YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCES 51 



fore-legs, and bent down until the succulent top- 

 most stems came within reach — a very delightful 

 game to one who as yet depended mainly on his 

 mother for maintenance. What matter if he never 

 reached the flowering tops at all ! Then to sleep 

 a little, or ruminate. 



In the late morning the search for junipers, 

 moose grass, and low-growing willows, began afresh. 

 Dusk saw them seeking beds, often the same 

 beds, in warm, thickly-growing coverts or belts 

 of bracken. 



The calf knew enough now to lie down with his 

 apology for a tail to windward, in order to give 

 his acute sense of hearing and smelling a chance. 

 His eyes could be trusted to warn him of danger 

 threatening from leeward. A strange, impelling 

 instinct, too, a force he could no more resist than 

 he could fly, bade him make a short turn and sleep 

 below the wind of his last travelled-over track in 

 order that an enemy following it up was practically 

 certain to be sniffed out. He also learnt the cun- 

 ning trick of running down wind when going off* 

 startled, so that imless an experienced tracker was 

 after him stalking would be difficult. 



The bush at night ! The most eerie thing in 



