The Marquis de Chamhray's Hounds 311 



from their own, not the animal's standpoint, and make out a 

 very blood curdling case. But the truth is that most domestic 

 animals suffer more by being caught by a hired man for any 

 purpose whatever than does a wild animal that is pursued to 

 its death. 



This provision of animal economj^ might be questioned if 

 it did not likewise apply to man, who, when he is in turn pur- 

 sued, or when sprung upon by wild animals, experiences the 

 same sensation. There are any number of instances on record 

 where men have been pounced upon by wild, ferocious animals, 

 and who have escaped with their lives by the timely aid of a 

 friend or guide. Those invariably tell us that when the final 

 moment came all sense of fear and danger left them and the 

 horror of death had no sting whatever. They have recorded 

 afterwards how they saw^ the jjanther lash his tail and work his 

 claws preparatorj^ to the spring. Still their mind was in per- 

 fect composure. They had in one instant passed beyond the 

 horrors of death and the sense of fear. They report also hav- 

 ing experienced the shock and the tearing of the flesh, but felt 

 no pain or discomfort until afterwards, when their normal 

 faculties returned. 



Men in battle do the coolest things, acts that pass for hero- 

 ism and bravery, when the truth is they have simply passed 

 beyond the state where they sense their positions. JNIen and 

 women under conditions of sufficient importance do heroic 

 acts, the recollection of which makes them faint away after- 

 wards. It is the same unfailing provision of nature that steps 

 in at the right moment in the lives of the hunted, especially 

 when taken by pursuit consistent A\ath the creative plan, and 

 carries them past the taking off point Adthout a pang. The 

 writer, as before stated, believes that it hurts a domestic animal 

 more to catch it for any purpose than it does for the hunted 

 stag to be pursued to his death. 



I do not think, for instance, the stag whose death the writer 



