wasn't any better, and next he rushed off up the stream as +hard as he could go. But the line kept pulling him round to the left +with gentle but irresistible force, and before he knew it he was back in +the pool again. Wherever he went, and whatever he did, it was always +pulling, pulling, pulling--not hard enough to tear the hook away, but +just enough to keep him from getting an inch of slack. If there had been +any chance to jerk he would probably have got loose in short order. He +rushed around the pool so hard that he soon grew weary, and presently he +sank to the bottom, hoping to lie still for a few minutes, and rest, and +perhaps think of some new way of escape. But even there that steady +tugging never ceased. It seemed as if it would pull his jaw out of his +head if he didn't yield, and before long he let himself be drawn up +again to the surface. Once he was so close to the shore that the angler +made a thrust at him with the landing-net, and just grazed his side. It +frightened him worse than ever, and he raced away again so fast that the +reel sang, and the line swished through the water like a knife. + +[Illustration: "_He tried jumping out of the water._"] + +The other two flies were trailing behind, and the short line that held +them was constantly catching on his fins and twisting itself around his +tail in a way that annoyed him greatly. He almost thought he could get +away if they were not there to hinder him. And yet, as it finally turned +out, it was one of those flies that saved his life. He was coming slowly +back from that last unsuccessful rush for liberty, fighting for every +inch, and only yielding to a strength a thousand times greater than his +own, when the trailer caught on a sunken log and held fast. Instantly +the strain on his mouth relaxed. The angler was no longer pulling on +him, but on the log. He could jerk now, and he immediately began to +twitch his head this way and that, backward and forward, right and +left, tearing the hole in his lip a little larger at every yank, +until the hook came away and he was free. + +It was a painful experience, and he carried the scar as long as he +lived, but the lesson he learned was worth all it cost. I won't say that +he never touched bait again, but he was much more cautious, and no other +artificial fly ever stung him as badly as that one. + +The years went by, and the Trout increased in size and strength and +wisdom, as a trout should. One after another his rivals went away to the +happy hunting-grounds, most of them losing their lives because they +could not resist the temptation to taste a made-up fly, or to swallow a +luscious angle-worm festooned on a dainty little steel hook; and the +number of fish who dared dispute his right to do whatever he pleased +grew beautifully less. And at last there was only one trout left in all +the stream who was larger and stronger than he. That was the same big +fellow who had come so near swallowing him on the occasion of his first +visit to the nesting-grounds; and the way the fierce, solemn old brute +finally departed this life deserves a paragraph all to itself. + +It happened one morning in early spring, just after the ice had gone +out. Our friend was still a trifle sleepy and lazy after the long, dull +winter, though he had an eye open, as always, for anything particularly +good to eat. I doubt if he would have jumped at any kind of a fly, for +it was not the right time of year for flies, and he did not believe in +eating them out of season; but almost anything else was welcome. He was +faring very well that morning, as it chanced, for the stream was running +high, and many a delicious grub and earthworm had been swept into it by +the melting snow. And presently, what should come drifting down with the +current but a poor little field-mouse, struggling desperately in a vain +effort to swim back to the shore. Once before our friend had swallowed a +mouse whole, just as you would take an oyster from the half-shell, and +he knew that they were very nice, indeed. He made a rush for the unlucky +little animal, and in another second he would have had him; but just +then the big bully came swaggering up with an air which seemed to say: +"That's my meat. You get out of this!" + +Our friend obeyed, the big fellow gave a leap and seized the mouse, and +then--his time had come. He fought bravely, but he was fairly hooked, +and in a few minutes he lay out on the bank, gasping for breath, +flopping wildly about, and fouling his beautiful sides with sand and +dirt. If he had understood English he might have overheard an argument +which immediately took place between the angler and a girl, and which +began something like this: + +"There!" in a triumphant tone; "who says mice aren't good bait? This is +the biggest trout that's been caught in this stream for years." + +"Oh, George, don't kill him! He's so pretty! Put him back in the water." + +"Put him back in the water? Well, I should say not! What do you take me +for?" + +Evidently the girl took him for one who could be easily influenced by +the right person, for she kept up the argument, and in the end she won +her case. The trout was tossed back into the stream, where he gave +himself a shake or two, to get rid of the sand, and then swam away, +apparently as well as ever. But girls don't always know what is good for +trout. It would really have been kinder if the angler had hit him over +the head with the butt of his fishing-rod, and then carried him home and +put him in the frying-pan. In his struggles a part of the mucus had been +rubbed from his body, and that always means trouble for a fish. A few +days later our friend met him again, and noticed that a curious growth +had appeared on his back and sides--a growth which bore a faint +resemblance to the bloom on a peach, and which had taken the exact shape +of the prints of the angler's fingers. The fungus had got him. He was +dying, slowly but surely, and within a week he turned over on his back +and drifted away down the stream. A black bear found him whirling round +and round in a little eddy under the bank, and that was the end of him. + +And so our friend became the King of the Trout Stream. + +You are not to suppose, however, that he paid very much attention to his +subjects, or that he was particularly fond of having them about him and +giving them orders. On the contrary, he had become very hermit-like in +his habits. In his youth he had been fond of society, and he and his +companions had often roamed the stream in little schools and bands, but +of late years his tastes seemed to have undergone a change, and he kept +to himself and lurked in the shady, sunless places till his skin grew +darker and darker, and he more and more resembled the shadows in which +he lived. His great delight was to watch from the depths of some +cave-like hollow under an overhanging bank until a star-gazer, or a +herring, or a minnow, or some other baby-eater came in sight, and then +to rush out and swallow him head first. He took ample revenge on all +those pesky little fishes for all that they had done and tried to do to +him and his brethren in the early days. The truth is that every brook +trout is an Ishmaelite. The hand of every creature is against him, from +that of the dragon-fly larva to that of the man with the latest +invention in the way of patent fishing-tackle. It is no wonder if he +turns the tables on his enemies whenever he has a chance, or even if he +sometimes goes so far, in his general ruthlessness, as to eat his own +offspring. + +Yet, in spite of our friend's moroseness and solitary habits, there were +certain times and seasons when he did come more or less in contact with +his inferiors. In late spring and early summer he liked to sport for a +while in the swift rapids--perhaps to stretch his muscles after the +dull, quiet life of the winter-time, or possibly to free himself from +certain little insects which sometimes fastened themselves to his body, +and which, for lack of hands, it was rather difficult to get rid of. +Here he often met some of his subjects, and later, when the hot weather +came on, they all went to the spring-holes which formed their summer +resorts. And at such times he never hesitated to take advantage of his +superior size and strength. He always picked out the coolest and most +comfortable places in the pools, and helped himself to the choicest +morsels of food; and the others took what was left, without question. +And when the summer was gone, and the water grew cold and invigorating, +and once more he put on his wedding-garment and hurried away to the +gravelly shallows, how different was his conduct from what it had been +when he was a yearling! Then he was only a hanger-on; now he selected +his nest and his mate to suit himself; and nobody ever dared to +interfere. Whether he ever again chose that beautiful little fish from +the hatchery, whom he had been so fond of when he was a three-year-old, +is a question which I would rather not try to answer. Among all the +vicissitudes, dangers, and rivalries of life in a trout stream, a +permanent marriage seems to be almost an impossibility; and I fear that +the affections of a fish are not remarkable for depth or constancy. + +The Trout had altered in many ways besides his relations to his +fellows. The curving lines of his body were not quite as graceful as +they had once been, and sometimes he wore a rather lean and dilapidated +look, especially in the six months from November to May. His tail was +not as handsomely forked as when he was young, but was nearly square +across the end, and was beginning to be a little frayed at the corners. +His lower jaw had grown out beyond the upper, and its extremity was +turned up in a wicked-looking hook which was almost a disfigurement, but +which he often found very useful in hustling a younger trout out of the +way. Even his complexion had grown darker, as we have already seen. +Altogether he was less prepossessing than of old, but of a much more +formidable appearance, and the very look of him was enough to scare a +minnow out of a year's growth. + +But, notwithstanding all changes, the two great interests of his +every-day life continued to be just what they had always been--namely, +to get enough to eat, and to keep out of the way of his enemies; for +enemies he still had, and would have as long as he lived. The +fly-fishermen, with their feather-weight rods and their scientific +tackle, came every spring and summer; and only the wisdom born of +experience kept him from falling into their hands. Several times he met +with an otter, and had to run for his life. Once, a black bear, fishing +for suckers, came near catching a brook trout. And perhaps the very +closest of all his close calls came one day when some river-drivers +exploded a stick of dynamite in the water to break up a log-jam. The +trout was some distance up the stream at the time, but the concussion +stunned him so that he floated at the surface, wrong side up, for +several minutes before his senses gradually came back. That is a fish's +way of fainting. + +His luck stayed by him, however, and none of these things ever did him +any serious harm. His reign proved a long one, and as the years went by +he came to exercise a more and more autocratic sway over the smaller +fry. For in spite of his age he was still growing. A trout has an +advantage over a land animal in this, that he is not obliged to use any +of his food as fuel for keeping himself warm. He can't keep warm +anyhow--not as long as he lives in the water--and so he doesn't try, but +devotes everything he eats to enlarging his body and repairing wear and +tear. If nothing happens to put a stop to the process, he seems to be +able to keep it up almost indefinitely. But the size of the stream in +which he lives appears to limit him to a certain extent. Probably the +largest trout stream in the world is the Nepigon, and they say that +seventeen-pounders were caught there in the early days. Our friend's +native river was a rather small one. In the course of time, however, he +attained a weight of very nearly three pounds, and I doubt if he would +ever have been much larger. Perhaps it was fitting that his reign should +end there. + +But it seems a great pity that it could not have ended in a more +imposing manner. The last act of the drama was so inglorious that I am +almost ashamed to tell it. He was the King of the Trout Stream; over and +over he had run Fate's gauntlet, and escaped with his body unharmed and +his wits sharper than ever; he knew the wiles of the fly-fishermen +better than any other trout in the river; and yet, alas! he fell a +victim to a little Indian boy with a piece of edging for a rod, coarse +string for a line, and salt pork for bait. + +I'm sure it wouldn't have happened if he had stayed at home; but one +spring he took it into his head to go on an exploring expedition out +into Lake Superior. I understand that his cousins in the streams of +eastern Canada sometimes visit salt water in somewhat the same manner, +and that they thereupon lose the bright trimmings of their coats and +become a plain silver-gray. Superior did not affect our friend in that +way, but something worse happened to him--he lost his common-sense. +Perhaps his interest in his new surroundings was so great that he forgot +the lessons of wisdom and experience which it had cost him so much to +learn. + +In the course of his wanderings he came to where a school of perch were +loafing in the shadow of a wharf; and just as he pushed his way in among +them, that little white piece of fat pork sank slowly down through the +green water. It was something new to the trout; he didn't quite know +what to make of it. But the perch seemed to think it was good, and they +would be sure to eat it if he didn't; and so, although the string was in +plain sight and ought to have been a sufficient warning, he exercised +his royal prerogative, shouldered those yellow-barred plebeians out of +the way, and took the tid-bit for himself. It is too humiliating; let us +draw a veil over that closing scene. + +The King of the Trout Stream had gone the way of his fathers, and +another reigned in his stead. + + + + +THE STRENUOUS LIFE OF A CANADA LYNX + + +THE Canada lynx came down the runway that follows the high bank along +the northern shore of the Glimmerglass, his keen, silvery eyes watching +the woods for foe or prey, and his big feet padding softly on the dead +leaves. He was old, was the Canada lynx, and he had grown very tall and +gaunt, but this afternoon his years sat lightly on him. And in a moment +more they had vanished entirely, and he was as young as ever he was in +his life, for, as he stepped cautiously around a little spruce, he came +upon another lynx, nearly as tall as he, and quite as handsome in her +early winter coat. They both stopped short and stared. And no wonder. +Each of them was decidedly worth looking at, especially if the one who +did the looking happened to be another lynx of the opposite sex. + +He was some twenty-odd inches in height and about three and a half feet +in length, and had a most villanous cast of countenance, a very +wicked-looking set of teeth, and claws that were two inches long and so +heavy and strong and sharp that you could sometimes hear them crunch +into the bark when he climbed a tree. His long hind legs, heavy +buttocks, thick fore-limbs, and big, clumsy-looking paws told of a +magnificent set of muscles pulling and sliding and hauling under his +cloak. She was nearly as large as he, and very much like him in general +appearance. Both of them wore long, thick fur, of a lustrous steel-gray +color, with paler shades underneath, and darker trimmings along their +back-bones and up and down their legs. Their paws were big and broad and +furry, their tails were stubby and short, and they wore heavy, grizzled +whiskers on the sides of their jaws and mustachios under their noses, +while from the tips of their ears rose tassels of stiff, dark hairs that +had an uncommonly jaunty effect. Altogether they looked very fierce and +imposing and war-like--perhaps rather more so than was justified by +their actual prowess. So it was not surprising that they took to each +other. Perhaps he wasn't really quite as heroic as he appeared, but +that's not uncommon among other lovers besides those belonging to the +lynx tribe, and what difference did it make, anyhow, as long as she +didn't know it? + +That winter was a hard one. The cold was intense, the snow was very +deep, and the storms came often. Spruce hens and partridges were scarce, +even rabbits were hard to find, and sometimes it seemed to the two +lynxes as if they were the only animals left in the woods. Except the +deer. There were always plenty of deer down in the cedar swamp, and +their tracks were as plain as a lumberman's logging road. But although +the lynxes sometimes killed and ate young fawns in the summertime, they +seldom tasted venison in the winter. It was well for them that they had +each other, for when one failed in the hunt the other sometimes +succeeded, yet I cannot help thinking that the old male, especially, +might perhaps have been of more use to his mate if he had not confined +his hunting so entirely to the smaller animals. More than once he sat on +a branch of a tree and watched a buck or doe go by, and his claws +twitched and his eyes blazed, and he fairly trembled with eagerness and +excitement as he saw the big gray creature pass, all unconscious, +beneath his perch. Splendidly armed as he was, it would seem as though +he must have succeeded if only he had jumped and risked a tussle. But he +never tried it. I suppose he was afraid. And yet--such were the +contradictions of his nature--one dark night he trotted half a mile +after a shanty-boy who was going home with a haunch of venison over his +shoulder, and was just gathering himself for a spring, intending to leap +on him from behind, when another man appeared. Two against one was not +fair, he thought, and he gave it up and beat a retreat without either of +them seeing him. They found his footprints the next morning in their +snow-shoe tracks, and wondered how far behind them he had been. I don't +know whether it was a vein of real courage that nerved him up to doing +such a foolhardy thing as to follow a man with the intention of +attacking him, or whether it was simply a case of recklessness. The +probability is, however, that he was hungrier than usual, and that the +smell of the warm blood made him forget everything else. Anyhow, he had +a pretty close call, for the shanty-boy had a revolver in his pocket. + +Aside from any question of heroism, I am afraid that he was not really +as wise and discriminating as he looked. I have an idea that when Nature +manufactured him she thought he did not need as much wisdom or as many +wits as some of the other people of the woods, inasmuch as he was larger +and stronger and better armed than most of them. Except possibly the +bear, who was altogether too easy-going to molest him, there was not +one of the animals that could thrash him, and they all knew it and let +him alone. You can often manage very well without brains if only you +have the necessary teeth and muscle and claws; and the old lynx had +them, without a doubt. But I fear that Nature, in adapting a wild animal +to his environment, now and then forgets to allow for the human element +in the problem. Brains are a good thing to have, after all. Even to a +lynx the time is pretty sure to come, sooner or later, when he needs +them in his business. Your fellow-citizens of the woods may treat you +with all due respect, but the trapper won't, and he'll get you if you +don't watch out. + +One day he found some more snow-shoe tracks, just like those that the +shanty-boy had left, and instead of running away, as he ought to have +done, and as most of the animals would have had sense enough to do, he +followed them up to see where they led. He wasn't particularly hungry +that day, and there was absolutely no excuse for what he did. It +certainly wasn't bravery that inspired him, for he had not the least +idea of attacking anyone. It was simply a case of foolish curiosity. He +followed the trail a long way, not walking directly in it, but keeping +just a little to one side, wallowing heavily as he went, for a foot and +a half of light, fluffy snow had fallen the day before, and the walking +was very bad. Presently he caught sight of a little piece of scarlet +cloth fastened to a stick that stood upright in a drift. It ought to +have been another warning to him, but it only roused his curiosity to a +still higher pitch, as the trapper knew it would. He sat down in the +snow and considered. The thing didn't really look as if it were good to +eat, and yet it might be. The only way to find out would be to go up to +it and taste it. But, eatable or not, such a bright bit of color was +certainly very attractive to the eye. You would think so yourself if you +hadn't seen anything scarlet since last summer's wild-flowers faded. +Finally, he got up and walked slowly toward it, and the first thing he +knew a steel trap had him by the right foreleg. + +The way of the foolish is sometimes as hard as that of the transgressor. +For a few minutes he was the very maddest cat in all the Great +Tahquamenon Swamp, and he yelled and howled and caterwauled at the top +of his voice, and jumped and tore around as if he was crazy. But, of +course, that sort of thing did him no good, and after a while he quieted +down and took things a little more calmly. Instead of being made fast +to a tree, the trap was bound by a short chain to a heavy wooden clog, +and he found that by pulling with all his might he could drag it at a +snail's pace through the snow. So off he went on three legs, hauling the +trap and clog by the fourth, with the blood oozing out around the steel +jaws and leaving a line of bright crimson stains behind him. The strain +on his foot hurt him cruelly, but a great fear was in his heart, and he +knew that he must go away or die. So he pushed on, hour after hour, +stopping now and then to rest for a few minutes in a thicket of cedar or +hemlock, but soon gathering his strength for another effort. How he +growled and snarled with rage and pain, and how his great eyes flamed as +he looked ahead to see what was before him, or back along his trail to +know if the trapper was coming! + +It was a terrible journey that he made that night, and the hours dragged +by slow as his pace and heavy as his clog. He was heading toward the +hollow tree by the Glimmerglass that he and his mate called home, but he +had not made more than half the distance, and his strength was nearly +gone. Half-way between midnight and dawn he reached the edge of a steep +and narrow gully that lay straight across his path. The moon had risen +some time before, and the white slopes gleamed and shone in the frosty +light, all the whiter by contrast with the few bushes and trees that +were scattered up and down the little valley. The lynx stood on the +brink and studied the proposition before him. It would be hard, hard +work to climb the farther side, dragging that heavy clog, but at least +it ought to be easy going down. He scrambled over the edge, hauling the +clog after him till it began to roll of its own accord. The chain +slackened, and he leaped forward. It was good to be able to jump again. +But he jumped too far, or tried to, and the chain tightened with a jerk +that brought him down head-first in the snow. Before he could recover +himself the clog shot past him, and the chain jerked again and sent him +heels over head. And then cat, trap, and clog all went rolling over and +over down the slope, and landed in a heap at the bottom. All the breath +and the spirit were knocked out of him, and for a long time he could do +nothing but lie still in the snow, trembling with weakness and pain, and +moaning miserably. It must have been half an hour before he could pull +himself together again, and then, just as he was about to begin the +climb up the far side of the gully, he suddenly discovered that he was +no longer alone. Off to the left, among some thick bushes, he saw the +lurking form of a timber-wolf. He looked to the right, and there was +another. Behind him was a third, and he thought he saw several others +still farther away, slinking from bush to bush, and gradually drawing +nearer. Ordinarily they would hardly have dreamed of tackling him, and, +if they had mustered up sufficient courage to attempt to overpower him +by mere force of numbers, he would simply have climbed a tree and +laughed at them. But now it was different. + +The lynx cowered down in the snow and seemed to shrink to half his +normal size; and then, as all the horror and the hopelessness of it came +over him, he lifted up his voice in such a cry of abject fear, such a +wail of utter agony and despair, as even the Great Tahquamenon Swamp had +very seldom heard. I suppose that he had killed and eaten hundreds of +smaller animals in his time, but I doubt if any of his victims ever +suffered as he did. Most of them were taken unawares, and were killed +and eaten almost before they knew what was coming; but he had to lie +still and see his enemies slowly closing in upon him, knowing all the +time that he could not fight to any advantage, and that to fly was +utterly impossible. But when the last moment arrived he must have braced +up and given a good account of himself. At least that was what the +trapper decided when he came a few hours later to look for his trap. The +lynx was gone--not even a broken bone of him was left--but there in the +trodden and blood-stained snow was the record of an awful struggle. +There must have been something heroic about him, after all. + +For the rest of the winter his widow had to hunt alone. This was not +such a great hardship in itself, for they had frequently gone out +separately on their marauding expeditions--more often, perhaps, than +they had gone together. But now there was never anyone to curl up beside +her in the hollow tree and help her keep warm, or to share his kill with +her when her own was unsuccessful. And when the spring should come and +bring her a family of kittens, she would have to take on her own +shoulders the whole burden of parental responsibility. Or, rather, the +burden was already there, for if she did not find enough meat to keep +herself in good health the babies would be weak and wizened and +unpromising, with small chance of growing up to be a credit to her or a +satisfaction to themselves. So she hunted night and day, and, on the +whole, with very good results. To tell the truth, I think she was rather +more skilful in the chase than her mate had been, and this seems to be a +not uncommon state of things in cat families. Perhaps feminine fineness +of instinct and lightness of tread are better adapted to the still-hunt +than the greater clumsiness and awkwardness of masculinity. Or, is there +something deeper than that? Has something whispered to these savage +mothers that on their success depends more than their own lives, and +that it is their sacred duty to kill, kill, kill? However that may be, +she proved herself a mighty huntress before the Lord. Her eye was keen, +and her foot was sure, and she made terrible havoc among the rabbits and +partridges. + +And yet there were times when even she was hungry and tired and +disheartened. Once, on a clear, keen, cold winter night when all the +great white world seemed frozen to death, she serenaded a land-looker +who had made his bed in a deserted lumber-camp and was trying to sleep. +She had eaten almost nothing for several days, and she knew that her +strength was ebbing. That very evening she had fallen short in a flying +leap at a rabbit, and had seen him dive head-first into his burrow, +safe by the merest fraction of an inch. She had fairly screeched with +rage and disappointment, and as the hours went by and she found no other +game, she grew so blue and discouraged that she really couldn't contain +herself any longer. Perhaps it did her good to have a cry. For two hours +the land-looker lay in his bunk and listened to a wailing that made his +heart fairly sink within him. Now it was a piercing scream, now it was a +sob, and now it died away in a low moan, only to rise again, wilder and +more agonized than ever. He knew without a doubt that it was only some +kind of a cat--knew it just as well as he knew that his compass needle +pointed north. Yet there had been times in his land-looking experience +when he had been ready to swear that the needle was pointing +south-southeast; and to-night, in spite of his certain knowledge that +the voice he heard was that of a lynx or a wild-cat or cougar, he +couldn't help being almost dead sure that it came from a woman in +distress, there was in it such a note of human anguish and despair. +Twice he got half-way out of bed to go to her assistance, and then lay +down again and called himself a fool. At last he could stand it no +longer, and taking a burning brand from the broken stove that stood in +the centre of the room, he went to the door and looked out. The great +arc-light of the moon had checkered the snow-crust with inky shadows, +and patches of dazzling white. The cold air struck him like needles, and +he said to himself that it was no wonder that either a cat or a woman +should cry if she had to stay out in the snow on such a night. The +moaning and wailing ceased as he opened the door, but now two round +spots of flame shone out of a black shadow and stared at him +unwinkingly. The lynx's pupils were wide open, and the golden-yellow +tapeta in the backs of her eyeballs were glowing like incandescent +lamps. It was no woman. No human eyes could ever shine like that. The +land-looker threw the brand with all his might; an ugly snarl came from +the shadow, and he saw a big gray animal go tearing away across the +hard, smooth crust in a curious kind of gallop, taking three or four +yards at a bound, coming down on all four feet at once, and spring +forward again as if she was made of rubber. He shut the door and went +back to bed. + +That was the end of the concert, and, as it turned out, it was also the +end of the lynx's troubles, at least for the time being. Half an hour +later, as she was loping along in the moonlight, she thought she heard a +faint sound from beneath her feet. She stood still to listen, and the +next minute she was sure. During the last heavy snow-storm three +partridges had dived into a drift for shelter from the wind and the +cold, and such a thick, hard crust had formed over their heads that they +had not been able to get out again. She resurrected them in short order +and reinterred them after a fashion of her own, and then she went home +to her hollow tree and slept the sleep of those who have done what +Nature tells them to, and whose consciences are clear and whose stomachs +full. + +That was her nearest approach to starvation. She never was quite so +hungry again, and in the early spring she had a great piece of luck. Not +very far from her hollow tree she met a buck that had been mortally +wounded by a hunter. He had had strength enough to run away, and to +throw his pursuer off his track, but there was very little fight left in +him. In such a case as this she was quite ready to attack, and it did +not take her long to finish him. Probably it was a merciful release, for +he had suffered greatly in the last few days. Fortunately no wolves or +other large animals found him, and he gave her meat till after the +kittens had come and she had begun to grow well and strong again. + +The kittens were a great success--two of the finest she had ever had, +and she had had many. But at first, of course, they were rather +insignificant-looking--just two little balls of reddish-brown fur that +turned over once in a while and mewed for their dinner. Some of the +scientific men say that a new-born baby has no mind, but only a blank +something that appears to be capable of receiving and retaining +impressions, and that may in certain cases have tendencies. There is +reason for thinking that the baby lynxes had tendencies. But imagine, if +you can, what their first impressions were like. And remember that they +were blind, and that if their ears heard sounds they certainly did not +comprehend them. Sometimes they were cold and hungry and lonesome, and +that was an impression of the wrong sort. They did not know what the +trouble was, but something was the matter, that was certain, and they +cried about it, like other babies. Then would come a great, warm, +comforting presence, and all would be right again; and that was a very +pleasant impression, indeed. I don't suppose they knew exactly what had +been done to them. Probably they were not definitely aware that their +empty stomachs had been filled, or that their shrinking, shivering +little bodies were snuggled down in somebody's thick fur coat, or that +somebody's warm red tongue was licking and stroking and caressing them. +Much less could they have known how that big, strong, comforting +somebody came to be there, or how many harmless and guiltless little +lives had been snuffed out to give her life and to enable her to give it +to them. But they knew that all was well with them, and that everything +was just as it should be--and they took another nap. + +[Illustration: "_The hole was suddenly darkened, and a round, hairy face +looked in._"] + +By and by they began to look about for impressions, and were no longer +content with lying still and taking only what came to them. They seemed +to acquire a mental appetite for impressions that was almost as ravenous +as their stomachs' appetite for milk, and their weak little legs were +forced to lift their squat little bodies and carry them on exploring +expeditions around the inside of the hollow tree, where they bumped +their heads against the walls, and stumbled and fell down over the +inequalities of the floor. They got a good many impressions during these +excursions, and some of them were mental and some were physical. And +sometimes they explored their mother, and went scrambling and +sprawling all over her, probably getting about as well acquainted with +her as it is possible to be with a person whom one has never seen. For +their eyes were still closed, and they must have known her only as a +big, kind, loving, furry thing, that fed them, and warmed them, and +licked them, and made them feel good, and yet was almost as vague and +indefinite as something in a dream. But the hour came at last when for +the first time they saw the light of day shining in through the hole in +the side of their tree. And while they were looking at it--and probably +blinking at it--a footstep sounded outside, the hole was suddenly +darkened, and a round, hairy face looked in--a face with big, unwinking +eyes, pointed, tufted ears, and a thick whisker brushed back from under +its chin. Do you suppose they recognized their mother? I don't believe +they did. But when she jumped in beside them, then they knew her, and +the impression they gained that day was one of the most wonderful of +all. + +In looks, these kittens of the woods were not so very different from +those of the backyard, except that they were bigger and perhaps a little +clumsier, and that their paws were very large, and their tails very +short and stubby. They grew stronger as the days went on, and their +legs did not wobble quite so much when they went travelling around the +inside of the tree. And they learned to use their ears as well as their +eyes. They knew what their mother's step meant at the entrance, and they +liked to hear her purr. + +Other sounds there were which they did not understand so well, and to +most of which they gave little heed--the scream of the rabbit when the +big gray cat leaps on him from behind a bush; the scolding of the red +squirrel, disturbed and angry at the sight, and fearful that he may be +the next victim; the bark of the fox; the rasping of the porcupine's +teeth; and oftenest of all the pleasant rustling and whispering of the +trees, for by this time the sun and the south wind had come back and +done their work, and the voice of the leaves was heard in the land. All +these noises of the woods, and many others besides, came to them from +outside the walls of the tree, from a vast, mysterious region of which +as yet they knew nothing except that their mother often went there. She +was beginning to think that they were big enough and old enough to learn +something more about it, and so one day she led them out of the hole, +and they saw the sunshine, and the blue of the sky, and the green of +the trees, and the whiteness of the sailing clouds, and the beauty of +the Glimmerglass. But I don't think they appreciated the wonder and the +glory of it all, or paid as much attention to it as they ought. They +were too much interested in making their legs work properly, for their +knees were still rather weak, and were apt to give out all of a sudden, +and to let a fellow sit down when he didn't want to. And the dry leaves +and little sticks kept sliding around under one's feet so that one never +knew what was going to happen next. It was very different from the +hollow tree, and they were glad when their mother picked them up one at +a time by the back of the neck, carried them home, gave them their +supper, and told them to lie still and take a nap while she went after +another rabbit. + +But they had really done very well, considering that it was their first +day out. One of them in particular was very smart and precocious, and +she had taken much pleasure in watching the independent way in which he +went staggering about, looking for impressions. And the other was not +far behind him. Her long hours of still-hunting had brought their rich +reward, and her babies were all that she could ask. + +She was in the habit of occasionally bringing something home for them to +play with--a wood-mouse, perhaps, or a squirrel, or a partridge, or even +a larger animal; and they played with it with a vengeance, shaking and +worrying it, and spitting and growling and snarling over it in the most +approved fashion. And you should have seen them the first time they saw +their mother catch a rabbit. They did not try to help her, for she had +told them not to, but they watched her as if it was a matter of life and +death--as, indeed, it was, but not to them. The rabbit was nibbling some +tender young sprouts. The old lynx crept up behind him very quietly and +stealthily, and the kittens' eyes stuck out farther and farther as they +saw her gradually work up within leaping distance. They nearly jumped +out of their skins with excitement when at last she gave a bound and +landed with both forepaws on the middle of his back. And when the rabbit +screamed out in his fright and pain, they could not contain themselves +any longer, but rushed in and helped finish him. They seemed to +understand the game as perfectly as if they had been practising it for +years. I suppose that was where their tendencies came in. + +A few days later they had another experience--or at least one of them +did. Their mother happened to see two little wood-mice run under a +small, half-decayed log, and she put her forefeet against it and rolled +it half-way over; and then, while she held it there, the larger +Kitten--the one who had made the better record the day they first left +the den--thrust his paw under and grabbed one of them. The other mouse +got away, but I don't think the Kitten cared very much. He had made his +first kill, and that was glory enough for one day. + +From wood-mice the kittens progressed to chipmunks, and from them to +larger game. With use and exercise their soft baby muscles grew hard and +strong, and it was not long before they were able to follow the old lynx +almost anywhere, to the tops of the tallest trees, over the roughest +ground, and through the densest thickets. And they learned other things +besides how to walk and climb and hunt. Their mother was a good teacher +and a rather rigid disciplinarian, and very early in life they were +taught that they must obey promptly and without question, and that on +certain occasions it was absolutely necessary to keep perfectly still +and not make the slightest sound. For instance, there was the time when +the whole family lay sprawled out on a limb of a tree, fifteen or +twenty feet up from the ground, and watched the land-looker go by with +his half-axe over his shoulder, his compass in his hand, and a note-book +sticking out of his pocket. They were so motionless, and the grayish +color of their fur matched so well with the bark of the tree, that he +never saw them, although for a moment they were right over his head, and +could have leaped to his shoulders as easily as not. + +In short, the kittens were learning to take care of themselves, and it +was well that they were, for one day their mother was taken from them in +a strange, sad way, and there was nothing they could do but cry, and try +to follow her, and at last see her pass out of sight, still looking back +and calling to them pitifully. It was the river that carried her off, +and it was a floating saw-log that she rode upon, an unwilling +passenger. The trouble began with a steel trap, just as it did in their +father's case. Traps are not nearly as much to be feared in summer or +early fall as in winter, for the simple reason that one's fur is not as +valuable in warm weather as in cold. The lynx's, for instance, was +considerably shorter and thinner than it had been in the preceding +December, when she and her mate first met, and it had taken on a +reddish tinge, as if the steel had begun to rust a trifle. But the +killing machines are to be found occasionally at all seasons of the +year, and somebody had set this one down by the edge of the water--not +the Glimmerglass, but a branch of the Tahquamenon River--and had chained +it to a log that had been hung up in last spring's drive. When she first +felt its grip on her leg she yelled and tore around just as her mate had +done, while the kittens looked on in wonder and amazement. They had seen +their mother in many moods, but never in one like this. But by and by +she grew weary, and a little later it began to rain. She was soon +soaking wet, and as the hours dragged on every ounce of courage and +gumption seemed to ooze out of her. If the trapper had come then he +would have found her very meek and limp. Possibly she would have been +ready to fight him for her children's sakes, but nothing else could have +nerved her to it. But she was not put to any such test; the trapper did +not come. + +It rained very hard, and it rained very long. In fact it had been +raining most of the time for two or three days before the lynx found the +trap, and in a few more hours the Great Tahquamenon Swamp was as full +of water as a soaked sponge, and the river was rising rapidly. The lynx +was soon lying in a puddle, and to get out of it she climbed upon the +log and stretched herself out on the wet, brown bark. Still the river +rose, and by and by the log began to stir in its bed, as if it were +thinking of renewing its voyage. At last, when she had been there nearly +twenty-four hours, and was faint with hunger, as well as cold and wet, +it quietly swung out into the current and drifted away down the stream. +She was an excellent swimmer, and she promptly jumped overboard and +tried to reach the shore, but of course the chain put a stop to that. +Weakened by fasting, and borne down by the weight of the trap, she came +very near drowning before she could scramble up again over the end of +the log and seat herself amidships. + +The kittens were foraging among the bushes, but she called to them in a +tone which told them plainly enough that some new trouble had befallen +her, and they hurried down to the water's edge, and stood there, mewing +piteously. She implored them to follow her, and after much persuasion +the bigger and bolder of the two plunged bravely in. But he didn't get +very far. It was very cold and very wet, and he wasn't used to +swimming. Besides, the water got into his nose and made him sneeze, +which distracted his attention so that for a moment he forgot all about +his mother, and just turned around and hustled back to the shore as fast +as he could go. After that he, contented himself with following along +the bank and keeping as near her as he could. Once the log drifted in so +close that she thought she could jump ashore, and the Kitten watched +eagerly as she gathered herself for the spring. But the chain was too +short, and she fell into the water. Her forepaw just grazed the +grass-tuft where the Kitten was standing, and for an instant she felt +the blades slipping between her toes; but the next moment she was +swimming for the log again, and the Kitten was mewing his sympathy at +the top of his voice. + +They journeyed on for nearly an hour longer, she on her prison-ship, and +he on land; and then, before either of them knew just what had happened, +the little tributary had emptied itself into the main stream of the +Tahquamenon, and they suddenly realized that they were much farther +apart than they had been at any time before. This new river was several +times as broad as the one on which the voyage had begun, and the wind +was steadily carrying her away from the shore, while the current bore +her resistlessly on in its long, slow voyage to Lake Superior. She was +still calling to him, but her voice was growing fainter and fainter in +the distance, and so, at last, she passed out of his sight and hearing +forever. + +[Illustration: "_He was a very presentable young lynx._"] + +And then, for the first time, he missed his brother. The other kitten +had always been a trifle the slower of the two, and in some way he had +dropped behind. Our friend was alone in the world. + +But the same river that had carried his mother away brought him a little +comfort in his desolation, for down by the water's edge, cast up on the +sand by a circling eddy, he found a dead sucker. He ate it with relish, +and felt better in spite of himself. It made a very large meal for a +lynx of his size, and by the time he had finished it he began to be +drowsy, so he picked out the driest spot he could find, under the thick +branches of a large hemlock, and curled himself up on the brown needles +and went to sleep. + +The next day he had to hustle for a living, and the next it was the +same, and the next, and the next. As the weeks and the months went by +there was every indication that life would be little else than one long +hustle--or perhaps a short one--and in spite of all he could do there +were times when he was very near the end of the chapter. But his +mother's lessons stood him in good stead, and he was exceedingly well +armed for the chase. It would have been hard to find in all the woods +any teeth better adapted than his to the work of pulling a +fellow-creature to pieces. In front, on both the upper and lower jaws, +were the chisel-shaped incisors. Flanking them were the canines, very +long and slender, and very sharply pointed, thrusting themselves into +the meat like the tines of a carving-fork, and tearing it away in great +shreds. And back of the canines were other teeth that were still larger, +but shorter and broader, and shaped more like notched knife-blades. +Those of the lower jaw worked inside those of the upper, like shears, +and they were very handy for cutting the large chunks into pieces small +enough to go down his throat. By the time he got through with a +partridge there was not much left of it but a puddle of brown feathers. +His claws, too, were very long and white, and very wickedly curved; and +before starting out on a hunt he would often get up on his hind legs +and sharpen those of his forefeet on a tree-trunk, just as your +house-cat sharpens hers on the leg of the kitchen-table. When he wasn't +using them he kept them hidden between his toes, so that they would not +be constantly catching and breaking on roots and things; but all he had +to do when he wanted them was to pull certain muscles, and out they +came, ready to scratch and tear to his heart's content. They were not by +any means full grown as yet, but they bade fair to equal his father's +some day. He was warmly and comfortably clothed, of course, and along +his sides and flanks the hair hung especially thick and long, to protect +his body when he was obliged to wade through light, fluffy snow. When +there was a crust he didn't need it, for his paws were so big and broad +and hairy that at such times they bore him up almost as well as if they +had been two pairs of snow-shoes. + +But, well armed, well clad, and well shod though he was, it was +fortunate for the Kitten that his first winter was a mild one--mild, +that is, for the Glimmerglass country. Otherwise things might have gone +very hard with him, and they were none too easy as it was. There were +days when he was even hungrier than his mother had been the night she +serenaded the land-looker, and it was on one of these occasions that he +found a porcupine in a tree and tried to make a meal of him. That was a +memorable experience. The porky was sitting in a crotch, doing nothing +in particular, and when the Kitten approached he simply put his nose +down and his quills up. The Kitten spat at him contemptuously, but +without any apparent effect. Then he put out a big forepaw and tapped +him lightly on the forehead. The porcupine flipped his tail, and the +Kitten jumped back, and spat and hissed harder than ever. He didn't +quite know what to make of this singular-looking creature, but he was +young and rash, besides being awfully, awfully hungry, and in another +minute he pitched in. + +The next thing they knew, the porcupine had dropped to the ground, where +he lit in a snow-bank, and presently picked himself up and waddled off +to another tree, while the Kitten--well, the Kitten just sat in the +crotch and cried as hard as ever he could cry. There were quills in his +nose, and quills in his side, and quills in both his forepaws; and every +motion was agony. He himself never knew exactly how he got rid of them +all, so of course I can't tell you. A few of those that were caught only +by their very tips may possibly have dropped out, but it is probable +that most of them broke off and left their points to work deeper and +deeper into the flesh until the skin finally closed over them and they +disappeared. I have no doubt that pieces of those quills are still +wandering about in various parts of his anatomy, like the quart of lead +that "Little Bobs" carries around with him, according to Mr. Kipling. It +was weeks before he ceased to feel the pain of them. + +For several days after this mishap it was impossible for him to hunt, +and he would certainly have starved to death if it had not been for a +cougar who providentially came to the Glimmerglass on a short visit. The +Kitten found his tracks in the snow the very next day, and cautiously +followed them up, limping as he went, to see what the big fellow had +been doing. For a mile or more the large, round, shapeless +footprints--very much like his own, but on a bigger scale--were spaced +so regularly that it was evident the cougar had been simply walking +along at a very leisurely gait, with nothing to disturb his frame of +mind. But after a while the record showed a remarkable change. The +footprints were only a few inches apart, and his cougarship had carried +himself so low that his body had dragged in the snow and left a deep +furrow behind. The Kitten knew what that meant. He had been there +himself, though not after the same kind of prey. And then the trail +stopped entirely, and for a space the snow lay fresh and virgin and +untrodden. But twenty feet away was the spot where the cougar had come +down on all-fours, only to leap forward again like a ricochetting +cannon-ball; and twenty-five feet farther lay the greater part of the +carcass of a deer. + +The Kitten stuffed himself as full as he could hold, and then climbed a +tree and watched. About midnight the cougar appeared, and after he had +eaten his fill and gone away again the Kitten slipped down and ate some +more. He was making up for lost time. For four successive nights the +cougar came and feasted on venison, but after that the Kitten never saw +him or heard of him again. There was still a goodly quantity of meat +left, and it seems somewhat curious that he did not return for it, but +he was a stranger in those parts, and it is probable that he went back +to his old haunts, up toward Whitefish Point, perhaps, or the Grand +Sable. Anyhow, it was very nice for the Kitten, for that deer kept him +in provisions until he was able to take up hunting once more. + +He had one rather exciting experience during this period. One day, just +as he was finishing a very enjoyable meal of venison tenderloin, he +heard the tramp of snow-shoes on the crust, and in a moment more that +same land-looker came pacing down a section line and halted squarely in +front of him. Now there are trappers who say that a Canada lynx is a +fool and a coward, that he will run from a small dog, and that he makes +his living entirely by preying on animals that are weaker and more +poorly armed than he. I admit, of course, that the majority of lynxes do +not go ramming around the woods with chips on their shoulders, looking +for hunters armed with bowie-knives and repeating rifles. You wouldn't, +either--not as long as there were rabbits to be had for the stalking. +But on this occasion the Kitten's conduct certainly savored of +recklessness, if not of real bravery. Being entirely unacquainted with +the land-looking profession, he naturally supposed that the man had come +for his deer. And he didn't propose to let him have it. He considered +that that venison belonged to him, and he took his stand on the carcass, +laid his ears back, showed his white teeth, made his eyes blaze, and +spit and growled and snarled defiantly. The land-looker didn't quite +know what to do. His section line lay straight across the deer's body, +and he did not want to leave it for fear of confusing his reckoning, but +the Kitten, though only half grown, looked uncommonly business-like. He +had no gun, nor even a revolver, for he was hunting for pine, not fresh +meat. He had left his half-axe in camp, and when he felt in his pocket +for his jack-knife it was not there. Then he looked about for a club. He +had been told that lynxes always had very thin skulls, and that a light +blow on the back of the head was enough to kill the biggest and fiercest +of them, let alone a kitten. But he couldn't even find a stick that +would answer his purpose. + +"Well," he said, when they had stared at each other a minute or two +longer without coming to any understanding, "I suppose if you won't turn +out for me, I'll have to turn out for you"; and he made a careful +circuit at a respectful distance, picked up his line again, and went on +his way. + +The winter dragged on very slowly, with many ups and downs, but it was +gone at last. Summer was easier, if only because he was not obliged to +use up any of his vitality in keeping warm. Sometimes, indeed, he was +really too warm for comfort, so he presently changed his coat and put +on a thinner one. People like to talk about the coolness of the deep +woods, but the truth is that there isn't any place much hotter and +stuffier than a dense growth of timber, where the wind never comes, and +where the air is heavy and still. And then there are the windfalls and +the old burnings, where the sun beats fiercely down among the fallen +trees till the blackened soil is hot as a city pavement, and where dead +trunks and half-burned logs lie thrown together in the wildest +confusion--places which are almost impassable for men, and which even +the land-lookers avoid whenever they can, but which a cat will thread as +readily as the locomotive follows the rails. These were the localities +which the Kitten was most fond of frequenting, and here his youth +slipped rapidly away. He was fast becoming an adult lynx. + +The summer passed, and half the autumn; the first snow came and went, +and again the Kitten put on his winter coat of gray, with the white +underneath, and the dark trimmings up and down his legs and along his +back. What with his mustachios, and his whiskers, and the tassels on his +ears, he was a very presentable young lynx. It would be many years +before he could hope to be as large and powerful as his father, but, +nevertheless, he was making remarkably good progress. And the time was +at hand when he would need both his good looks and his muscle. + +Since his mother had left him he had seen only two or three lynxes, and +those were all much older and larger than he, and not well suited to be +his companions. But history repeats itself. One Indian-summer afternoon +he was tramping along the northern bank of the Glimmerglass, just as his +father had done two years before, and as he rounded a bend in the path +he came face to face with someone who was enough like him to have been +his twin sister. And they did as his parents had done, stood still for a +minute or two and looked at each other as if they had just found out +what they were made for. After all, life is something more than hustling +for a living, even in the woods. + +But just then something else happened, and another ruling passion came +into play--the old instinct of the chase, which neither of them could +very long forget. A faint "Quack, quack, quack," came up from the lake, +and they crept to the edge of the bank, side by side, and looked down. +Above them the trees stood dreamily motionless in the mellow sunshine. +Below was a steep slope of ten or fifteen feet; beyond it a tiny strip +of sandy beach, and then the quiet water. A squadron of ducks, on their +way from the Arctic Circle to the Gulf, had taken stop-over checks for +the Glimmerglass; and now they came loitering along through the dead +bulrushes, murmuring gently, in soft, mild voices, of delicious minnows +and snails, and pausing a moment now and then to put their heads under +and dabble in the mud for some particularly choice morsel. The lynxes +crouched and waited, while their stubby tails twitched nervously, their +long, narrow pupils grew still narrower, and their paws fumbled about +among the dry pine-needles, feeling for the very best footing for the +flying leap. The ducks came on, still prattling pleasantly over their +own private affairs. Closer and closer they swam, without a thought of +death waiting for them at the top of the bank, and suddenly four +splendid sets of muscles jerked like bowstrings, four long hind-legs +straightened with a mighty thrust and shove, and two big gray creatures +shot out from the brink and came sailing down through the air with their +heads up, their tails on end, their eyes blazing, and their forepaws +stretched out to grab the nearest unhappy duck. The flock broke up with +frightened cries and a wonderful whirring of wings, and in a moment +more they were far away and going like the very wind. + +[Illustration: "_They both stood still and looked at each other._"] + +But two of its members stayed behind, and presently the lynxes waded out +on the beach and sat down to eat their supper together. They talked as +much over that meal as the ducks had over theirs, but the lynx language +is very different from that of the water-fowl. Instead of soft, gentle +murmurings there were low growls and snarls as the long, white claws and +teeth tore the warm red flesh from the bones. It could hardly have been +a pleasant conversation to anyone but themselves, but I suppose they +enjoyed it as much as the choicest repartee. In truth they had good +reason to be satisfied and contented with themselves and each other, and +with what they had just done, for not every flying leap is so +successful, and not every duck is as plump and juicy as the two that +they were discussing. So they talked on in angry, threatening tones, +that sounded like quarrelling, but that really meant only a fierce, +savage kind of pleasure; and when the meal was ended, and the very last +shred of duck-flesh had disappeared, they washed their faces, and +purred, and lay still a while to visit and get acquainted. + +There were many other meetings during the weeks that followed--some +under as pleasant circumstances as the first, and some not. Perhaps the +best were those of the clear, sharp days of early winter, when the sky +was blue, and the sunshine was bright, and a thin carpet of fine, dry +snow covered the floor of the forest. It was cold, of course; but they +were young and strong and healthy, and their fur was thick and warm, +like the garments of a Canadian girl. The keen air set the live blood +leaping and dancing, and they frisked and frolicked, and romped and +played, and rolled each other over and over in the snow, and were as +wildly and deliciously happy as it is ever given to two animals to be. + +It was too good to last long without some kind of an interruption, and +one glorious winter evening, when the full moon was flooding the woods +with the white light that brings a touch of madness, a third young lynx +came upon the scene. And then there was trouble. The Kitten's new friend +sat back in the bushes and looked on, while he and his rival squatted +face to face in the snow and sassed each other to the utmost limits of +the lynx vocabulary, their voices rising and falling in a hideous duet, +and their eyes gleaming and glowing with a pale, yellow-green fire. +Presently there was a rush, and the fur began to fly. The snow flew, +too; and the woods rang and rang again with yelling and caterwauling, +and spitting and swearing, and all manner of abuse. The rabbits heard +it, and trembled; and the partridges, down in the cedar swamp, glanced +furtively over their shoulders and were glad it was no nearer. They bit +and scratched and clawed like two little devils, and the onlooker in the +bushes must have felt a thrill of pride over the strenuous way in which +they strove for her favors. First one was on top, and then the other. +Now our Kitten had his rival by the ears, and now by the tail. One +minute heads, legs, and bodies were all mixed up in such a snarl that it +seemed as if they could never be untangled, and the next they backed off +just long enough to catch their breath, and then flew at each other's +throats more savagely than ever. It was really more difficult than you +would suppose for either of them to get a good hold of the other, partly +because their fur was so thick, and partly because Nature had purposely +made their skins very loose, with an eye to just such performances as +this. But they managed to do a good deal of damage, nevertheless; and in +the end the pretender was thoroughly whipped, and fled away in disgrace +down the long, snowy aisles of the forest, howling as he went, while +the Kitten turned slowly and painfully to the one who was at the bottom +of all this unpleasantness. His ears were slit; one eye was shut, and +the lid of the other hung very low; he limped badly with his right +hind-leg, and many were the wounds and scratches along his breast and +sides. But he didn't care. He had won his spurs. + +The story of the Kitten is told, for he was a kitten no longer. + + + + +POINTERS FROM A PORCUPINE QUILL + + +HE wasn't handsome--the original owner of this quill--and I can't say +that he was very smart. He was only a slow-witted, homely old porky who +once lived by the Glimmerglass. But in spite of his slow wits and his +homeliness a great many things happened to him in the course of his +life. + +He was born in a hollow hemlock log, on a wild April morning, when the +north wind was whipping the lake with snow, and when winter seemed to +have come back for a season. The Glimmerglass was neither glimmering nor +glassy that morning, but he and his mother were snug and warm in their +wooden nest, and they cared little for the storm that was raging +outside. + +It has been said by some that porcupines lay eggs, the hard, smooth +shells of which are furnished by a kind and thoughtful Providence for +the protection of the mothers from their prickly offspring until the +latter have fairly begun their independent existence. Other people say +that two babies invariably arrive at once, and that one of them is +always dead before it is born. But when my Porcupine discovered America +he had neither a shell on his back nor a dead twin brother by his side. +Neither was he prickly. He was covered all over with soft, furry, +dark-brown hair. If you had searched carefully along the middle of his +back you might possibly have found the points of the first quills, just +peeping through the skin; but as yet the thick fur hid them from sight +and touch unless you knew just where and how to look for them. + +He was a very large baby, larger even than a new-born bear cub, and no +doubt his mother felt a justifiable pride in his size and his general +peartness. She was certainly very careful of him and very anxious for +his safety, for she kept him out of sight, and no one ever saw him +during those first days and weeks of his babyhood. She did not propose +to have any lynxes or wild-cats or other ill-disposed neighbors fondling +him until his quills were grown. After that they might give him as many +love-pats as they pleased. + +He grew rapidly, as all porcupine babies do. Long hairs, tipped with +yellowish-white, came out through the dense fur, and by and by the +quills began to show. His teeth were lengthening, too, as his mother +very well knew, and between the sharp things in his mouth and those on +his back and sides he was fast becoming a very formidable nursling. +Before he was two months old she was forced to wean him, but by that +time he was quite able to travel down to the beach and feast on the +tender lily-pads and arrow-head leaves that grew in the shallow water, +within easy reach from fallen and half-submerged tree-trunks. + +One June day, as he and his mother were fishing for lily-pads, each of +them out on the end of a big log, a boy came down the steep bank that +rose almost from the water's edge. He wasn't a very attractive boy. His +clothes were dirty and torn--and so was his face. His hat was gone, and +his hair had not seen a comb for weeks. The mosquitoes and black-flies +and no-see-'ems had bitten him until his skin was covered with blotches +and his eyelids were so swollen that he could hardly see. And worst of +all, he looked as if he were dying of starvation. There was almost +nothing left of him but skin and bones, and his clothing hung upon him +as it would on a framework of sticks. If the Porcupine could have +philosophized about it he would probably have said that this was the +wrong time of year for starving; and from his point of view he would +have been right. June, in the woods, is the season of plenty for +everybody but man. Man thinks he must have wheat-flour, and that doesn't +grow on pines or maple-trees, nor yet in the tamarack swamp. But was +there any wild, fierce glare in the boy's eyes, such a light of hunger +as the story-books tell us is to be seen in the eyes of the wolf and the +lynx when they have not eaten for days and days, and when the snow lies +deep in the forest, and famine comes stalking through the trees? I don't +think so. He was too weak and miserable to do any glaring, and his +stomach was aching so hard from eating green gooseberries that he could +scarcely think of anything else. + +But his face brightened a very little when he saw the old she-porcupine, +and he picked up a heavy stick and waded out beside her log. She clacked +her teeth together angrily as he approached; but he paid no attention, +so she drew herself into a ball, with her head down and her nose covered +by her forepaws. Reaching across her back and down on each side was a +belt or girdle of quills, the largest and heaviest on her whole body, +which could be erected at will, and now they stood as straight as young +spruce-trees. Their tips were dark-brown, but the rest of their length +was nearly white, and when you looked at her from behind she seemed to +have a pointed white ruffle, edged with black, tied around the middle of +her body. But the boy wasn't thinking about ruffles, and he didn't care +what she did with her quills. He gave her such a thrust with his stick +that she had to grab at the log with both hands to keep from being +shoved into the water. That left her nose unprotected, and he brought +the stick down across it once, twice, three times. Then he picked her up +by one foot, very gingerly, and carried her off; and our Porky never saw +his mother again. + +Perhaps we had best follow her up and see what finally became of her. +Half a mile from the scene of the murder the boy came upon a woman and a +little girl. I sha'n't try to describe them, except to say that they +were even worse off than he. Perhaps you read in the papers, some years +ago, about the woman and the two children who were lost for several +weeks in the woods of northern Michigan. + +"I've got a porky," said the boy. + +[Illustration: "_High up in the top of a tall hemlock._"] + +He dropped his burden on the ground, and they all stood around and +looked at it. They were hungry--oh, so hungry!--but for some reason they +did not seem very eager to begin. An old porcupine with her clothes on +is not the most attractive of feasts, and they had no knife with which +to skin her, no salt to season the meat, no fire to cook it, and no +matches with which to start one. Rubbing two sticks together is a very +good way of starting a fire when you are in a book, but it doesn't work +very well in the Great Tahquamenon Swamp. And yet, somehow or other--I +don't know how, and I don't want to--they ate that porcupine. And it did +them good. When the searchers found them, a week or two later, the woman +and the boy were dead, but the little girl was still alive, and for all +I know she is living to this day. + +Let us return to the Glimmerglass. The young Porcupine ought to have +mourned deeply for his mother, but I grieve to say that he did nothing +of the kind. I doubt if he was even very lonesome. His brain was +smaller, smoother, and less corrugated than yours is supposed to be; its +wrinkles were few and not very deep; and it may be that the bump of +filial affection was quite polished, or even that there wasn't any such +bump at all. Anyhow, he got along very well without her, dispensing with +her much more easily than the woman and the boy and girl could have. +He watched stolidly while the boy killed her and carried her off, and a +little later he was eating lily-pads again. + +As far as his future prospects were concerned, he had little reason for +worrying. He knew pretty well how to take care of himself, for that is a +kind of knowledge which comes early to young porcupines. Really, there +wasn't much to learn. His quills would protect him from most of his +enemies, if not from all of them; and, what was still better, he need +never suffer from a scarcity of food. Of all the animals in the woods +the porcupine is probably the safest from starvation, for he can eat +anything from the soft green leaves of the water-plants to the bark and +the small twigs of the tallest hemlock. Summer and winter, his +storehouse is always full. The young lions may lack, and suffer hunger, +and seek their meat from God; but the young porky has only to climb a +tree and set his teeth at work. All the woods are his huckleberry. + +And, by the way, our Porcupine's teeth were a great institution, +especially the front ones, and were well worthy of a somewhat detailed +description. They were long and sharp and yellow, and there were two in +the upper jaw and two in the lower, with a wide gap on each side between +them and the molars. They kept right on growing as long as he lived, and +there is no telling how far they would have gone if there had been +nothing to stop them. Fortunately, he did a great deal of eating and +chewing, and the constant friction kept them worn down, and at the same +time served to sharpen them. Like a beaver's, they were formed of thin +shells of hard enamel in front, backed up by softer pulp behind; and of +course the soft parts wore away first, and left the enamel projecting in +sharp, chisel-like edges that could gnaw crumbs from a hickory +axe-handle. + +The next few months were pleasant ones, with plenty to eat, and nothing +to do but keep his jaws going. By and by the leaves began to fall, and +whenever the Porky walked abroad they rustled around him like silk +skirts going down the aisle of a church. A little later the beechnuts +came down from the sky, and he feasted more luxuriously than ever. His +four yellow chisels tore the brown shells open, his molars ground the +sweet kernels into meal, and he ate and ate till his short legs could +hardly keep his fat little belly off the ground. + +Then came the first light snow, and his feet left tracks which bore a +faint resemblance to a baby's--that is, if your imagination was +sufficiently vigorous. The snow grew deeper and deeper, and after a +while he had to fairly plough his way from the hollow log to the tree +where he took his meals. It was hard work, for his clumsy legs were not +made for wading, and at every step he had to lift and drag himself +forward, and then let his body drop while he shifted his feet. A +porcupine's feet will not go of themselves, the way other animals' do. +They have to be picked up one at a time and lifted forward as far as +they can reach--not very far at the best, for they are fastened to the +ends of very short legs. It almost seems as if he could run faster if he +could drop them off and leave them behind. One evening, when the snow +was beginning to freeze again after a thawing day, he lay down to rest +for a few minutes; and when he started on, some of his quills were fast +in the hardening crust and had to be left behind. But no matter how +difficult the walk might be, there was always a good square meal at the +end of it, and he pushed valiantly on till he reached his dinner-table. + +Sometimes he stayed in the same tree for several days at a time, +quenching his thirst with snow, and sleeping in a crotch. + +He was not by any means the only porcupine in the woods around the +Glimmerglass, although weeks sometimes passed without his seeing any of +his relations. At other times there were from one to half a dozen +porkies in the trees close by, and when they happened to feel like it +they would call back and forth to each other in queer, harsh, and often +querulous voices. + +One afternoon, when he and another porcupine were occupying trees next +each other, two land-lookers came along and camped for the night between +them. Earlier in the day the men had crossed the trail of a pack of +wolves, and they talked of it as they cut their firewood, and, with all +the skill of the _voyageurs_ of old, cooked their scanty supper, and +made their bed of balsam boughs. The half-breed was much afraid that +they would have visitors before morning, but the white man only laughed +at the idea. + +The meal was hardly finished when they lay down between their +blankets--the white man to sleep, and the half-breed to listen, listen, +listen for the coming of the wolves. Beyond the camp-fire's little +circle of ruddy light, vague shadows moved mysteriously, as if living +things were prowling about among the trees and only waiting for him to +fall asleep. Yet there was no wolf-howl to be heard, nor anything else +to break the silence of the winter night, save possibly the dropping of +a dead branch, or the splitting open of a tree-trunk, torn apart by the +frost. And by and by, in spite of himself, the half-breed's eyelids +began to droop. + +But somebody else was awake--awake, and tempted with a great temptation. +The porcupine--not ours, but the other one--had caught the fragrance of +coffee and bacon. Here were new odors--different from anything that had +ever before tickled his nostrils--strange, but indescribably delicious. +He waited till the land-lookers were snoring, and then he started down +the tree. Half-way to the ground he encountered the cloud of smoke that +rose from the camp-fire. Here was another new odor, but with nothing +pleasant about it. It stung his nostrils and made his eyes smart, and he +scrambled up again as fast as he could go, his claws and quills rattling +on the bark. The half-breed woke with a start. He had heard +something--he was sure he had--the wolves were coming, and he gave the +white man a punch in the ribs. + +"Wake up, wake up, m'shoor!" he whispered, excitedly. "The wolves are +coming. I can hear them on the snow." + +The white man was up in a twinkling, but by that time the porcupine hod +settled himself in a crotch, out of reach of the smoke, and the woods +were silent again. The two listened with all their ears, but there was +not a sound to be heard. + +"You must have been dreaming, Louis." + +The half-breed insisted that he had really heard the patter of the +wolves' feet on the snow-crust, but the timber cruiser laughed at him, +and lay down to sleep again. An hour later the performance was repeated, +and this time the white man was angry. + +"Don't you wake me up again, Louis. You're so rattled you don't know +what you're doing." + +Louis was silenced, but not convinced, and he did not let himself go to +sleep again. The fire was dying down, and little by little the +smoke-cloud grew thinner and thinner until it disappeared entirely. Then +the half-breed heard the same sound once more, but from the tree +overhead, and not from across the snow. He waited and watched, and +presently a dark-brown animal, two or three feet in length and about +the shape of an egg, came scrambling cautiously down the trunk. The +porky reached the ground in safety, and searched among the tin plates +and the knives and forks until he found a piece of bacon rind; but he +got just one taste of it, and then Louis hit him over the head with a +club. Next morning the land-lookers had porcupine soup for breakfast, +and they told me afterward that it was very good indeed. + +Our Porky had seen it all. He waited till the men had tramped away +through the woods, with their packs on their backs and their snow-shoes +on their feet, and then he, too, came down from his tree on a tour of +investigation. His friend's skin lay on the snow not very far away--if +you had pulled the quills and the longer hairs out of it, it would have +made the pelt which the old fur-traders sometimes sold under the name of +"spring beaver"--but he paid no attention to it. The bacon rind was what +interested him most, and he chewed and gnawed at it with a relish that +an epicure might have envied. It was the first time in all his +gluttonous little life that he had ever tasted the flavor of salt or +wood-smoke; and neither lily-pads, nor beechnuts, nor berries, nor +anything else in all the woods could compare with it. Life was worth +living, if only for this one experience; and it may be that he stowed a +dim memory of it away in some dark corner of his brain, and hoped that +fortune would some day be good to him and send him another rind. + +The long, long winter dragged slowly on, the snow piled up higher and +deeper, and the cold grew sharper and keener. Night after night the +pitiless stars seemed sucking every last bit of warmth out of the old +earth and leaving it dead and frozen forever. Those were the nights when +the rabbits came out of their burrows and stamped up and down their +runways for hours at a time, trying by exercise to keep from freezing to +death, and when the deer dared not lie down to sleep. And hunger came +with the cold and the deep snow. The buck and the doe had to live on +hemlock twigs till they grew thin and poor. The partridges were buried +in the drifting snow, and starved to death. The lynxes and the wild-cats +hunted and hunted and hunted, and found no prey; and it was well for the +bears and the woodchucks that they could sleep all winter and did not +need food. Only the Porcupine had plenty and to spare. Starvation had no +terrors for him. + +But the hunger of another may mean danger for us, as the Porcupine +discovered. In ordinary times most of the animals let him severely +alone. They knew better than to tackle such a living pin-cushion as he; +and if any of them ever did try it, one touch was generally enough. But +when you are ready to perish with hunger, you will take risks which at +other times you would not even think about; and so it happened that one +February afternoon, as the Porky was trundling himself deliberately over +the snow-crust, a fierce-looking animal with dark fur, bushy tail, and +pointed nose sprang at him from behind a tree and tried to catch him by +the throat, where the quills did not grow, and there was nothing but +soft, warm fur. The Porcupine knew just what to do in such a case, and +he promptly made himself into a prickly ball, very much as his mother +had done seven or eight months before, with his face down, and his +quills sticking out defiantly. But this time his scheme of defence did +not work as well as usual, for the sharp little nose dug into the snow +and wriggled its way closer and closer to where the jugular vein was +waiting to be tapped. That fisher must have understood his business, for +he had chosen the one and only way by which a porcupine may be +successfully attacked. For once in his life our friend was really +scared. Another inch, and the fisher would have won the game, but he was +in such a hurry that he grew careless and reckless, and did not notice +that he had wheeled half-way round, and that his hind-quarters were +alongside the Porcupine's. Now, sluggish and slow though a porky may be, +there is one of his members that is as quick as a steel trap, and that +is his tail. Something hit the fisher a whack on his flank, and he gave +a cry of pain and fury, and jumped back with half a dozen spears +sticking in his flesh. He must have quite lost his head during the next +few seconds, for before he knew it his face also had come within reach +of that terrible tail and its quick, vicious jerks. That ended the +battle, and he fled away across the snow, almost mad with the agony in +his nose, his eyes, his forehead, and his left flank. As for the Porky, +he made for the nearest tree as fast as he could go, hardly trusting in +his great deliverance. And I don't believe there is any sight in all the +Great Tahquamenon Swamp much funnier than a porky in a hurry--a porky +who has really made up his mind that he is in danger and must hustle for +dear life. He is the very personification of haste and a desire to go +somewhere quick, and he picks his feet up and puts them down again as +fast as ever he can; and yet, no matter how hard he works, his legs are +so short and his body so fat that he can't begin to travel as fast as he +wants to. + +Another day the lynx tried it, and fared even worse than the fisher--not +the Canada lynx, with whom we are already somewhat acquainted, but the +bay lynx. The fisher had had some sense, and would probably have +succeeded if he had been a little more careful, but the lynx was a fool. +He didn't know the very first thing about the proper way to hunt +porcupines, and he ought never to have tried it at all, but he was +literally starving, and the temptation was too much for him. Here was +something alive, something that had warm red blood in its veins and a +good thick layer of flesh over its bones, and that was too slow to get +away from him; and he sailed right in, tooth and claw, regardless of the +consequences. Immediately he forgot all about the Porcupine, and his own +hunger, and everything else but the terrible pain in his face and his +forepaws. He made the woods fairly ring with his howls, and he jumped up +and down on the snow-crust, rubbing his head with his paws, and driving +the little barbed spears deeper and deeper into the flesh. And then, +all of a sudden, he ceased his leaping and bounding and howling, and +dropped on the snow in a limp, lifeless heap, dead as last summer's +lily-pads. One of the quills had driven straight through his left eye +and into his brain. Was it any wonder if in time the Porcupine came to +think himself invulnerable? + +Even a northern Michigan winter has its ending, and at last there came +an evening when all the porcupines in the woods around the Glimmerglass +were calling to each other from one tree to another. They couldn't help +it. There was something in the air that stirred them to a vague +restlessness and uneasiness, and our own particular Porky sat up in the +top of a tall hemlock and sang. Not like Jenny Lind, nor like a thrush +or a nightingale, but his harsh voice went squealing up and down the +scale in a way that was all his own, without time or rhythm or melody, +in the wildest, strangest music that ever woke the silent woods. I don't +believe that he himself quite knew what he meant or why he did it. +Certainly no one else could have told, unless some wandering Indian or +trapper may have heard the queer voices and prophesied that a thaw was +coming. + +The thaw arrived next day, and it proved to be the beginning of spring. +The summer followed as fast as it could, and again the lily-pads were +green and succulent in the shallow water along the edge of the +Glimmerglass, and again the Porcupine wandered down to the beach to feed +upon them, discarding for a time his winter diet of bark and twigs. Why +should one live on rye-bread when one can have cake and ice-cream? + +And there among the bulrushes, one bright June morning, he had a fight +with one of his own kind. Just as he was approaching his favorite log, +two other porcupines appeared, coming from different directions, one a +male, and the other a female. They all scrambled out upon the log, one +after another, but it soon became evident that three was a crowd. Our +Porky and the other bachelor could not agree at all. They both wanted +the same place and the same lily-pads, and in a little while they were +pushing and shoving and growling and snarling with all their might, each +doing his best to drive the other off the log and into the water. They +did not bite--perhaps they had agreed that teeth like theirs were too +cruel to be used in civilized warfare--but they struggled and chattered +and swore at each other, and made all sorts of queer noises while they +fought their funny little battle--all the funnier because each of them +had to look out for the other's quills. If either had happened to push +the wrong way, they might both have been in serious trouble. It did not +last long. Our Porky was the stronger, and his rival was driven backward +little by little till he lost his hold completely and slipped into the +lake. He came to the surface at once, and quickly swam to the shore, +where he chattered angrily for a few minutes, and then, like the +sensible bachelor that he was, wandered off up the beach in search of +other worlds more easily conquered. There was peace on our Porky's log, +and the lily-pads that grew beside it had never been as fresh and juicy +as they were that morning. + +Two months later, on a hot August afternoon, I was paddling along the +edge of the Glimmerglass in company with a friend of mine, each of us in +a small dug-out canoe, when we found the Porky asleep in the sunshine. +He was lying on the nearly horizontal trunk of a tree whose roots had +been undermined by the waves till it leaned far out over the lake, +hardly a foot from the water. + +My friend, by the way, is the foreman of a lumber-camp. He has served in +the British army, has hunted whales off the coast of Greenland, married +a wife in Grand Rapids, and run a street-car in Chicago; and now he is +snaking logs out of the Michigan woods. He is quite a chunk of a man, +tall and decidedly well set up, and it would take a pretty good +prize-fighter to whip him, but he learned that day that a porcupine at +close quarters is worse than a trained pugilist. + +"Look at that porky," he called to me. "I'm going to ram the canoe into +the tree and knock him off into the water. Just you watch, and you'll +see some fun." + +I was somewhat uncertain whether the joke would ultimately be on the +Porcupine or the man, but it was pretty sure to be worth seeing, one way +or the other, so I laid my paddle down and awaited developments. Bang! +went the nose of the dug-out against the tree, and the Porcupine +dropped, but not into the water. He landed in the bow of the canoe, and +the horrified look on my friend's face was a delight to see. The Porky +was wide awake by this time, for I could hear his teeth clacking as he +advanced to the attack. + +"Great Scott! He's coming straight at me!" + +The Porcupine was certainly game. I saw the paddle rise in the air and +come down with a tremendous whack, but it seemed to have little effect. +The Porky's coat of quills and hair was so thick that a blow on the back +did not trouble him much. If my friend could have hit him across the +nose it would have ended the matter then and there, but the canoe was +too narrow and its sides too high for a crosswise stroke. He tried +thrusting, but that was no better. When a good-sized porcupine has +really made up his mind to go somewhere he may be slow, but it takes +more than a punch with the end of a stick to stop him; and this Porky +had fully determined to go aft and get acquainted with the foreman. + +[Illustration: "_He quickly made his way to the beach._"] + +My friend couldn't even kick, for he was kneeling on the bottom of the +dug-out, with his feet behind him, and if he tried to stand up he would +probably capsize. + +"Say, Hulbert, what am I going to do?" + +I didn't give him any advice, for my sympathies were largely with the +Porcupine. Besides, I hadn't any advice to give. Just then the canoe +drifted around so that I could look into it, and I beheld the Porcupine +bearing down on my helpless friend like Birnam Wood on its way to +Dunsinane, his ruffle of quills erect, fire in his little black eyes, +and a thirst for vengeance in his whole aspect. My friend made one or +two final and ineffectual jabs at him, and then gave it up. + +"It's no use!" he called; "I'll have to tip over!" and the next second +the canoe was upside down and both belligerents were in the water. The +Porcupine floated high--I suppose his hollow quills helped to keep him +up--and he proved a much better swimmer than I had expected, for he +quickly made his way to the beach and disappeared in the woods, still +chattering disrespectfully. My friend waded ashore, righted his canoe, +and we resumed our journey. I don't think I'll tell you what he said. He +got over it after a while, and in the end he probably enjoyed his joke +more than if it had turned out as he had intended. + +The summer followed the winter into the past, and the Moon of Falling +Leaves came round again. The Porcupine was not alone. Another porky was +with him, and the two seemed very good friends. In fact, his companion +was the very same lady porcupine who had stood by while he fought the +battle of the log and the lily-pads, though I do not suppose that they +had been keeping company all those months, and I am by no means certain +that they remembered that eventful morning at all. Let us hope they +did, for the sake of the story. Who knows how much or how little of love +was stirring the slow currents of their sluggish natures--of such love +as binds the dove or the eagle to his mate, or of such steadfast +affection as the Beaver and his wife seem to have felt for each other? +Not much, perhaps; yet they climbed the same tree, ate from the same +branch, and drank at the same spring; and the next April there was +another arrival in the old hollow log--twins, this time, and both of +them alive. + +But the Porcupine never saw his children, for a wandering fit seized +him, and he left the Glimmerglass before they were born. Two or three +miles away was a little clearing where a mossback lived. A railway +crossed one edge of it, between the hill and the swamp, and five miles +away was a junction, where locomotives were constantly moving about, +backing, hauling, and making up their trains. As the mossback lay awake +in the long, quiet, windless winter nights, he often heard them puffing +and snorting, now with slow, heavy coughs, and now quick and sharp and +rapid. One night when he was half asleep he heard something that said, +"chew-chew-chew-chew-chew-chew," like an engine that has its train +moving and is just beginning to get up speed. At first he paid no +attention to it. But the noise suddenly stopped short, and after a pause +of a few seconds it began again at exactly the same speed; stopped +again, and began a third time. And so it went on, chewing and pausing, +chewing and pausing, with always just so many chews to the second, and +just so many seconds to each rest. No locomotive ever puffed like that. +The mossback was wide awake now, and he muttered something about +"another of those pesky porkies." He had killed the last one that came +around the house, and had wanted his wife to cook it for dinner and see +how it tasted, but she wouldn't. She said that the very sight of it was +enough for her, and more than enough; and that it was all she could do +to eat pork and potatoes after looking at it. + +He turned over and tried to go to sleep again, but without success. That +steady "chew-chew-chew" was enough to keep a woodchuck awake, and at +last he got up and went to the door. The moonlight on the snow was +almost as bright as day, and there was the Porcupine, leaning against +the side of the barn, and busily rasping the wood from around the head +of a rusty nail. The mossback threw a stick of stove-wood at him, and +he lumbered clumsily away across the snow. But twenty minutes later he +was back again, and this time he marched straight into the open shed at +the back of the house, and began operations on a wash-tub, whose mingled +flavor of soap and humanity struck him as being very delicious. Again +the mossback appeared in the doorway, shivering a little in his +night-shirt. + +The Porcupine was at the foot of the steps. He had stopped chewing when +the door opened, and now he lifted his forepaws and sat half-erect, his +yellow teeth showing between his parted lips, and his little eyes +staring at the lamp which the mossback carried. The quills slanted back +from all around his diminutive face, and even from between his +eyes--short at first, but growing longer toward his shoulders and back. +Long whitish bristles were mingled with them, and the mossback could not +help thinking of a little old, old man, with hair that was grizzly-gray, +and a face that was half-stupid and half-sad and wistful. He was not yet +two years of age, but I believe that a porcupine is born old. Some of +the Indians say that he is ashamed of his homely looks, and that that is +the reason why, by day, he walks so slowly, with hanging head and +downcast eyes; but at night, they say, when the friendly darkness hides +his ugliness, he lifts his head and runs like a dog. In spite of the +hour and the cheering influence of the wash-tub, our Porky seemed even +more low-spirited than usual. Perhaps the lamplight had suddenly +reminded him of his personal appearance. At any rate he looked so +lonesome and forlorn that the mossback felt a little thrill of pity for +him, and decided not to kill him after all, but to drive him away again. +He started down the steps with his lamp in one hand and a stick of wood +in the other, and then--he never knew how it happened, but in some way +he stumbled and fell. Never in all his life, not even when his wildest +nightmare came and sat on him in the wee, sma' hours, had he come so +near screaming out in terror as he did at that moment. He thought he was +going to sit down on the Porcupine. Fortunately for both of them, but +especially for the man, he missed him by barely half an inch, and the +Porky scuttled away as fast as his legs could carry him. + +In spite of this unfriendly reception, the Porcupine hung around the +edges of the clearing for several months, and enjoyed many a meal such +as seldom falls to the lot of the woods-people. One night he found an +empty pork-barrel out behind the barn, its staves fairly saturated with +salt, and hour after hour he scraped away upon it, perfectly content. +Another time, to his great satisfaction, he discovered a large piece of +bacon rind among some scraps that the mossback's wife had thrown away. +Later he invaded the sugar-bush by night, gnawing deep notches in the +edges of the sap buckets and barrels, and helping himself to the sirup +in the big boiling-pan. + +Life was not all feasting, however. There was a dog who attacked him two +or three times, but who finally learned to keep away and mind his own +business. Once, when he had ventured a little too close to the house, +and was making an unusual racket with his teeth, the mossback came to +the door and fired a shotgun at him, cutting off several of his quills. +And still another night, late in the spring, when he was prowling around +the barn, a bull calf came and smelled him. Next morning the mossback +and his boys threw that calf down on the ground and tied his feet to a +stump, and three of them sat on him while a fourth pulled the quills +from his nose with a pair of pincers. You should have heard him grunt. + +Then came the greatest adventure of all. Down beside the railway was a +small platform on which supplies for the lumber-camps were sometimes +unloaded from the trains. Brine and molasses and various other +delectable things had leaked out of the barrels and kegs and boxes, and +the Porcupine discovered that the planks were very nicely seasoned and +flavored. He visited them once too often, for one summer evening, as he +was gnawing away at the site of an ancient puddle of molasses, the +accommodation train rolled in and came to a halt. He tried to hide +behind a stump, but the trainmen caught sight of him, and before he knew +it they had shoved him into an empty box and hoisted him into the +baggage-car. They turned him loose among the passengers on the station +platform at Sault Ste. Marie, and his arrival created a sensation. + +When the first excitement had subsided, all the girls in the crowd +declared that they must have some quills for souvenirs, and all the +young men set to work to procure them, hoping to distinguish themselves +by proving their superiority in strength and courage over this poor +little twenty-pound beast just out of the woods. Most of them succeeded +in getting some quills, and also in acquiring some painful +experience--especially the one who attempted to lift the Porcupine by +the tail, and who learned that that interesting member is the very +hottest and liveliest portion of the animal's anatomy. They finally +discovered that the best way to get quills from a live porcupine is to +hit him with a piece of board. The sharp points penetrate the wood and +stick there, the other ends come loose from his skin, and there you have +them. Our friend lost most of his armor that day, and it was a good +thing for him that departed quills, like clipped hair, will renew +themselves in the course of time. + +One of the brakemen carried him home, and he spent the next few months +in the enjoyment of city life. Whether he found much pleasure in it is, +perhaps, a question, but I am rather inclined to think that he did. He +had plenty to eat, and he learned that apples are very good indeed, and +that the best way to partake of them is to sit up on your haunches and +hold them between your forepaws. He also learned that men are not always +to be regarded as enemies, for his owner and his owner's children were +good to him and soon won his confidence. But, after all, the city was +not home, and the woods were; so he employed some of his spare time in +gnawing a hole through the wall in a dark corner of the shed where he +was confined, and one night he scrambled out and hid himself in an empty +barn. A day or two later he was in the forest again. + +The remaining years of his life were spent on the banks of St. Mary's +River, and for the most part they were years of quietness and +contentment. He was far from his early home, but the bark of a birch or +a maple or a hemlock is much the same on St. Mary's as by the +Glimmerglass. He grew bigger and fatter as time went on, and some weeks +before he died he must have weighed thirty or forty pounds. + +Once in a while there was a little dash of excitement to keep life from +becoming too monotonous--if too much monotony is possible in a +porcupine's existence. One night he scrambled up the steps of a little +summer cottage close to the edge of the river, and, finding the door +unlatched, he pushed it open and walked in. It proved to be a cottage +full of girls, and they stood around on chairs and the tops of +wash-stands, bombarded him with curling-irons, poked feebly with +bed-slats, and shrieked with laughter till the farmers over on the +Canadian shore turned in their beds and wondered what could be happening +on Uncle Sam's side of the river. The worst of it was that in his +travels around the room he had come up behind the door and pushed it +shut, and it was some time before even the red-haired girl could muster +up sufficient courage to climb down from her perch and open it again. + +At another time an Indian robbed him of the longest and best of his +quills--nearly five inches in length some of them--and carried them off +to be used in ornamenting birch-bark baskets. And on still another +occasion he narrowly escaped death at the hands of an irate canoe-man, +in the side of whose Rob Roy he had gnawed a great hole. + +The end came at last, and it was the saddest, hardest, strangest fate +that can ever come to a wild creature of the woods. He--who had never +known hunger in all his life, who was almost the only animal in the +forest who had never looked famine in the eye, whose table was spread +with good things from January to December, and whose storehouse was full +from Lake Huron to the Pictured Rocks--he of all others, was condemned +to die of starvation in the midst of plenty. The Ancient Mariner, with +water all around him and not a drop to drink, was no worse off than our +Porcupine; and the Mariner finally escaped, but the Porky didn't. + +One of the summer tourists who wandered up into the north woods that +year had carried with him a little rifle, more of a toy than a weapon, +a thing that a sportsman would hardly have condescended to laugh at. And +one afternoon, by ill luck, he caught sight of the Porcupine high up in +the top of a tall tree. It was his first chance at a genuine wild beast, +and he fired away all his cartridges as fast as he could load them into +his gun. He thought that every shot missed, and he was very much ashamed +of his marksmanship. But he was mistaken. The very last bullet broke one +of the Porcupine's lower front teeth, and hurt him terribly. It jarred +him to the very end of his tail, and his head felt as if it was being +smashed to bits. For a minute or two the strength all went out of him, +and if he had not been lying in a safe, comfortable crotch he would have +fallen to the ground. + +The pain and the shock passed away after a while, but when supper-time +came--and it was almost always supper-time with the Porcupine--his left +lower incisor was missing. The right one was uninjured, however, and for +a while he got on pretty well, merely having to spend a little more time +than usual over his meals. But that was only the beginning of trouble. +The stump of the broken tooth was still there and still growing, and it +was soon as long as ever, but in the meantime its fellow in the upper +jaw had grown out beyond its normal length, and the two did not meet +properly. Instead of coming together edge to edge, as they should have +done, each wearing the other down and keeping it from reaching out too +far, each one now pushed the other aside, and still they kept on +growing, growing, growing. Worst of all, in a short time they had begun +to crowd his jaws apart so that he could hardly use his right-hand +teeth, and they too were soon out of shape. The evil days had come, and +the sound of the grinding was low. Little by little his mouth was forced +open wider and wider, and the food that passed his lips grew less and +less. His teeth, that had all his life been his best tools and his most +faithful servants, had turned against him in his old age, and were +killing him by inches. Let us not linger over those days. + +He was spared the very last and worst pangs--for that, at least, we may +be thankful. On the last day of his life he sat under a beech-tree, weak +and weary and faint. He could not remember when he had eaten. His coat +of hair and quills was as thick and bushy as ever, and outwardly he had +hardly changed at all, but under his skin there was little left but +bones. And as he sat there and wished that he was dead--if such a wish +can ever come to a wild animal--the Angel of Mercy came, in the shape +of a man with a revolver in his pistol pocket--a man who liked to kill +things. + +"A porky!" he said. "Guess I'll shoot him, just for fun." + +The Porcupine saw him coming and knew the danger; and for a moment the +old love of life came back as strong as ever, and he gathered his feeble +strength for one last effort, and started up the tree. He was perhaps +six feet from the ground when the first report came. + +"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" Four shots, as fast as the self-cocking +revolver could pour the lead into his body. The Porky stopped climbing. +For an instant he hung motionless on the side of the tree, and then his +forepaws let go, and he swayed backward and fell to the ground. And that +was the end of the Porcupine. + + + + +THE ADVENTURES OF A LOON + + +HIS name was Mahng, and the story which I am about to relate is the +story of his matrimonial career--or at least of a portion of it. + +One snowy autumn night, three years ago, he was swimming on the +Glimmerglass in company with his first wife--one of the first, that is. +There may possibly have been others before her, but if so I wasn't +acquainted with them. It was a fine evening--especially for loons. There +was no wind, and the big, soft flakes came floating lazily down to lose +themselves in the quiet lake. The sky, the woods, and the shores were +all blotted out; and the loons reigned alone, king and queen of a dim +little world of leaden water and falling snow. And right royally they +swam their kingdom, with an air as if they thought God had made the +Glimmerglass for their especial benefit. Perhaps He had. + +[Illustration: "_He went under as simply as you would step out of +bed._"] + +It was very, very lonely, but they liked it all the better for that. At +times they even lost sight of each other for a little while, as one +dived in search of a herring or a young salmon trout. I wish we could +have followed Mahng down under the water and watched him at his hunting. +He didn't dive as you do, with a jump and a plunge and a splash. He +merely drew his head back a little and then thrust it forward and +downward, and went under as simply and easily as you would step out of +bed, and with a good deal more dignity. It was his feet that did it, of +course. They were not good for much for walking, but they were the real +thing when it came to swimming or diving. They were large and broad and +strongly webbed, and the short stout legs which carried them were +flattened and compressed that they might slip edgewise through the +water, like a feathered oar-blade. The muscles which worked them were +very powerful, and they kicked backward with so much vigor that two +little jets of spray were often tossed up in his wake as he went under, +like the splash from a steamer's paddles. And he had a rudder, too, for +in the after part of his body there were two muscles just like +tiller-ropes, fastened to his tail in such a way that they could twist +it to either side, and steer him to port or starboard as occasion +demanded. With his long neck stretched far out in front, his wings +pressed tightly against his sides, and his legs and feet working as +if they went by steam, he shot through the water like a submarine +torpedo-boat. "The Herdsman of the Deep," the Scottish Highlanders used +to say, when in winter a loon came to visit their lochs and fiords. +Swift and strong and terrible, he ranged the depths of the Glimmerglass, +seeking what he might devour; and perhaps you can imagine how hastily +the poor little fishes took their departure whenever they saw him coming +their way. Sometimes they were not quite quick enough, and then his long +bill closed upon them, and he swallowed them whole without even waiting +to rise to the surface. + +The chase thus brought to a successful conclusion, or perhaps the supply +of air in his lungs giving out, he returned to the upper world, and +again his voice rang out through the darkness and the falling snow. Then +his wife would answer him from somewhere away off across the lake, and +they would call back and forth to each other with many a laugh and +shout, or, drawing closer and closer together, they would cruise the +Glimmerglass side by side, with the big flakes dropping gently on their +backs and folded wings, and the ripples spreading out on either hand +like the swell from the bow of a ship. + +Once Mahng stayed down a little longer than usual, and when he came up +he heard his wife calling him in an excited tone, as if something had +happened to her. He hurried toward her, and presently he saw a light +shining dimly through the throng of moving snow-flakes, and growing +brighter and brighter as he approached until it was fairly dazzling. As +he drew nearer still he caught sight of his wife sitting on the water +squarely in front of that light, and watching it with all her eyes. She +was not calling now. She had forgotten Mahng, she had forgotten to +paddle, she had forgotten everything, in her wonder at this strange, +beautiful thing, the like of which had never before been seen upon the +Glimmerglass. She herself was a rarely beautiful sight--if she had only +known it--with the dark water rippling gently against her bosom, her big +black head thrust forward, and the feathers of her throat and breast +glistening in the glare of the headlight, white as the snow that was +falling around her. + +All this Mahng saw. What he did not see, because his eyes were dazzled, +was a boat in the shadow behind the light, and a rifle-barrel pointing +straight at his wife's breast. There was a blinding flash, a sharp, +crashing report, and a cloud of smoke; and Mahng dived as quick as a +wink. But his wife would never dive again. The bullet had gone tearing +through her body, and she lay stretched out on the water, perfectly +motionless, and apparently dead. And then, just as Mahng came to the +surface a hundred yards away, and just as my partner put out his hand to +pick her up, she lifted her head and gave a last wild cry. Mahng heard +it and answered, but he was too far away to see what happened. He dared +not return till the light had disappeared, and by that time she was +gone. She had straggled violently for a moment, and had struck savagely +at the hunter's hand, and then she had as suddenly collapsed, the water +turned red, and her eyes closed forever. Did you know that among all +God's creatures the birds are the only ones whose eyes close naturally +in death? Even among men it is not so, for when our friends die we lay +our hands reverently upon their faces, and weight their stiff lids with +gold. But for the bird, Nature herself performs the last kindly office, +and as the light fades out from the empty windows of the soul, the +curtain falls of its own accord. + +[Illustration: "_She herself was a rarely beautiful sight._"] + +During the next two or three days Mahng's voice was frequently to be +heard, apparently calling his wife. Sometimes it was a mournful, +long-drawn cry--"Hoo-WOOOO-ooo"--that might have been heard a mile +away--a cry that seemed the very essence of loneliness, and that went +right down where you lived and made you feel like a murderer. And +sometimes he broke into a wild peal of laughter, as if he hoped that +that might better serve to call her back to him. + +His children had gone south some time before. They had seemed anxious to +see the world. Perhaps, too, they had dreaded the approach of colder +weather more than the older birds, who had become somewhat seasoned by +previous autumns. Anyhow, they had taken the long trail toward the Gulf +of Mexico, and now that his wife was gone Mahng was entirely alone. At +last he seemed to make up his mind that he might as well follow them, +and one afternoon, as he was swimming aimlessly about, I saw him +suddenly dash forward, working his wings with all their might, beating +the water at every stroke, and throwing spray like a side-wheeler. +Slowly--for his body was heavy, and his wings were rather small for his +size--slowly he lifted himself from the water, all the time rushing +forward faster and faster. He couldn't have made it if he hadn't had +plenty of sea-room, but by swinging round and round in long, wide +circles he managed to rise little by little till at last he was clear of +the tree-tops. He passed right over my head as he stood away to the +south--his long neck stretched far out in front, his feet pointing +straight back beyond the end of his short tail, and his wings beating +the air with tremendous energy. How they did whizz! He made almost as +much noise as a train of cars. He laughed as he went by, and you would +have said that he was in high spirits; but before he disappeared that +lonely, long-drawn cry came back once more--"Hoo-WOOOO-ooo." + +In the course of his winter wanderings through the South he happened to +alight one day on a certain wild pond down in Mississippi, and there he +found another loon--a widow whose former husband had lost his life the +previous summer under rather peculiar circumstances. + +Beside a small lake in Minnesota there lives an old Dutchman who catches +fish with empty bottles. On any calm, still day you may see a lot of +them floating upright in the water, all tightly corked, and each with +the end of a fishing-line tied around its neck. They seem very decorous +and well-behaved, but let a fish take one of the hooks and begin to +pull, and immediately that particular bottle turns wrong end up, and +acts as if it had taken a drop too much of its own original contents. +Then the Dutchman paddles out in his little scow, and perhaps by the +time he has hauled in his fish and re-baited the hook another bottle is +excitedly standing on its head. But never before nor since have any of +them behaved as wildly as the one that a loon got hold of. + +The loon--not Mahng, you understand, but the first husband of his new +acquaintance--had dived in search of his dinner, and the first thing he +saw that looked as if it might be good to eat was the bait on one of the +Dutchman's hooks. He swallowed it, of course, and for the next five +minutes he went charging up and down that pond at a great rate, followed +by a green glass monster with the name of a millionnaire brewer blown in +its side. Sometimes he was on the surface, and sometimes he was under +it; but wherever he went that horrible thing was close behind him, +pulling so hard that the sharp cord cut the corners of his mouth till it +bled. Once or twice he tried to fly, but the line caught his wing and +brought him down again. When he dived, it tangled itself around his legs +and clogged the machinery; and when he tried to shout, the hook in his +throat would not let him do anything more than cough. The Dutchman got +him at last, and eventually Mahng got his widow, as you shall see. + +She had her children to take care of, and for a time she was very busy, +but after a few weeks they flew away to the south, as Mahng's had done, +and she was free to go where she liked and do what she pleased. For a +while she stayed where she was, like a sensible person. Minnesota suited +her very well, and she was in no hurry to leave. But, of course, she +could not stay on indefinitely, for some frosty night the lake would +freeze over, and then she could neither dive for fish nor rise upon the +wing. A loon on ice is about as helpless as an oyster. And so at last +she, too, went south. She travelled by easy stages, and had a pleasant +journey, with many a stop, and many a feast in the lakes and rivers +along the route. I should like to know, just out of curiosity, how many +fish found their way down her capacious gullet during that pilgrimage +through Illinois and Kentucky and Tennessee. + +Well, no matter about that. The Mississippi pond was in sight, and she +was just slanting down toward the water, when a hunter fired at her from +behind a clump of trees. His aim was all too true, and she fell headlong +to the ground, with a broken wing dangling helplessly at her side. + +Now, as you probably know, a loon isn't built for running. There is an +old story, one which certainly has the appearance of truth, to the +effect that when Nature manufactured the first of these birds she forgot +to give him any legs at all, and that he had started off on the wing +before she noticed her mistake. Then she picked up the first pair that +came to hand and threw them after him. Unfortunately they were a misfit, +and, what was, perhaps, still worse, they struck his body in the wrong +place. They were so very short and so very far aft that, although he +could stand nearly as straight as a man, it was almost impossible for +him to move about on them. When he had to travel on land, which he +always avoided as far as he could, he generally shoved himself along on +his breast, and often used his wings and his bill to help himself +forward. All his descendants are just like him, so you can see that the +widow's chances were pretty small, with the hunter bursting out of the +bushes, and a broad strip of beach between her and the friendly pond. + +But she was a person of resource and energy, and in this great emergency +she literally rose to the occasion, and did something that she had +never done before in all her life, and probably will never do again. The +astonished hunter saw her lift herself until she stood nearly upright, +and then actually _run_ across the beach toward the water. She was +leaning forward a trifle, her long neck was stretched out, her two short +legs were trotting as fast as they could go, and her one good wing was +wildly waving in a frantic endeavor to get on. It was a sight that very +few people have ever seen, and it would have been comical if it hadn't +been a matter of life and death. The hunter was hard after her, and his +legs were a yard long, while hers were only a few inches, so it was not +surprising that he caught her just as she reached the margin. She +wriggled out of his grasp and dashed on through the shallow water, and +he followed close behind. In a moment he stooped and made another grab +at her, and this time he got his arms around her body and pinned her +wings down against her sides. But he had waded out a little too far, and +had reached the place where the bottom suddenly shelves off from fifteen +inches to seventy-two. His foot slipped, and in another moment he was +splashing wildly about in the water, and the loon was free. + +A broken wing is not necessarily as serious a matter as you might +suppose. The cold water kept the inflammation down, and it seemed as if +all the vital forces of her strong, healthy body set to work at once to +repair the damage. If any comparative anatomist ever gets hold of the +widow and dissects her, he will find a curious swelling in the principal +bone of her left wing, like a plumber's join in a lead pipe, and he will +know what it means. It is the place where Nature soldered the broken +pieces together. And it was while Nature was engaged in this soldering +operation that Mahng arrived and began to cultivate the widow's +acquaintance. + + "_In the spring a fuller crimson + comes upon the robin's breast,_" + +and in the spring the loon puts on his wedding-garment, and his fancy, +like the young man's, "lightly turns to thoughts of love." + +But speaking of Mahng's wedding-garment reminds me that I haven't told +you about his winter dress. His back and wings were very dark-brown, and +his breast and under-parts were white. His head and the upper portion of +his neck were black; his bill was black, or blackish, and so were his +feet. His coat was very thick and warm, and his legs were feathered +right down to the heel-joint. More than five feet his wings stretched +from tip to tip, and he weighed at least twelve pounds, and would be +still larger before he died. + +As to his nuptial finery, its groundwork was much the same, but its +trimmings were different and were very elegant. White spots appeared all +over his back and the upper surfaces of his wings, some of them round, +and some square. They were not thrown on carelessly, but were arranged +in gracefully curving lines, and they quite changed his appearance, +especially if one were as near him as one is supposed to be during a +courting. His spring neckwear, too, was in exceedingly good taste, for +he put on a sort of collar of very narrow vertical stripes, contrasting +beautifully with the black around and between them. Higher up on his +neck and head the deep black feathers gleamed and shone in the sunlight +with brilliant irridescent tints of green and violet. He was a very +handsome bird. + +And now everything was going north. The sun was going north, the wind +was going north, the birds were going, and summer herself was sweeping +up from the tropics as fast as ever she could travel. Mahng was getting +very restless. A dozen times a day he would spread his wings and beat +the air furiously, dashing the spray in every direction, and almost +lifting his heavy body out of the water. But the time was not yet come, +and presently he would fold his pinions and go back to his courting. + +Do you think he was very inconstant? Do you blame him for not being more +faithful to the memory of the bird who was shot at his side only a few +months before? Don't be too hard on him. What can a loon do when the +springtime calls and the wind blows fresh and strong, when the new +strong wine of life is coursing madly through his veins, and when his +dreams are all of the vernal flight to the lonely northland, where the +water is cold and the fish are good, and where there are such delightful +nesting-places around the marshy ponds? + +But how did his new friend feel about it? Would she go with him? Ah! +Wouldn't she? Had not she, too, put on a wedding-garment just like his? +And what was she there for, anyhow, if not to be wooed, and to find a +mate, and to fly away with him a thousand miles to the north, and there, +beside some lonely little lake, brood over her eggs and her young? Her +wing was gaining strength all the time, and at last she was ready. You +should have heard them laugh when the great day came and they pulled out +for Michigan--Mahng a little in the lead, as became the larger and +stronger, and his new wife close behind. There had been nearly a week of +cooler weather just before the start, which had delayed them a little, +but now the south wind was blowing again, and over and over it seemed to +say, + + "_And we go, go, go away from here! + On the other side the world we're overdue! + 'Send the road lies clear before you + When the old Spring-fret comes o'er you, + And the Red Gods call for you._" + +And the road was clear, and they went. Up, and up, and up; higher and +higher, till straight ahead, stretching away to the very edge of the +world, lay league after league of sunshine and air, only waiting the +stroke of their wings. Now steady, steady! Beat, beat, beat! And the old +earth sliding southward fifty miles an hour! No soaring--their wings +were too short for that sort of work--and no quick wheeling to right or +left, but hurtling on with whizzing pinions and eager eyes, straight +toward the goal. Was it any wonder that they were happy, and that +joyful shouts and wild peals of laughter came ringing down from the sky +to tell us poor earthbound men and women that somewhere up in the blue, +beyond the reach of our short-sighted eyes, the loons were hurrying +home? + +[Illustration: "_The old earth sliding southward fifty miles an hour._"] + +Over the fresh fields, green with the young wheat; over the winding +rivers and the smiling lakes; over the--shut your eyes, and dream a +little while, and see if you can imagine what it was like. Does it make +you wish you were a loon yourself? Never mind; some day, perhaps, we too +shall take our wedding-journeys in the air; not on feathered pinions, +but with throbbing engines and whizzing wheels, and with all the power +of steam or electricity to lift us and bear us onward. We shall skim the +prairies and leap the mountains, and roam over the ocean like the +wandering albatross. To-day we shall breathe the warm, spicy breath of +the tropic islands, and to-morrow we shall sight the white gleam of the +polar ice-pack. When the storm gathers we shall mount above it, and +looking down we shall see the lightning leap from cloud to cloud, and +the rattling thunder will come upward, not downward, to our ears. When +the world below is steeped in the shadows of coming night, we shall +still watch the sunset trailing its glories over the western woods +and mountains; and when morning breaks we shall be the first to welcome +the sunrise as it comes rushing up from the east a thousand miles an +hour. The wind of the upper heavens will be pure and keen and strong, +and not even a sleigh-ride on a winter's night can set the live blood +dancing as it will dance and tingle up there above the clouds. And +riding on the air, alone with the roaring engines that have become for +the time a part of ourselves, we shall know at last what our earth is +really like, for we shall see it as the loons see it--yes, as God and +His angels see it--this old earth, on which we have lived for so many +thousand years, and yet have never seen. + +But, after all, the upper heavens will not be home; and some day, as we +shoot northward, or southward, or eastward, or westward, we shall see +beneath us the spot that is to be for us the best and dearest place in +all the world, and dropping down out of the blue we shall find something +that is even better than riding on the wings of the wind. That was what +happened to Mahng and his wife, for one spring evening, as they came +rushing over the pine-tops and the maples and birches, they saw the +Glimmerglass just ahead. The water lay like polished steel in the fading +light, and the brown ranks of the still leafless trees stood dark and +silent around the shores. It was very quiet, and very, very lonely; and +the lake and the woods seemed waiting and watching for something. And +into that stillness and silence the loons came with shouting and +laughter, sweeping down on a long slant, and hitting the water with a +splash. The echoes awoke and the Glimmerglass was alive, and summer had +come to the northland. + +They chose a place where the shore was low and marshy, and there, only +two or three yards from the water's edge, they built a rude nest of +grass and weeds and lily-pads. Two large greenish eggs, blotched with +dark-brown, lay in its hollow; and the wife sat upon them week after +week, and covered them with the warm feathers of her broad, white +breast. Once in a while she left them long enough to stretch her wings +in a short flight, or to dive in search of a fish, but she was never +gone very long. It was a weary vigil that she kept, but she sat there in +daylight and darkness, through sunshine and storm, till at last the day +came when there were four loons instead of two at the Glimmerglass. + +The chicks were very smart and active, and they took to the water almost +as soon as they were out of the shell, swimming and diving as if they +had been accustomed to it for weeks instead of hours. In some ways, +however, they required a good deal of care. For one thing, their little +stomachs were not quite equal to the task of assimilating raw fish, and +the parents had to swallow all their food for them, keep it down till it +was partly digested, and then pass it up again to the hungry children. +It made a good deal of delay, and it must have been very unpleasant, but +it seemed to be the only practicable way of dealing with the situation. +I am glad to say that it did not last very long, for by the time they +were two weeks old the young loons were able to take their fish and +reptiles and insects at first hand. + +When they first arrived the chicks were covered all over with stiff +down, of a dark, sooty gray on their backs, and white underneath. But +this did not last long, either. The first feathers soon appeared, and +multiplied rapidly. I can't say that the young birds were particularly +handsome, for even when their plumage was complete it was much quieter +and duller of hue than their parents'. But they were fat and plump, and +I think they thoroughly enjoyed life, especially before they discovered +that there were enemies as well as friends in the world. That was a kind +of knowledge that could not be avoided very long, however. They soon +learned that men, and certain other animals such as hawks and skunks, +were to be carefully shunned; and you should have seen them run on the +water whenever a suspicious-looking character hove in sight. Their wings +were not yet large enough for flying, but they flapped them with all +their might, and scampered across the Glimmerglass so fast that their +little legs fairly twinkled, and they actually left a furrow in the +water behind them. But the bottom of the lake was really the safest +refuge, and if a boat or a canoe pressed them too closely they would +usually dive below the surface, while the older birds tried to lure the +enemy off in some other direction by calling and shouting and making all +sorts of demonstrations. + +Generally these tactics were successful, but not always. Once some boys +cornered the whole family in a small, shallow bay, where the water was +not deep enough for diving; and before they could escape one of the +youngsters was driven up onto the beach. He tried to hide behind a log, +but he was captured and earned off, and I wish I had time to tell you +of all the things that happened to him before he was finally killed and +eaten by a dog. It was pretty tough on the old birds, as well as on him, +but they still had one chick left, and you can't expect to raise _all_ +your children as long as bigger people are so fond of kidnapping and +killing them. + +Not all the people who came to see them were bent on mischief, however. +There was a party of girls and boys, for instance, who camped beside the +Glimmerglass for a few weeks, and who liked to follow them around the +lake in a row-boat and imitate their voices, just for the fun of making +them talk back. One girl in particular became so accomplished in the +loon language that Mahng would often get very much excited as he +conversed with her, and would sometimes let the boat creep nearer and +nearer until they were only a few rods apart. And then, all of a sudden, +he would duck his head and go under, perhaps in the very middle of a +laugh. The siren was getting a little too close. Her intentions might +possibly be all right, but it was just as well to be on the safe side. + +The summer was nearly gone, and now Mahng did something which I fear you +will strongly disapprove. I didn't want to tell you about it, but I +suppose I must. Two or three male loons passed over the Glimmerglass +one afternoon, calling and shouting as they went, and he flew up and +joined them, and came back no more that summer. It looked like a clear +case of desertion, but we must remember that he had stood by his wife +all through the trying period of the spring and early summer, and that +the time was at hand when the one chick that was left would go out into +the world to paddle his own canoe, and when she would no longer need his +help in caring for a family of young children. But you think he might +have stayed with her, anyhow? Well, so do I; I'm sorry he didn't. They +say that his cousins, the Red-throated Loons, marry for life, and live +together from the wedding-day till death, and I don't see why he +couldn't have done as well as they. But it doesn't seem to be the custom +among the Great Northern Divers. Mahng was only following the usual +practice of his kind, and if his first wife had not been shot it is +likely that they would have separated before they had gone very far +south. And yet it does not follow that the marriage was not a +love-match. If you had seen them at their housekeeping I think you would +have pronounced him a very good husband and father. Perhaps the conjugal +happiness of the spring and early summer was all the better for a taste +of solitude during the rest of the year. + +As I said, the time was near when the chick would strike out for +himself. He soon left his mother, and a little later she too started for +the Gulf of Mexico. Summer was over, and the Glimmerglass was lonelier +than ever. + +Mahng came back next spring, and of course he brought a wife with him. +But was she the same wife who had helped him make the Glimmerglass ring +with his shouting twelve months before? Well, I--I don't quite know. She +looked very much like her, and I certainly hope she was the same bird. I +should like to believe that they had been reunited somewhere down in +Texas or Mississippi or Louisiana, and that they had come back together +for another season of parental cares and joys. But when I consider the +difficulties in the way I cannot help feeling doubtful about it. The two +birds had gone south at different times and perhaps by different routes. +Before they reached the lower Mississippi Valley they may have been +hundreds of miles apart. Was it to be reasonably expected that Mahng, +when he was ready to return, would search every pond and stream from +the Cumberland to the Gulf? And is it likely that, even if he had tried +for weeks and weeks, he could ever have found his wife of the previous +summer? His flight was swift and his sight keen, and his clarion voice +rang far and wide over the marshes; but it is no joke to find one +particular bird in a region covering half a dozen States. If they had +arranged to come north separately, and meet at the Glimmerglass, there +would not have been so many difficulties in the way, but they didn't do +that. Anyhow, Mahng brought a wife home. That much, at least, is +established. They set to work at once to build a nest and make ready for +some new babies; but, alas! there was little parental happiness or +responsibility in store for them that year. + +If you had been there you might have seen them swimming out from shore +one bright, beautiful spring morning, when the sun had just risen, and +the woods and waters lay calm and peaceful in the golden light, fairer +than words can tell. They were after their breakfast, and presently they +dived to see what was to be had. The light is dim down there in the +depths of the Glimmerglass, the weeds are long and slimy, and the mud of +the bottom is black and loathsome. But what does that matter? One can +go back whenever one pleases. A few quick, powerful strokes will take +you up into the open air, and you can see the woods and the sky. Aha! +There is a herring, his scales shining like silver in the faint green +light that comes down through the water. And there is a small salmon +trout, with his gray-brown back and his golden sides. A fish for each of +us. + +The loons darted forward at full speed; but the two fish made no effort +to escape, and did not even wriggle when the long, sharp bills closed +upon them. They were dead, choked to death by the fine threads of a +gill-net. And now those same threads laid hold of the loons themselves, +and a fearful struggle began. + +Mahng and his wife did not always keep their wings folded when they were +under water. Sometimes they used them almost as they did in flying, and +just now they had need of every muscle in their bodies. How their +pinions lashed the water, and how their legs kicked and their long necks +writhed, and how the soft mud rose in clouds and shut out the dim light! +But the harder they fought the more tightly did the net grapple them, +winding itself round and round their bodies, and soon lashing their +wings down against their sides. Expert divers though they were, the +loons were drowning. There was a ringing in their ears and a roaring in +their heads, and the very last atoms of oxygen in their lungs were +almost gone. Death was drawing very near, and the bright, sunshiny world +where they had been so happy a moment before, the world to which they +had thought they could return so quickly and easily, seemed a thousand +miles away. One last effort, one final struggle, and if that failed +there would be nothing more to do but go to sleep forever. + +Fortunately for Mahng, his part of the net had been mildewed, and much +of the strength had gone out of the linen threads. He was writhing and +twisting with all his might, and suddenly he felt something give. One of +the rotten meshes had torn apart. He worked with redoubled energy, and +in a moment another thread gave way, and then another, and another. A +second more and he was free. Quick, now, before the last spark goes out! +With beating wings and churning paddles he fairly flew up through the +green water toward the light, and on a sudden he shot out into the air, +panting and gasping, and staring wildly around at the blue sky, and the +quiet woods, and the smiling Glimmerglass. And how royally beautiful +was the sunshine, and how sweet was the breath of life! + +But his mate was not with him, and a few hours later the fisherman found +in his net the lifeless body of a drowned loon. + +Mahng went north. He had thought that his spring flight was over and +that he would go no farther, but now the Glimmerglass was no longer +home, and he spread his wings once more and took his way toward the +Arctic Circle. Over the hills, crowded with maple and beech and birch; +over the Great Tahquamenon Swamp, with its cranberry marshes, its +tangles of spruce and cedar, and its thin, scattered ranks of tamarack; +over the sandy ridges where the pine-trees stand tall and stately, and +out on Lake Superior. The water was blue, and the sunshine was bright; +the wind was fresh and cool, and the billows rolled and tumbled as if +they were alive and were having a good time together. Together--that's +the word. They were together, but Mahng was alone; and he wasn't having +a good time at all. He wanted a home, and a nest, and some young ones, +but he didn't find them that year, though he went clear to Hudson Bay, +and looked everywhere for a mate. There were loons, plenty of them, but +they had already paired and set up housekeeping, and he found no one who +was in a position to halve his sorrows and double his joys. + +Something attracted his attention one afternoon when he was swimming on +a little lake far up in the Canadian wilderness--a small red object that +kept appearing and disappearing in a very mysterious fashion among the +bushes that lined the beach. Mahng's bump of curiosity was large and +well developed, and he gave one of his best laughs and paddled slowly in +toward the shore. I think he had a faint and utterly unreasonable hope +that it might prove to be what he was looking and longing for, though he +knew very well that no female loon of his species ever had red +feathers--nor a male, either, for that matter. It was a most absurd +idea, and his dreams, if he really had them, were cut short by the +report of a shotgun. A little cloud of smoke floated up through the +bushes, and a charge of heavy shot peppered the water all around him. +But if Mahng was curious he was also quick to take a hint. He had heard +the click of the gun-lock, and before the leaden hail could reach him he +was under water. His tail feathers suffered a little, but otherwise he +was uninjured, and he did not come to the surface again till he was far +away from that deceitful red handkerchief. + +The summer was an entire failure, and after a while Mahng gave it up in +despair, and started south much earlier than usual. At the Straits of +Mackinac he had another narrow escape, for he came very near killing +himself by dashing head first against the lantern of a lighthouse, whose +brilliant beams, a thousand times brighter than the light which had +lured his first wife to her death, had first attracted and then dazzled +and dazed him. Fortunately he swerved a trifle at the last moment, and +though he brushed against an iron railing, lost his balance, and fell +into the water, there were no bones broken and no serious damage done. + +The southland, as everybody knows, is the only proper place for a loon +courtship. There, I am pleased to say, Mahng found a new wife, and in +due time he brought her up to the Glimmerglass. That was only last +spring, and there is but one more incident for me to relate. This summer +has been a happy and prosperous one, but there was a time when it seemed +likely to end in disaster before it had fairly begun. + +Just northeast of the Glimmerglass there lies a long, narrow, shallow +pond. I believe I mentioned it when I was telling you about the Beaver. +One afternoon Mahng had flown across to this pond, and as he was +swimming along close to the shore he put his foot into a beaver-trap, +and sprung it. Of course he did his best to get away, but the only +result of his struggling was to work the trap out into deeper and deeper +water until he was almost submerged. He made things almost boil with the +fierce beating of his wings, but it was no use; he might better have +saved his strength. He quieted down at last and lay very still, with +only his head and neck out of water, and there he waited two mortal +hours for something to happen. + +Meanwhile his wife sat quietly on her eggs--there were three of them +this year--and drowsed away the warm spring afternoon. By and by she +heard a tramping as of heavy feet approaching, and glancing between the +tall grasses she saw, not a bear nor a deer, but something far worse--a +man. She waited till he was within a few yards, and then she jumped up, +scuttled down to the water as fast as she could go, and dived as if she +was made of lead. The trapper glanced after her with a chuckle. + +"Seems pretty badly scared," he said to himself, but his voice was not +unkindly. His smile faded as he stood a moment beside the nest, looking +at the eggs, and thinking of what would some day come forth from them. +He was a solitary old fellow, with never a wife nor a child, nor a +relation of any kind. His life in the woods was just what he had chosen +for himself, and he would not have exchanged it for anything else in the +world; but sometimes the loneliness of it came over him, and he wished +that he had somebody to talk to. And now, looking at those eggs, and +thinking of the fledglings that were coming to the loons, he wondered +how it would seem if he had some children of his own. Pretty soon he +glanced out on the lake again, and saw Mahng's wife sitting quietly on +the water, just out of range. + +"Hope she won't stay away till they get cold," he thought, and went on +his way across the swamp. The loon watched him till he passed out of +sight, and then she swam in to the beach and pushed herself up her +narrow runway to her old place. The eggs were still warm. + +Half an hour later the trapper stepped out of the bushes beside the +pond, and caught sight of Mahng's head sticking out of the water. He +was considerably astonished, but he promptly laid hold of the chain and +drew bird, trap, and all up onto the bank, and then he sat down on a log +and laughed till the echoes went flying back and forth across the pond. +Plastered with mud, dripping wet, and with his left leg fast in the big +steel killing-machine, Mahng was certainly a comical sight. All the +fight was soaked out of him, and he lay prone upon the ground and waited +for the trapper to do what he pleased. But the trapper did nothing--only +sat on his log, and presently forgot to laugh. He was thinking of the +sitting loon whom he had disturbed a little while before. This was +probably her mate, and again there came over him a vague feeling that +life had been very good to these birds, and had given them something +which he, the man, had missed. He was growing old. A few more seasons +and there would be one trapper less in the Great Tahquamenon Swamp; and +he would die without--well, what was the use of talking or thinking +about it? But the loons would hatch their young, and care for them and +protect them until they were ready to go out into the world, and then +they would send them away to the south. A few weeks later they would +follow, and next spring they would come back and do it all over again. +That is--they would if he didn't kill them. + +He rose from his log, smiling again at the abject look with which Mahng +watched him, and putting one foot on each of the two heavy steel +springs, he threw his weight upon them and crushed them down. Mahng felt +the jaws relax, and suddenly he knew that he was free. The strength came +back with a rush to his weary limbs, and he sprang up, scrambled down +the bank and into the water, and was gone. A few minutes later he +reappeared far down the pond, and rising on the wing he flew away with a +laugh toward the Glimmerglass. + + + + +THE MAKING OF A GLIMMERGLASS BUCK + + +I DON'T know that he was a record-breaker, but he was certainly much +larger and more powerful than the average buck, and he was decidedly +good-looking, even for a deer. There were one or two slight +blemishes--to be described later--in his physical make-up; but they were +not very serious, and except for them he was very handsome and +well-formed. I can't give you the whole story of his life, for that +would take several books, but I shall try to tell you how he became the +biggest buck and the best fighter of his day and generation in the woods +around the Glimmerglass. He was unusually favored by Providence, for +besides being so large and strong he was given a weapon such as very few +full-grown Michigan bucks have ever possessed. + +He had a good start in life, and it is really no wonder that he +distanced all his relations. In the first place, he arrived in the woods +a little earlier in the year than deer babies usually do. This was +important, for it lengthened his first summer, and gave more opportunity +for growth before the return of cold weather. If the winter had +lingered, or if there had been late frosts or snow-storms, his early +advent might have been anything but a blessing; but the spring proved a +mild one, and there was plenty of good growing weather for fawns. Then, +too, his mother as in the very prime of life, and for the time being he +was her only child. If there had been twins, as there were the year +before, he would, of course, have had to share her milk with a brother +or sister; but as it was he enjoyed all the benefits of a natural +monopoly, and he grew and prospered accordingly, and was a baby to be +proud of. + +[Illustration: "_He was a baby to be proud of._"] + +And his mother took good care of him, and never tried to show him off +before the other people of the woods. She knew that it was far safer and +wiser to keep him concealed as long as possible, and not let anyone know +that she had him. So instead of letting him wander with her through the +woods when she went in search of food, she generally left him hidden in +a thicket or behind a bush or a fallen tree. There he spent many a long, +lonely hour, idly watching the waving branches and the moving shadows, +and perhaps thinking dim, formless, wordless baby thoughts, or looking +at nothing and thinking of nothing, but just sleeping the quiet sleep +of infancy, and living, and growing, and getting ready for hard times. + +At first the Fawn knew no difference between friends and enemies, but +the instinct of the hunted soon awoke and told him when to be afraid. If +a hostile animal came by while the doe was gone, he would crouch low, +with his nose to the ground and his big ears laid back on his neck; or +if pressed too closely he would jump up and hurry away to some better +cover, with leaps and bounds so light and airy that they seemed the very +music of motion. But that did not happen very often. His hiding-places +were well chosen, and he usually lay still till his mother came back. + +When she thought he was large enough, and strong and swift enough, she +let him travel with her; and then he became acquainted with several new +kinds of forest--with the dark hemlock groves, and the dense cedar +swamps; with the open tamarack, where the trees stand wide apart, and +between them the great purple-and-white lady's-slippers bloom; with the +cranberry marshes, where pitcher-plants live, and white-plumed grasses +nod in the breeze; with sandy ridges where the pine-trees purr with +pleasure when the wind strokes them; with the broad, beautiful +Glimmerglass, laughing and shimmering in the sunshine, and with all the +sights and the sounds of that wonderful world where he was to spend the +years of his deerhood. + +They were a very silent pair. When his breakfast was ready she would +sometimes call him with a low murmuring, and he would answer her with a +little bleat; but those were almost the only sounds that were ever heard +from them, except the rustling of the dry leaves around their feet. Yet +they understood each other perfectly, and they were very happy together. +There was little need of speech, for all they had to do the livelong day +was to wander about while the doe picked up her food, and then, when she +had eaten her fill, to lie down in some sheltered place, and there rest +and chew the cud till it was time to move again. + +Life wasn't all sunshine, of course. There were plenty of hard things +for the baby Buck to put up with, and perhaps the worst were the +mosquitoes and the black-flies and "no-see-'ems" that swarmed in the +woods and swamps through the month of June. They got into his mouth and +into his nose; they gathered in circles around his eyes; and they +snuggled cosily down between the short hairs of his pretty, spotted +coat, and sucked the blood out of him till it seemed as if he would +soon go dry. For a while they were almost unbearable, but I suppose the +woods-people get somewhat hardened to them. Otherwise I should think our +friends would have been driven mad, for there was never any respite from +their attacks, except possibly a very stormy day, or a bath in the lake, +or a saunter on the shore. + +At the eastern end of the Glimmerglass there is a broad strip of sand +beach, where, if there happens to be a breeze from the water, one can +walk and be quite free from the flies; though in calm weather, or with +an offshore wind, it is not much better than the woods. There, during +fly-time, the doe and her baby were often to be found; and to see him +promenading up and down the hard sand, with his mother looking on, was +one of the prettiest sights in all the wilderness. The ground-color of +his coat was a bright bay red, somewhat like that of his mother's summer +clothing; but deeper and richer and handsomer, and with pure white spots +arranged in irregular rows all along his neck and back and sides. He was +so sleek and polished that he fairly glistened in the sunshine, like a +well-groomed horse; his great dark eyes were brighter than a girl's at +her first ball; and his ears were almost as big as a mule's, and a +million times as pretty. But best and most beautiful of all was the +marvellous life and grace and spirit of his every pose and motion. When +he walked, his head and neck were thrust forward and drawn back again at +every step with the daintiest gesture imaginable; and his tiny pointed +hoofs touched the ground so lightly, and were away again so quickly, +that you hardly knew what they had done. If anything startled him, he +stamped with his forefoot on the hard sand, and tossed his head in the +air with an expression that was not fear, but alertness, and even +defiance. And when he leaped and ran--but there's no use in trying to +describe that. + +By the middle of July most of the flies were gone, and the deer could +travel where they pleased without being eaten alive. And then, almost +before they knew what had happened, the summer was gone, too, and the +autumn had come. The Fawn's white spots disappeared, and both he and his +mother put off their thin red summer clothing and donned the blue coat +of fall, which would by and by fade into the gray of winter--a garment +made of longer, coarser hairs, which were so thick that they had to +stand on end because there wasn't room for them to lie down, and which +made such a warm covering that one who wore it could sleep all night in +the snow, and rise in the morning dry and comfortable. + +The Fawn had thriven wonderfully. Already the budding antlers were +pushing through the skin on the top of his head, which alone is pretty +good proof that he was a remarkable baby. But, of course, the infancy of +a wild animal is always much shorter than that of a human child. It is +well that this is so, for if the period of weakness and helplessness was +not shortened for them, there would probably be very few who would ever +survive its dangers and reach maturity. The Fawn was weaned early in the +autumn; though he still ran with his mother, and she showed him what +herbs and leaves were pleasantest to the taste and best for building up +bone and muscle, and where the beechnuts were most plentiful. The mast +was good that fall, which isn't always the case, and that was another +lucky star in young Buck's horoscope. So much depends on having plenty +to eat the first year. + +And now the doe was thriving as well as her son. Through the summer she +had been thin and poor, for the Fawn had fed on her life and strength, +and the best of all that came to her she had given to him; but the +strain was over at last, and there were granted her a few weeks in +which to prepare for the season of cold and storm and scanty food. She +made the best of them, and in an amazingly short time she was rolling +fat. + +Everything was lovely and the goose hung high, when all of a sudden the +peace and quiet of their every-day lives were rudely broken. The hunting +season had come, and half-a-dozen farmers from lower Michigan had camped +beside the Glimmerglass. They were not really very formidable. If one +wants to kill deer, one should learn to shoot straight and to get around +in the woods without making quite as much noise as a locomotive. But +their racket was intolerable, and after a day or two the doe and the +Fawn left home and spent the next three or four weeks near a secluded +little pond several miles away to the southeast. + +By the first of December these troublous times were over, and they had +returned to their old haunts in the beech and maple woods, where they +picked up a rather scanty living by scraping the light snow away with +their forefeet in search of the savory nuts. But before Christmas there +came a storm which covered the ground so deeply that they could no +longer dig out enough food to keep them from going hungry; and they +were forced to leave the high lands and make their way to the evergreen +swamps around the head-waters of the Tahquamenon. There they lived on +twigs of balsam and hemlock and spruce, with now and then a mouthful of +moss or a nutritious lichen. Little by little the fat on their ribs +disappeared, they grew lank and lean again, and the bones showed more +and more plainly through their heavy winter coats. If one of those +November hunters had succeeded in setting his teeth in their flesh he +would have found that it had a very pleasant, nutty flavor, but in +February it would have tasted decidedly of hemlock. Yet they were strong +and healthy, in spite of their boniness, and of course you can't expect +to be very fat in winter. + +There were worse things than hunger. One afternoon they were following a +big buck down a runway--all three of them minding their own business and +behaving in a very orderly and peaceable manner--when a shanty-boy +stepped out from behind a big birch just ahead of them, and said, "Aah!" +very derisively and insultingly. The wind was blowing from them to him, +and they hadn't had the least idea that he was there until they were +within three rods of his tree. The buck was so startled that for an +instant he simply stood still and stared, which was exactly what the +shanty-boy had expected him to do. He had stopped so suddenly that his +forefeet were thrust forward into the snow, and he was leaning backward +a trifle. His head was up, his eyes were almost popping out of their +sockets, and there was such a look of astonishment on his face that the +man laughed as he raised his gun and took aim. In a second the deer had +wheeled and was in the air, but a bullet broke his back just as he left +the ground, and he came tumbling down again in a shapeless heap. His +spinal cord was cut, and half his body was dead; but he would not give +up even then, and he half rose on his forefeet and tried to drag himself +away. The shanty-boy stepped to his side with a knife in his hand, the +deer gave one loud bleat of fear and pain, and then it was all over. + +But by that time the doe and the Fawn were far down the runway--out of +sight, and out of danger. Next day they passed that way again, and saw a +Canada lynx standing where the buck had fallen, licking his chops as if +he had just finished a good meal. It is hard work carrying a deer +through the woods, and the shanty-boy had lightened his load as much as +possible. Lynxes are not nice. The mother and son pulled their freight +as fast as they could travel. + +When the world turned green again they went back to the Glimmerglass, +but they had not been there long before the young Buck had his nose put +out of joint by the arrival of two new babies. Thenceforth his mother +had all she could do to take care of them, without paying any further +attention to him. The days of his fawnhood were over, and it was time +for him to strike out into the world and make his own living. + +However, I don't think he was very lonesome. There were plenty of other +deer in the woods, and though he did not associate with any of them as +he had with his mother, yet he may have enjoyed meeting them +occasionally in his travels. And there was ever so much to do and to +think about. Eating took up a good deal of time, for he was very active +and was still growing, and his strong young body was constantly calling +for more food. And it wasn't enough merely to find the food and swallow +it, for no sooner was his stomach full than he had to lie down and chew +the cud for an hour or so. And, of course, the black-flies and +mosquitoes and "no-see-'ems" helped to make things interesting, just as +they had the year before. Strictly speaking, it is impossible to be +lonely in the woods during fly-time. He changed his clothes, too, and +put on a much handsomer dress, though I doubt if he took as much +interest in that operation as most of us would. The change contributed +greatly to his comfort, for his light summer garment was much better +adapted to warm weather than his winter coat, but it did not require any +conscious effort on his part. On hot days he sometimes waded out into +the lake in search of lily-pads, and the touch of the cool water was +very grateful. Occasionally he would take a long swim, and once or twice +he paddled clear across the Glimmerglass, from one shore to the other. + +And it was during this summer that he raised his first real antlers. +Those of the previous autumn had been nothing but two little buds of +bone, but these were pointed spikes, several inches in length, standing +straight up from the top of his head without a fork or a branch or a +curve. They did not add very much to his good looks, and, of course, +they dropped off early in the following winter, but they were the +forerunners of the beautiful branching antlers of his later years, and +if he thought about them at all they were probably as welcome as a +boy's first mustache. + +Late in the following autumn an event occurred which left its mark on +him for the rest of his life. One night he wandered into a part of the +woods where some lumbermen had been working during the day. On the +ground where they had eaten their lunch he found some baked beans and a +piece of dried apple-pie, and he ate them greedily and was glad that he +had come. But he found something else, too. One of the road-monkeys had +carelessly left his axe in the snow with the edge turned up. The Buck +stepped on it, and it slipped in between the two halves of his cloven +hoof, and cut deep into his foot. The wound healed in the course of +time, but from that night the toes--they were those of his left hind +foot--were spread far apart, instead of lying close together as they +should have done. Sticks and roots sometimes caught between them in a +way that was very annoying, and his track was different from that of any +other deer in the woods, which was not a thing to be desired. He was not +crippled, however, for he could still leap almost, if not quite, as far +as ever, and run almost as fast. + +He continued to grow and prosper, and the next summer he raised a pair +of forked antlers with two tines each. + +And now he is well started down the runway of life, and we must leave +him to travel by himself for two or three years. He ranged the woods far +and near, and came to know them as a man knows his own house; but no +matter what places he visited, the old haunts that his mother had shown +him were the best of all, as the deer have learned by the experience of +generation after generation. He always came back again to the +Glimmerglass, and as the seasons went by I often saw his broad, +spreading hoof-print on the sandy beach where they two had so often +walked in that first summer. He evidently had plenty of company, and was +probably enjoying life, for all around were other foot-prints that were +narrow and delicately pointed, as a deer's should be. Some of them, of +course, were his own, left by his three perfect feet; but others were +those of his friends and acquaintances, and it is quite possible that +some of the tiniest and daintiest were made by his children. + +That beach is a delightful place for a promenade on a summer night, and +besides the deer-tracks one can sometimes find there the trails of the +waddling porcupines, the broad, heavy print left by a black bear as he +goes shambling by, and the handwriting of many another of the +woods-people. Strange and interesting scenes must often be enacted on +the smooth, hard sand that lies between the woods and the water, and it +is a pity that the show always comes to a sudden close if any would-be +spectators appear, and that we never see anything but the foot-prints of +the performers. + +With each recurring hunting season the Buck and the other deer that made +their homes around the Glimmerglass were driven away for a time. A few +stayed, or at least remained as near as they dared; but compared with +summer the neighborhood was almost depopulated. And in his fourth year, +in spite of all his efforts to keep out of harm's way, the Buck came +very near losing his life at the hands of a man who had really learned +how to hunt--not one of the farmers who went ramming about the woods, +shooting at everything in sight, and making noise enough to startle even +the porcupines. + +One afternoon, late in the autumn, the judge left his court-room in +Detroit and started for his house. He bought an evening paper as he +boarded the street-car; and, as Fate would have it, the first thing that +met his eye as he unfolded it was the forecast for upper Michigan: +"Colder; slight snow-fall; light northerly winds." The judge folded the +paper again and put it in his pocket, and all the rest of the way home +he was dreaming of things that he had seen before--of the white and +silent woods, of deer-tracks in the inch-deep snow, of the long +still-hunt under dripping branches and gray November skies, of a huge +buck feeding unconcernedly beneath the beech-trees, of nutty venison +steaks broiling on the coals, and, finally, of another pair of antlers +for his dining-room. Court had adjourned for three days, and that night +he took the train for the north. And while he travelled, the snow came +down softly and silently, melting at first as fast as it fell, and then, +as the cold grew sharper, clothing the woods in a thin, white robe, the +first gift of the coming winter. + +Next day the Buck was lying behind a fallen tree, chewing his cud, when +the breeze brought him a whiff of an unpleasant human odor. He jumped up +and hurried away, and the judge heard him crash through the bushes, and +searched until he had found his trail. An hour later, as the Buck was +nosing for beechnuts in the snow, a rifle cracked and a bullet went +zipping by and carried off the very tip of his left antler. He dropped +his white flag and was off like a shot. + +Chase a wounded deer, and he will run for miles; leave him alone, and if +he is badly hurt he will soon lie down. The chances are that he will +never get up again. The judge knew that the Buck was hit, for he had +seen his tail come down. But was he hit hard? There was no blood on the +trail, and the judge decided to follow. + +The Buck hurried on, but before long his leaps began to grow shorter. +After a mile or so he stopped, looked back, and listened. The woods were +very, very still, and for all that he could see or hear there was not +the least sign of danger. Yet he was afraid, and in a few minutes he +pushed on again, though not as rapidly as before. As the short afternoon +wore away he travelled still more slowly, and his stops were longer and +more frequent. And at last, just before sunset, as he stood and watched +for the enemy who might or might not be on his trail, he heard a twig +snap, and saw a dark form slip behind a tree. This time he ran as he had +never run before in all his life. + +The judge spent the night at the nearest lumber-camp, and the next +morning he was out again as soon as he could see, following his own +trail back to where he had left that of the Buck. On the way he crossed +the tracks of two other deer, but they had no temptations for him. He +wanted to solve the mystery of that spreading hoof-print, and to make +sure that his shot had not been a clean miss. And now began a day which +was without precedent in the Buck's whole history. Those woods are not +the best in the world for a deer who has to play hide-and-seek with a +man, for there are few bare ridges or half-wooded slopes from which he +can look back to see if anyone is following him. Even the glades and the +open cranberry swamps are small and infrequent. An almost unbroken +forest sweeps away in every direction, and everywhere there is cover for +the still-hunter. And when the ground is carpeted with snow an inch and +a half deep, as it was then, and at every step a deer must leave behind +him a trail as plain as a turnpike road, then it is not strange if he +feels that he has run up against a decidedly tough proposition. Eyes, +ears, and nose are all on the alert, and all doing their level best, but +what eye can penetrate the cedar swamp beyond a few yards; or what ear +can always catch the tread of a moccasin on the moss and the snow before +it comes within rifle range; or what nose, no matter how delicate, can +detect anything but what happens to lie in its owner's path, or what the +wind chooses to bring it? Many a foe had crossed the Buck's trail in the +course of his life; but none had ever followed him like this--silently +and relentlessly--slowly, but without a moment's pause. A few leaps were +always enough to put the judge out of sight, and half an hour's run left +him far behind; but in a little while he was there again, creeping +cautiously through the undergrowth, and peering this way and that for a +glimpse of a plump, round, blue-gray body. Once he fired before the deer +knew that he was at hand, and if a hanging twig had not turned the +bullet a trifle from its course, the still-hunt would have ended then +and there. + +But late in the afternoon the Buck thought that he had really shaken his +pursuer off, and the judge was beginning to think so, too. They had not +seen each other for two or three hours, the day was nearly over, and +there were signs of a change in the weather. If the Buck could hold out +till nightfall, and then the snow should melt before morning, he would +be comparatively safe. + +In his fear of the enemy lurking in the rear, he had forgotten all other +dangers; and without quite realizing what he was doing he had come back +to the Glimmerglass, and was tramping once more up and down the old +familiar runways. Presently he came upon a huge maple, lying prostrate +on the ground. He walked around its great bushy head and down toward its +foot; and there he found a broad, saucer-shaped hollow, left when the +tree was torn up by the roots in some wild gale. On one side rose a mass +of earth, straight as a stone wall and four or five feet in height; and +against its foot lay one of the most tempting beds of dead leaves that +he had ever seen, free from snow, dry as a whistle, soft and downy. The +sight of it was too much for him. He was very weary, his limbs fairly +ached with fatigue, and for the last hour his spread hoof had given him +a good deal of pain. His enemy was nowhere in sight, and in spite of his +misgivings he sank down on the couch with a sigh of comfort, and began +to chew his cud. + +The judge was about ready to give up for the night when he, too, came +upon that fallen maple. He saw the wall of earth and twisted roots, with +the deer-tracks leading toward it; and slowly, softly, silently, he +crept down toward the Buck's shelter. + +There was no wind that evening, and the woods seemed perfectly still; +but now, unnoticed by the judge, a faint, faint puff came wandering +among the trees, as if on purpose to warn the deer of his danger. +Suddenly he started, sniffed the air, and was up and away like a +race-horse--not leaping nor bounding now, but running low, with his head +down, and his antlers laid back on his neck. If he had been in the cedar +swamp he would have escaped unhurt, but up in the hardwood the trees do +not stand so close, and one can see a little farther. The judge fired +before he could get out of sight, and he dropped with three ribs broken +and a bullet lodged behind his right shoulder. He was up again in an +instant, but there were blood-stains on the snow where he had lain, and +this time the judge did not follow. Instead of giving chase he went +straight back to the lumber-camp, feeling almost as sure of that new +pair of antlers as if he had carried them with him. + +The Buck ran a little way, with his flag lowered and the blood spurting, +and then he lay down to rest, just as the judge knew he would. The +bleeding soon stopped, but it left him very weak and tired, and that +night was the most miserable he had ever known. The darkness settled +down thick and black over the woods, the wind began to blow, and by and +by the rain commenced to fall--first a drizzle, and then a steady pour. +Cold and wet, wounded and tired and hungry, the Buck was about as +wretched as it is possible for a mortal to be. And yet that rain was the +one and only thing that could save him. Under its melting touch the snow +began to disappear, and before morning the ground was bare again. Even +the blood-stains were washed away. It would take a better nose than the +judge's to track him now. + +Yet the danger was not over, by any means. The judge knew very nearly +where to look for him, and could probably find him if he did not get up +and move on. And to move on, or even to rise to his feet, seemed utterly +impossible. The least motion sent the most exquisite pain shooting +through his whole body, and I believe he would have died where he lay, +either at the hands of the judge or from exhaustion, if another man +hadn't come along. The judge would have advanced slowly and quietly, and +the deer might never have known he was coming till a rifle bullet hit +him; but this man's errand must have been a different one, for he came +striding noisily through the trees and bushes and over the dead leaves, +whistling "I Want Yer, Ma Honey," at the top of his whistle. If you are +obliged to be out in the woods during the hunting season, and don't care +to kill anything, it is always best to make as much noise as you can. +There is less danger that some other fool will take you for a deer and +shoot you dead. The Buck heard him, of course, and tried to rise, only +to sink back with a groan. He couldn't do it, or at least he thought he +couldn't. But when the man came around a little balsam only two rods +away, then his panic got the better of his pain, and he jumped up and +made off at a clumsy, limping run. Every joint seemed on fire, and he +ached from the top of his head to the toes of that poor left hind-foot. +But after the first plunge it was not quite so bad. The motion took some +of the stiffness out of his limbs, and by the time the judge arrived he +was a mile away and was thinking about breakfast. + +We must do the sportsman the justice of saying that his remorse was very +keen when he stepped aboard the train that night, bound for Detroit. He +had wounded a deer and had let it get away from him, to suffer, and +probably to die a painful, lingering death. The whole day--the last of +the hunting season and of his court recess--had been spent in an +unavailing search; not merely because he wanted some venison and a pair +of antlers to carry home with him, but because he wanted to put the Buck +out of his misery. He had failed everywhere, and he felt sorry and +ashamed, and wished he had stayed at home. But, as it happened, the Buck +did not want to be put out of his misery. Just as the judge took the +train he was lying down for the night. He would be stiff when he rose +again, but not as stiff as he had been that morning. He would be weak +and tired, but he would still be able to travel and find food. He would +lose his plumpness and roundness, no doubt, and lose them very rapidly. +The winter would probably be a hard one, with such a misfortune as this +at its very beginning. But no matter, it would pass. He wasn't the first +Buck who had had his ribs smashed by an injection of lead and had lived +to tell the tale. + +The next year it was his antlers that got him into trouble--his antlers +and his quarrelsomeness. Two round, black, velvet-covered knobs had +appeared in spring on the top of his head, and had pushed up higher and +higher till they formed cylindrical columns, each one leaning outward +and a little backward. They were hot as fever with the blood that was +rushing through them, building up the living masonry; and at the upper +ends, where the work was newest, they were soft and spongy, and very +sensitive, so that the least touch was enough to give pain. Longer and +longer they grew, and harder and harder; by and by curving forward and +inward; and one after another the tines appeared. And at last, in the +early autumn, the tall towers of bone were complete, the blood ceased to +course through them, and the Buck rubbed them against the tree-trunks +until the velvety skin was all worn off, and they were left smooth and +brown and polished. They were a handsome pair, spreading and branching +very gracefully over his forehead, and bearing four tines to each beam. +It is a mistake to suppose, as so many people do, that the number of +tines on each antler invariably corresponds to the number of years that +its owner has lived; but it very often does, especially before he has +passed the prime of life. + +No sooner were the antlers finished than the Buck began to grow fat. He +had been eating heartily for months, but he hadn't been able to put much +flesh on his ribs as long as he had that big, bony growth to feed. Bucks +and does are alike in this, that for both of them the summer is a season +of plenty, but not of growing plump and round and strong. The +difference between them is that the does give their strength and +vitality to the children they are nursing, while the bucks pile theirs +up on their own foreheads. + +[Illustration: "_The buck was nearing the prime of life._"] + +And there was another change which came with the autumn. Through the +summer he had been quiet and gentle, and had attended very strictly to +his own affairs; but now the life and vigor and vitality which for weeks +and months had been pouring into that tall, beautiful structure on his +forehead were all surging like a tide through his whole body; and he +became very passionate and excitable, and spent much time in rushing +about the woods in search of other deer, fighting those of his own sex, +and making love to the does. The year was at its high-water mark, and +the Buck was nearing his prime. Food was plenty; everywhere the +beechnuts were dropping on the dry leaves; the autumn sunshine was warm +and mellow; the woods were gay with scarlet and gold and brown, and the +very taste of the air was enough to make one happy. Was it any wonder if +he sometimes felt as if he would like to fight every other buck in +Michigan, and all of them at once? + +One afternoon in October he fought a battle with another buck who was +very nearly his match in size and strength--a battle that came near +being the end of both of them. There was a doe just vanishing among the +bushes when the fuss began, and the question at issue was which should +follow her and which shouldn't. It would be easy enough to find her, +for, metaphorically speaking, "her feet had touched the meadows, and +left the daisies rosy." Wherever she went, a faint, faint fragrance +clung to the dead leaves, far too delicate for a human nose to detect, +yet quite strong enough for a buck to follow. But the trail wasn't broad +enough for two, and the first thing to be done was to have a scrap and +see which was the better and more deserving deer. And, as it turned out, +the scent grew cold again, and the doe never heard that eager patter of +hoofs hurrying down the runway behind her. + +The bucks came together like two battering-rams, with a great clatter +and clash of antlers, but after the first shock the fight seemed little +more than a pushing-match. Each one was constantly trying to catch the +other off his guard and thrust a point into his flesh, but they never +succeeded. A pair of widely branching antlers is as useful in warding +off blows as in delivering them. Such a perfect shield does it make, +when properly handled, that at the end of half an hour neither of the +bucks was suffering from anything but fatigue, and the issue was as far +as ever from being settled. There was foam on their lips, and sweat on +their sides; their mouths were open, and their breath came in gasps; +every muscle was working its hardest, pushing and shoving and guarding; +and they drove each other backward and forward through the bushes, and +ploughed up the ground, and scattered the dry leaves in their struggles; +and yet there was not a scratch on either shapely body. + +Finally, they backed off and rushed together again with such violence +that our Buck's antlers were forced apart just a trifle, and his enemy's +slipped in between them. There was a little snap as they sprang back +into position, and the mischief was done. The two foes were locked +together in an embrace which death itself could not loosen. + +The next few weeks were worse than a nightmare. If one went forward, the +other had to go backward; and neither could go anywhere or do anything +without getting the consent of the other or else carrying him along by +main force. Many things could not be done at all--not even when both +were willing and anxious to do them. They could not run or leap. They +could not see, except out of the corners of their eyes. They would never +again toss those beautiful antlers in the air, for they had come +together with their heads held low, and in that position they must +remain. They could not even lie down without twisting their necks till +they ached as if they were breaking. With their noses to the ground, and +with anger and misery in their hearts, they pushed and hauled each other +this way and that through the woods. And wherever they went, they were +always struggling and fighting and striving for every mouthful of food +that came within reach. It was little enough that they found at the +best, and it would have been better for both of them if they could have +agreed to divide it evenly, but of course that would have been asking +too much of deer nature. Each took all he could get, and at first they +were so evenly matched that each secured somewhere near his fair share. +They spied a beechnut on the ground, or a bit of lichen, or a tender +twig; and together they made a dive for it. Two noses were thrust +forward--no, not forward, sidewise--and two mouths were open to grasp +the precious morsel which would enable its possessor to keep up the +fight a little longer. Sometimes one got it, and sometimes the other; +but from the very beginning our Buck was a shade the stronger, and his +superiority grew with every mouthful that he managed to wrest from his +fellow-prisoner. Both of them were losing flesh rapidly, but he kept his +longer than the other. And at last they reached the point where, by +reason of his greater strength, he got everything and the other nothing, +and then the end was near. It would have come long before if both had +not been in prime condition on the day of the battle. + +[Illustration: "_Wherever they went they were always struggling and +fighting._"] + +One dark, stormy night the two deer were stumbling and floundering over +roots and bushes, trying to find their way down to the beach for a +drink. Both of them were pretty well used up; and one was so weak that +he could hardly stand, and could only walk by leaning heavily on the +head and antlers of the other, who supported him because he was obliged +to, and not out of friendliness. They were within a few rods of the +beach when he whose strength was least stepped into a hole and fell, and +his leg-bone snapped like a dry twig. He struggled and tried to rise; +but his story was told, and before morning he was dead. For once our +Buck's instinct of self-preservation had carried him too far. He had +taken all the food for himself, and had starved his enemy; and now he +was bound face to face to a corpse. + +Well, we won't talk about that. He stayed there twenty-four hours, and +there would soon have been two dead bucks instead of one if something +had not happened which he did not in the least expect--something which +seemed like a blessed miracle, yet which was really the simplest and +most natural thing in the world. A buck has no fixed time for the +casting of his antlers. It usually occurs during the first half of the +winter, but it has been known to take place as early as November and as +late as April. The second night passed, and as it began to grow light +again our friend lifted himself on his knees and his hind-legs, and +wrestled mightily with his horrible bed-fellow; and suddenly his left +antler came loose from his head. The right one was still fast, but it +was easily disengaged from the tangle of branching horns, and in a +moment he stood erect. The blood was running down his face from the +pedicel where the antler had stood, and he was so weak and dizzy that +his legs could hardly carry him, and so thin and wasted that he seemed +the mere shadow of his former self. But he was free, and that long, +horrible dream was over at last. + +He tried to walk toward the lake, but fell before he had taken +half-a-dozen steps; and for an hour he lay still and rested. It was like +a taste of heaven, just to be able to hold his neck straight. The sun +had risen by the time he was ready to try it again, and through the +trees he saw the shimmer and sparkle of the Glimmerglass. He heard the +wind talking to itself in the branches overhead, and the splashing of +the ripples on the beach; and he staggered down to the margin and drank +long and deep. + +That December was a mild one. The first light snow had already come and +gone, and the next two weeks were bright and sunshiny. The Buck ate as +he had never eaten before, and it was astonishing to see how rapidly he +picked up, and how much he gained before Christmas. His good luck seemed +to follow him month after month, for the winter was comparatively open, +the snow was not as deep as usual, and the spring came early. By that +time the ill effects of his terrible experience had almost entirely +disappeared, and he was in nearly as good condition as is usual with the +deer at that season of the year--which, of course, isn't really saying +very much. + +Again, Nature's table was spread with good things, and again he set to +work to build a pair of antlers--a pair that should be larger and +handsomer than any that had gone before. But as the summer lengthened it +became evident that there was something wrong with those antlers, or at +least with one of them. One seemed to be quite perfect. It was +considerably longer than those of last year, its curve was just right, +and it had five tines, which was the correct number and all that he +could have asked. But the other, the left, was nothing but a straight, +pointed spike, perhaps eight inches in length, shaped almost exactly +like those of his first pair. The Buck never knew the reason for this +deformity, and I'm not at all certain about it myself, though I have a +theory. One stormy day in the early summer, a falling branch, torn from +a tree-top by the wind, had struck squarely on that growing antler, then +only a few inches long. It hurt him so that for a moment he was fairly +blind and dizzy, and it is quite possible that the soft, half-formed +bone was so injured that it could never reach its full development. +Anyhow, it made him a rather queer-looking buck, with one perfect antler +and one spike. But in everything else--except his spread hoof--he was +without spot or blemish. He had well fulfilled the promise of his youth, +and he was big and strong and beautiful. Something he had lost, no +doubt, of the grace and daintiness of his baby days; but he had also +gained much--gained in stateliness and dignity, as well as in size and +weight and strength. And even that spike antler was not without its +advantages, as he learned a little later. + +As the autumn came round he was just as excitable and passionate, just +as ready for fighting or love-making, as ever, and not one whit subdued +by the disaster of the year before. And so one day he had another battle +with another buck, while another doe--or perhaps the same one--made off +through the trees and left a fragrant trail behind her. He and his +adversary went at each other in the usual way, and for some time it +seemed unlikely that either of them could ever do anything more than +tire the other out by hard pushing. There was little danger that their +antlers would get locked this time, with one pair so badly mismated; and +it bade fair to be a very ordinary, every-day sort of a fight. But by +and by our Buck saw his opportunity. The enemy exposed his left side, in +an unguarded moment, and before he could recover himself that deformed +antler had dealt him a terrible thrust. If the force of the blow had +been divided among five tines it would probably have had but little +effect, but the single straight spike was as good as a sword or a +bayonet, and it won the day. The deer with the perfect antlers was not +only vanquished, but killed; and the victor was off on the trail of the +doe. + +And so our friend became the champion of the Glimmerglass, and in all +the woods there was not a buck that could stand against him. + +But his brother deer were not his only enemies. With the opening of the +hunting season those farmers from lower Michigan came again, and day +after day they beat the woods in search of game. This time, however, the +Buck did not leave, or at least he did not go very far. For the last +month he had been fighting everyone who would fight back, and perhaps +his many easy victories had made him reckless. At any rate he was bolder +than usual, and all through the season he stayed within a few miles of +the Glimmerglass. + +The farmers had decidedly poor luck, and after hunting for two or three +weeks without a single taste of venison they began to feel desperate. +Finally, they secured the help of a trapper who owned a big English +foxhound. Hunting with dogs was against the law, and at home they +claimed to be very law-abiding citizens, but they had to have a deer, no +matter what happened. + +The morning after the hound's arrival he got onto the trail of a doe and +followed it for hours, until, as a last resort, she made for the +Glimmerglass, jumped into the water, and started to swim across to the +farther shore. The dog's work was done, and he stood on the bank and +watched her go. For a few minutes she thought that she was out of +danger, and that the friendly Glimmerglass had saved her; but presently +she heard a sound of oars, and turning half-way round she lifted her +head and shoulders out of the water, and saw a row-boat and three men +bearing down upon her. A look of horror came into her face as she sank +back, and her heart almost broke with despair; but she was game, and she +struck out with all her might. Her legs tore the water frantically, the +straining muscles stood out like ropes on her sides and flanks and +shoulders, and she almost threw herself from the water. But it was no +use, the row-boat was gaining. + +The farmers fired at her again and again, but they were too wildly +excited to hit anything until finally the trapper pulled up alongside +her and threw a noose over her head. And then, while she lay on her side +in the water, with the rope around her neck, kicking and struggling in +a blind agony of despair, one of the farmers shot her dead at a range of +something less than ten feet. When he went home he bragged that he was +the only one of the party who had killed a deer, but he never told just +how the thing was done. + +That is the kind of fate that you are very likely to meet if you are a +deer. But vengeance came on the morrow, for that day it was the Buck's +turn to be chased by that horrible fog-horn on four legs. Hour after +hour he heard the hound's dreadful baying behind him as he raced through +the woods, and at last he, too, started for the water, just as the doe +had done. But he never reached it, or at least not on that trip. He was +within a few rods of the beach when his spread hoof caught on a root and +threw him, and the hound was so close behind that they both went down in +a heap. They sprang to their feet at the same instant, and stood for a +second glaring at each other. The dog had not meant to fight, only to +drive the other into the water, where the hunters would take care of +him; but he was game, and he made a spring at the deer's throat. The +Buck drew back his forefoot, with its sharp, pointed hoof, and met the +enemy with a thrust like that of a Roman soldier's short-sword; and the +hound went down with his shoulder broken and a great gash in his side. +And then, with a sudden twist and turn of his head, the Buck caught him +on the point of that terrible spike antler, ripped his body open, and +tossed him in the air. + +The worst enemy was disposed of. But that wasn't all. The man who killed +the doe was waiting on the beach and had heard the scuffle, and now he +came creeping quietly through the bushes to see what was going on. The +Buck was still trampling the body of the dog, and noticed nothing till a +rifle bullet grazed his right flank, inflicting just enough of a wound +to make him still more furious. He faced around and stood for a moment +staring at this new enemy; and then he did something which very few wild +deer have ever done. Probably he would not have done it himself if he +had not been half crazy with rage and excitement, and much emboldened by +his easy victory over the hound. He put his head down and his antlers +forward, and charged on a man! + +The farmer was jerking frantically at the lever of his repeating rifle, +but a cartridge had stuck in the magazine, and he couldn't make it work. +The hound's fate had shown him what that spike antler could do; and +when he saw it bearing down on him at full tilt he dropped his gun and +ran for his life to his dug-out canoe. He reached it just in time. I +almost wish he hadn't. + +One more adventure the Buck had that fall. Providence, or Fate, or +someone took a hand in affairs, and rid the Glimmerglass of all hunters, +not for that season alone, but for many years to come. One night, down +beside a spring in the cedar swamp, the Buck found a half-decayed log on +which a bag of salt had been emptied. He stayed there for an hour or +two, alternately licking the salt and drinking the cold water, and it +was as good as an ice-cream soda. The next night he returned for another +debauch; but in the meantime two other visitors had been there, and both +had seen his tracks and knew that he would come again. As he neared the +spring, treading noiselessly on the soft moss, he heard two little +clicks, and stopped short to see what they meant. Both were quick and +sharp, and both had come at exactly the same instant; yet they were not +quite alike, for one had come from the shutter of a camera, and one from +the lock of a rifle. Across the salt-lick a photographer and a hunter +were facing each other in the darkness, and each saw the gleam of the +other's eyes and took him for a deer. So close together were the two +clicks that neither man heard the sound of the other's weapon, and both +were ready to fire--each in his own way. + +The Buck stood and watched, and suddenly there came two bursts of +flame--one of them so big and bright that it lit the woods like +sheet-lightning. Two triggers had been touched at the same instant, and +each did its work well. The flash-light printed on the sensitive plate a +picture of a hunter in the act of firing, and the rifle sent a bullet +straight through the photographer's forehead. The Buck saw it all as in +a dream--the white flame of the magnesium powder; the rifle, belching +out its fire and smoke; the camera, silent and harmless, but working +just as surely; the two men, each straining his eyes for a sight of his +game; the water gleaming in the fierce light, and the dark ranks of the +cedars all around. And then, in the tenth of a second, it was all over, +and the Buck was bumping against trees, and stumbling and floundering +over roots, in his dazed haste to get away from this terrifying mystery. +He heard one horrified shout from the hunter, but nothing from the +photographer--and the woods were silent again. + +That was the end of the hunting season at the Glimmerglass. With the +hunter's trial for manslaughter, we and the Buck are not concerned; and +there is nothing more to tell except that the next year the owners of +the lands around the lake gave warning that all trespassers would be +prosecuted. They wanted no more such tragedies on their property. + +And so the Buck and his sweethearts and his rivals lived in peace, +except that the rivals still quarrelled among themselves, as Nature +meant them to. The Buck had reached his prime, but you are not to +suppose that he began to age immediately afterward. It was long before +his eye was dimmed or his natural force abated; and as the years went +by, with their summers of lily-pads and tender young browse, and their +autumns of beechnuts and fighting and love-making, the broad cloven +track of his split foot was often to be found in the hard, smooth sand +of the beach. Perhaps it is there now. I wish I could go and see. + + +THE END + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS GARDEN CITY, N.Y. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Duplicate titles were removed. + +Page 51, "weasles" changed to "weasels" (frogs, and weasels) + +Page 156, "fore-paws" changed to "forepaws" to match rest of usage +(forepaws. He also) + +Page 165, "blottod" changed to "blotted" (were all blotted out) + +Page 229, "where-ever" changed to "wherever" It was orginally split over +two lines. (woods. And wherever) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOREST NEIGHBORS*** + + +******* This file should be named 27933.txt or 27933.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/9/3/27933 + + + +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://www.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 are 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.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +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. 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://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +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://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +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 checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/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. + |