118 Hills and Lakes. 



in disregardin' the law, as a general thing, but tLis 

 one don't apply, and warn't ever intended to apply to 

 the Shatagee Woods. Away off here, among the 

 lakes and mountains, there's no justice of the peace^ 

 nor constables, nor witnesses either, unless we tell on 

 one another. And if there was, there's a law above 

 the statut' book that justifies us — the law of hunger 

 and of necessity. It is the same law that makes the 

 eagle pounce upon and devour the harmless duck,— 

 that makes the fish -hawk seize his prey, and the 

 painter destroy the deer,— the law of instinct and self- 

 preservation. I often think, he continued, *' there are 

 two kinds of laws, differin' as widely in their naters as 

 light and darkness. The one bindin' everywhere, — in 

 the forest, as in the settlements ; in the fields, as in the 

 cities ; to break which would be wrong of itself. The 

 other, bindin' only to accordin' to circumstances. As 

 regards the one, the wrong consists in the breakin' of 

 it, whether the world knows of the breach or not. As 

 to the other, the sin is in being caught in its violation. 

 There's one law for the woods, and another for the 

 settlements ; one for the deep forests, and another for 

 the city. If I build a shantee of brush on a vacant 

 lot in a city, and live there with my dog, I'm taken 



