WATER BORDERS 



of the tree had quite closed over them, and 

 the skull bones crumbled away from the 

 weathered horn cases. We hoped it was 

 not too far out of the running of night 

 prowlers to have put a speedy end to the 

 long agony, but we could not be sure. I 

 never liked the spit of Windy Lake again. 

 It seems that all snow nourished plants 

 count nothing so excellent in their kind as 

 to be forehanded with their bloom, work- 

 ing secretly to that end under the high 

 piled winters. The heathers begin by the 

 lake borders, while little sodden drifts still 

 shelter under their branches. I have seen 

 the tiniest of them (Kalmia glaucd) bloom- 

 ing, and with well-formed fruit, a foot away 

 from a snowbank from which it could 

 hardly have emerged within a week. Some- 

 how the soul of the heather has entered 

 into the blood of the English-speaking. 

 215 



