MATING 67 



strike was echoed by the encircling woods which formed a 

 perfect amphitheatre, surrounding the open barren as though 

 arranged especially for the purpose of hiding the primitive 

 fight from the eyes of man. The stunted spruce trees, 

 from whose gnarled and twisted branches hung wind-blown 

 festoons of grizzled moss, were fitting accessories to the 

 scene, for had not they also been engaged in fights since 

 they raised their wiry heads from the many-coloured mosses ? 

 They had fought for six months out of every year of their 

 lives against the driving storms of snow and ice which sweep 

 this northern country from spring to spring, tearing away 

 with merciless strength each weakling branch and leaving 

 only the toughest, well -pruned twigs to carry the necessary 

 weather-hardened leaves. As these dumb witnesses of the 

 ways of the wild had fought for survival, so were the great 

 stags now following out Nature's law — the pruning of the 

 weakling branch — for the weakling must go and the stags 

 fought to see who was the weakling and who would be the 

 trunk of the parent tree, responsible for the future Caribou. 

 The most powerful had that right and he must prove his 

 right by victory. For that reason alone were his splendid 

 horns given to him and he must be true to his trust. The 

 coward, no matter how large his horns or powerful his 

 limbs, would have no place in the order of things. He 

 must lose in the game of life just as he would in the fight 

 for supremacy, for so it has been ordered. 



As I watched the two creatures, each striving with all the 

 power of his strong-limbed body, I could not help wonder- 

 ing at the merciless test which is demanded by Nature in 

 order that the best and the best only shall survive. All 

 else must be weeded out, or advance and improvement 

 would cease. Retrogression would commence and the end 

 would be in sight. 



F 2 



