LIONS 



nervous or phlegmatic, cowardly or brave, so in- 

 dividual animals vary in like respect. Our own 

 hunters will recall from their personal experiences 

 how the big bear may have sat down and bawled 

 harmlessly for mercy, while the little unconsidered 

 fellow did his best until finished ofi": how one buck 

 dropped instantly to a wound that another would 

 carry five miles: how of two equally matched war- 

 riors of the herd one will give way in the fight, while 

 still uninjured, before his perhaps badly wounded 

 antagonist. The casual observer might — and 

 often does — say that all bears are cowardly, all 

 bucks are easily killed, or the reverse, according as 

 the god of chance has treated him to one spectacle 

 or the other. As well try to generalize on the 

 human race — as is a certain ecclesiastical habit — 

 that all men are vile or noble, dishonest or upright, 

 wise or foolish. 



The higher we go in the scale the truer this in- 

 dividualism holds. We are forced to reason not 

 from the bulk of observations, but from their aver- 

 ages. If w^e find ten bucks who will go a mile badly 

 wounded to two who succumb in their tracks from 

 similar hurts, we are justified in saying tentatively 

 that the species is tenacious of life. But as ex- 

 perience broadens we may m^odify that statement; 

 for strange indeed are runs of luck. 



125 



