90 THE ADIRONDACK. 



things. The mouths of both were wile open, and the 

 tongue of the deer hanging out from fatigue, while 

 their eyes seemed starting from their sockets — 

 one from fear, the other from rage. Swift as the 

 arrow in its flight, and as noiseless, save the strokes 

 of their rapid bounds on the leaves — they fled away, 

 and the forest closed over them. Over rocks, and logs, 

 and streams, that slender and delicate form went fly- 

 ing on, winged with terror, while, so near that he 

 almost felt his hot breath on his sides, he heard his 

 foe pant after him. All, hunger will outlive fear, and 

 before many miles were sped over, that harmless thing 

 lay gasping in death, and its entrails were torn out 

 ere the heart had ceased to beat. 



And thus, methought, it happens everywhere in 

 God's universe. Innocence is safe nowhere : — even in 

 the solitude of the forest — in nature's sacred temple — 

 it falls before the power of cruel passion. The hunters 

 and the hunted come and go like shadows, and the 

 appealing accents of fear, and the fierce cry of pursuit 

 or vengeance, ring a moment on the ear, and then are 

 lost in a solitude deeper than that of the wilderness. 



The panther like the lion depends more upon his 

 first spring than any after effort. Lying close to a 



