164 In Touch with Nature. 



the old story. We had been watched at every 

 step, as is every noisy rambler in Eastern woods 

 when he fancies himself alone. As an illustration : 

 our presence was held not unsafe to them by a 

 pair of huge gray squirrels, after some consultation 

 upon their part, and, while in full view, they 

 warned every creature not to come too near, by 

 barking as loudly and as lustily as a peevish ter- 

 rier. It became tiresome at last, and I innocently 

 threw a stone at them. Here my ignorance 

 cropped out again. The stone fell so far short of 

 the squirrels that they were not aware of my mur- 

 derous design. They were quite a quarter of a 

 mile away, perhaps farther, and yet their every 

 movement was plainly seen, and I fancied I could 

 hear their chattering, meant for themselves only. 

 It is not strange, in such an atmosphere, that timid 

 animals should be rarely seen. A man's approach 

 would be signalled by his footsteps when almost a 

 mile away, and every unfamiliar sound would put 

 an animal on the alert. Certainly many a one 

 could discriminate, too, between clumsy Easterners 

 like ourselves and that machine-like Mexican that 

 just passed. 



