WOODLAND CHORUSES. 361 



thought how often the Indian hunter had concealed 

 himself behind these very trees, how often his arrow had 

 pierced the deer by this very stream, and his wild halloo 

 had here rung for his victory. And then, turning from 

 fancy to reality, I watched a couple of white owls, that sat 

 in their hooded state, with ruffled pantalettes and long 

 eartabs, debating in silent conclave the affairs of their 

 frozen realm, and was wondering if they, " for all their 

 feathers, were a-cold," when suddenly a sound arose ; it 

 seemed to me to come from beneath the ice. It sounded 

 low and tremulous at first, until it ended in a prolonged 

 yell. I was appalled. Never before had such a noise 

 met my ears. It seemed more than mortal, so fierce, and 

 amid such an unbroken solitude, as if a fiend had blown 

 a blast from an infernal trumpet. Presently I heard the 

 twigs on shore snap, as if from the tread of some animal, 

 and the blood rushed back to my forehead with a bound 

 that made my skin burn, and I felt relieved that I had 

 to contend with things earthly, and not of spiritual 

 nature ; my energies returned, and I looked around me 

 for some means of escape. The moon shone through 

 the opening at the mouth of the creek by which I 

 had entered the forest, and considering this the best 

 course, I darted toward it like an arrow. 'Twas 

 hardly a hundred yards distant, and the swallow could 

 scarcely excel my desperate flight ; yet as I turned my 

 head to the shore, I could see two dark objects dashing 

 through the underbush at a pace nearly double in speed 

 to my own. By this great speed, and the short yells 



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