56 THE MOOSE 



In shallow water they put on a spurt and 

 travelled at a great rate, with the object of 

 obviating the danger of being stranded, urged to 

 discretion at sight of the river banks strewn with 

 the bodies of stragglers pressed out of the water 

 by sheer weight of the multitudes forcing on ruth- 

 lessly from behind. 



The salmon never jumped, only their fins and 

 backs and noses showed above the surface of the 

 stream. So far as the eye could reach was the 

 endless procession, the last in which the strenuous 

 salmon would ever march. Not one of the 

 mighty army would ever return to the sea ! 

 What is Nature's reason for such wastage ? 

 She always has a reason. How in face of such 

 mortality can the yearly supply keep up ? It 

 never fails. 



It was harvest-time for the big brown bears, 

 and all along the banks their tracks criss-crossed 

 and intersected. Even the smaller black brother, 

 leaving his mice, his frogs, his ants, and roots, 

 took part in the fishing, as the short impress of 

 his hind-feet betrayed. 



Here, remote from the haunts of natives, the 

 four-footed fishermen had little to fear, and. 



