and he probably never would have known 

 had he gone steadily on his way. As he told 

 me afterwards, he felt a sudden alarm and 

 stopped to listen. The moment he did so 

 the savage creature above him thought him- 

 self discovered, and leaped to carry the war 

 into Africa. There was a pounce, a screech, a 

 ripping of cloth, a wild yell for help; then the 

 answering shout and rush of two woodsmen 

 with their axes. And that night Pekompf's 

 skin was nailed to the barn-door to dry in the 

 sun before being tanned and made up into a 

 muff for the woodsman's little girl to warm 

 her fingers withal in the bitter winter weather. 

 Where civilization has driven most of his 

 fellows away, Pekompf is a shy, silent crea- 

 ture; but \vhere the farms are scattered and 

 the hillsides wild and wooded, he is bolder 

 and more noisy than in the unpeopled wilder- 

 ness. From the door of the charcoal-burner's 

 hut in the Connecticut hills you may still hear 

 him screeching and fighting with his fellows 

 as the twilight falls, and the yowling uproar 

 causes a colder chill in your back than any- 

 thing you will ever hear in the wilderness. 



