TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 289 



en route she started, leaving me alone beside the 

 dead beast. There was no need to give the men 

 instructions how to find me, nor for Agnes to trouble 

 how she should regain camp, for by following the 

 trail of our footsteps in the snow these were both 

 simple matters. 



Seated on a fallen log, silently watching the curl- 

 ing smoke arise from my pipe in the still air of a 

 glorious autumn afternoon, I fell to moralizing. 

 Looking at the huge recumbent form of the noble 

 beast beside me, there came a sense of revulsion 

 when it seemed that the slaying of such splendid 

 creatures was a deadly sin. What, I asked myself, 

 wonderingly, had this poor animal done in his whole 

 life to deserve his fate? There lay the wondrous 

 head, for ever still, no more would beat that gallant 

 heart which knew not fear whilst still the owner 

 roamed the wilds, lord of the forest, proud of his 

 fleetness and strength, defying all foes in the king- 

 dom of his kind. Unlucky moose, that you should 

 stray in this lonely spot across the path of the 

 wanderer who came on slaughter bent ! Though 

 your slayer looks with pride on those vast horns, 

 which he hopes may long adorn his ancestral halls, 

 had he the power to heal and undo, for very pity he 

 would give back thy life. 



Perhaps these thoughts come to many men, but 

 for my part, although admitting that I love the noble 

 trophies, the destruction of some cruel beast has 

 given me more genuine delight than the slaying of 

 moose or wapiti, those noblest, yet harmless, speci- 



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