92 WAKE-ROBIN 



declares there is yet a single moose in these moun- 

 tains. On our return, a pioneer settler, at whose 

 house we stayed overnight, told us a long adven- 

 ture he had had with a panther. He related how 

 it screamed, how it followed him in the brush, how 

 he took to his boat, how its eyes gleamed from the 

 shore, and how he fired his rifle at them with fatal 

 effect. His wife in the mean time took something 

 from a drawer, and, as her husband hnished his re- 

 cital, she produced a toe-nail of the identical animal 

 with marked dramatic effect. 



But better than fish or game or grand scenery, or 

 any adventure by night or day, is the wordless 

 intercourse with rude Nature one has on these expe- 

 ditions. It is something to press the pulse of our 

 old mother by mountain lakes and streams, and 

 know what health and vigor are in her veins, and 

 how regardless of observation she deports herseK. 



