TRAIL OF THE SANDHILL 



aloft the oak-tree on its brow as it 

 haunted the nearer hills* 



And when, an hour later, the men 

 came with the sleigh to lift the doe's 

 body from the crimsoned snow, 

 there were large fresh tracks about 

 it, and a dark shadow passed over 

 the whitened hill into the silent night* 



What morbid thoughts came from 

 the fire that night ! How the man 

 in Yan did taunt the glutted brute! 

 Was this the end? Was this the 

 real chase ? After long weeks, with 

 the ideal alone in mind, after count- 

 less blessed failures, was this the vile 

 success a beautiful, glorious, living 

 creature tortured into a loathsome 

 mass of carrion ? 



66 



