Solitude and Company 183 



into the air, it is only because I did not 

 measure the distance. 



Do you ever feel this leaping or flying 

 impulse ? You must have done so if you 

 have descended mountains afoot. Some- 

 thing equine or aquiline develops in a 

 man before large spaces. He wants to 

 fill them, to increase himself, to stamp 

 his feet into the earth and claim it. When 

 I weighed less than now there was a fear- 

 some delight for me in bounding down 

 hills, taking great leaps as I ran. That 

 gives one a mastery of the air : he becomes 

 a brother of eagles. It would not surprise 

 him to find that birds and bats were racing 

 with him. I have raced with sparrows on 

 a bicycle. Swift motion of your own 

 making or direction always has this thrill, 

 and you shout in the exultation of it. 

 Cowboys get their defiant yell from eagles 

 and peacocks. They resemble both. 



While animals are generally select in 

 their tastes and object to our society, they 

 are surprisingly indifferent to us sometimes. 

 One genius claims that snakes, even rat- 

 tlers, may be made as tame and gentle as 



