A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE 75 



he surveyed the world with a boldness that 

 challenged everything and bowed to noth- 

 ing! 



Many were the factors that had fashioned 

 him: physical heredity that had endowed 

 him with measureless vigor, power that had 

 awakened and nourished the sense of despot- 

 ism, jealousy of Leaper that had soured him, 

 defeat by the great bass that had em- 

 bittered him. But at five years he swam at 

 the head of his school, feared by many and 

 hated by all. 



Leaper feared him not. And while of 

 slighter build and less treacherous disposi- 

 tion, he nevertheless was fish enough to give 

 full account of himself in any encounter. 

 And the encounter came on a morning in 

 early May. 



Sober was tired and thin from the winter. 

 With the school she was as yet almost too 

 tired and listless to try for food. Leaper 

 had foraged afar and with good success. 

 Voracious as he was, his appetite was satis- 

 fied. But near the pickerel weed off shore 

 he ran down a frog, and with it in his 

 mouth approached Sober. In front of her 

 he dropped it for her to eat. It was an act 



