Mule-deer 143 



aside, made for the rugged piling hills so near, she — all three — 

 soon reached their base and tapped with their toes, then rose 

 in air to land some fifteen feet above, and tapped again — and 

 tapped and tapped all three; and so they rose and sailed and 

 soared. The greyhounds reached the rise and there were 

 lost; their kingdom was the level plain; on the rugged hills they 

 were helpless, balked, and left behind. But the mother and 

 her two went bounding, soaring like hill-hawks, and so they 

 sailed away till hidden in the heights, and safely at peace. 



That day I learned the meaning of the bounding. These 

 are the Deer of the broken lands; theirs is the way of the up- 

 lands; this pace is their gift, their power and their hold on life. 



