222 THE MOOSE 



the talons of the screeching eagle, whose main scheme 

 of attack was to prevent the harried prey from taking 

 the water. This was adroitly accomplished by a 

 series of feints and upward strikes which kept the 

 goose flying high. 



In the face of such tactics the courage of the 

 migrating straggler failed all at once. He had put 

 up a good fight, often eluding his antagonist for a 

 stroke or two, but at last his wing-beats grew 

 feebler — he barely moved. He seemed about to 

 fall into the Arm, when the eagle with a maniacal 

 screech drove the goose landwards in a dying rush 

 by a fierce talon blow on the outer wing. 



Just over the inlet where the river came down 

 the goose dropped on the rocks — a huddled heap. 



And Moosewa saw it all, but it did not impress 

 him. He was so used to wilderness tragedies — 

 used to the everlasting preying and food-seeking. 

 In the wild all is one long struggle for survival. 

 No excuses are made, none wanted. Animals and 

 birds kill to live, just as we human things are 

 killing each other every day, only in civilization 

 we do the butcher work after our own long-drawn- 

 out fashion. 



He stood so close to the water's edge that in the 



