STEPPING-STONES 35 



antlers, and would not be comforted because they 

 were not. 



It was very pleasant lying up in the covert 

 listening to the moose cow's wisdom, wilderness 

 lore of all kinds, gathered up through the years. 

 But for the disturbing recollection of the half-under- 

 stood dangers lurking in the woods beyond, the 

 world went very well then. No calf could ask 

 happier hours. 



He heard some of the fairy stories of moose land, 

 fantastical legends odd and miraculous as our own, 

 tales of implacable animal gnomes smaller than the 

 squirrels, whose little furrows through the paths of 

 the forest the Puk-wudjies, whom few moose have 

 ever seen, imitate. 



Alaskan gnomes — queer, small, hairy, boot- 

 button eyed — are something like weasels, something 

 like minks, but are quite unlike the sprites of our 

 civilized countries in that they are of one class only 

 — the spiteful malevolent variety, of whom quite 

 the most evil are the spirits who dwell far inland 

 from the coast in the Nunataks, or peaks, which are 

 to be seen in the heart of the glaciers. 



The special function of the Nunataks is to work 

 havoc to the moose and caribou feeding-grounds, 



