A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



blow the sound out between his half -closed 

 lips. 



My friend had brought in a blanket and 

 hammock, and was prepared to spend the night 

 in the open air. He slung his hammock near 

 mine, and we turned in about ten o'clock. He 

 was nervous and restless, and said he could 

 not sleep with the little owls about him. Every 

 fifteen or twenty minutes he would call to 

 me to ask about some noise of the night, com- 

 mon enough, but which appeared strange and 

 startling to him in the strained condition of 

 his nerves. Soon after midnight a small ani- 

 mal, doubtless a stoat looking for an owl 

 supper, dropped on to my friend's blanket. 

 There was a smothered cry, full of fear, and a 

 flying figure that did not stop until my ham- 

 mock was reached. Nothing that I could 

 say would induce the frightened man to go 

 back to that hammock. He suggested at last 

 that he would sleep in the cabin. I assented, 

 and we soon had a bed arranged in a bunk. 

 The cabin was overrun with white-footed mice, 

 and I looked for more trouble. Twenty min- 

 36 



