B /n^arsb*=Ian^ 1rnci^ent 



causes serious interference with the shot 

 where the trees, branches, and under- 

 growth are thick. A nice calculation 

 must be made in an instant, and the 

 factors are many, each one absolutely im- 

 portant. In the present case I had plenty 

 of time; for the bird did not see me or 

 even suspect danger from any quarter. 



Have you ever heard a bow-shot in a 

 lonely forest, when the wind was still and 

 nothing but wild bird-voices broke the 

 primeval silence? It is a memorable 

 sound ; not a " twang," as the poets say, 

 nor yet a dead " flap," but rather a sub- 

 dued yet ringing noise (like that from a 

 smitten tambourine muffled in cotton), and 

 followed by the low " whish-sh " of the 

 flying arrow; then the stroke. It is all 

 one phrase of three notes. You may 

 think it would not impress you ; but I tell 

 you that few natures are proof against it. 

 It is an elementary, an aboriginal voice, 

 with singular power in it. 



A friend of mine who had been, in his 

 youth, a tireless woodsman in the far 

 West, told me about lying, once upon a 

 158 



