34 INTRODUCTION 



to the spirit. The freeman of the woods calls 

 his labor sport, and he laughs, in retrospect, at all 

 the cruel toil, the starving and freezing and broken 

 bones. Being utterly independent he seldom does 

 things that " go against the grain," save as he is 

 driven by necessity. But how sharp was the lash 

 of that necessity, how often it stung body and soul, 

 how many a hunter " went under," even in the old 

 days when game was in the greatest abundance, 

 is shown with perfect fidelity to truth in this pic- 

 ture of " Life in the Far West." 



HORACE KEPHAET. 



