IV 

 IN SILENT WOODS 



'YSTERY is the keynote of the wood- 

 lands. When we enter them, the 

 range of the eye is instantly short- 

 ened, deflected in a dozen ways from 

 the pursuit of a direct object. The 

 light, set a -quiver by restless leaves, 

 glances from tree -bole to tree -bole, 

 destroying all sense of direction, and 

 concealing the outlines of both ani- 

 mals and flowers by an atmospheric 

 color protection, so that it is quite possible to lose 

 one's way in even a familiar bit of pathless woods. 

 The forest juggles with the ear as well as with 

 the eye. The wind in the upper branches causes 

 the leaves to patter against each other like the 

 first hurried drops of a shower, while below all is 

 airless, suffocating. Then the pattering suddenly 

 ceases, and a ground breeze sweeps through the 

 Ferns, that bend and sway, but with an utter 

 silence that is incomprehensible. A branch cracks 

 a hundred yards away it seems at the elbow. 



93 



