Hunting in Many Lands 



must share the robustious courage and deter- 

 mination of the beast with which he associates. 

 The rat-catcher, whether he be ferret or man, 

 partakes of the fierce slyness of the game he 

 follows; and I remember that, years ago, be- 

 fore I ever heard mention of this peculiarity 

 of resemblance, I could detect, plainly writ in 

 the face of the attendant of ** Mr. Crowley," 

 when he was kept in the old arsenal building 

 in Central Park, the reflected temperament 

 and animalism of the poor, indolent, captive 

 chimpanzee, whose fellow and all too sympa- 

 thetic friend he had made himself. Naturalists 

 are well aware of this phenomenon. 



If this be so, and stupidity catching, what 

 more potent influence of fatty degeneration of 

 the intellect could there be than the uninter- 

 rupted society of sheep, with nothing in the 

 world to think of except their care — without 

 even the stimulating influence of gain to re- 

 deem the paralyzing service. The sheep are 

 not their own, and if the bears eat them up the 

 keepers do not feel the stimulating ache in 

 their money -pocket that might tempt them, 

 however feebly, to resist aggression. More- 

 over, as a rule, they are wretchedly armed. 

 Each of these men carried an old six-shooter 



204 



