BIRTH AND INFANT DAYS 19 



" But why ?" asked the calf in wonderment. 



The cow could not tell, since the pelts of the 

 fur-bearing creatures, for which very often these 

 humans came, were at this season not worth the 

 taking, and the horns of the bull moose were 

 tender and small, pulsating with life, a trouble and 

 annoyance even to their wearer. Who could say 

 why these two-legged wanderers had penetrated 

 this heart of the wildest wilderness ? Perhaps they 

 did not know themselves. They were very like 

 the otter in winter, always wanting to be some- 

 where else. 



And when the calf would hear how it was his 

 mother knew so much, she showed him an in- 

 dented, scarred cicatrix on her shoulder over which 

 the hair did not grow. 



He looked at the hideous mark fearfully, with 

 wide, terrified eyes. 



" Not many of our kind carry a wound like that 

 and live I" his mother said solemnly. 



The sun seemed to go out ; the sigh of the wind, 

 beautiful no longer, sobbed of cruelty and pain. 



Perhaps, perhaps, the beavers would have done 

 better had they let the world go to pieces, after all ! 



