NATURALIST MEETS PROSPECTOR 113 



When still three or four feet above the earth I 

 leaped from the tree, and the three heavy-booted 

 men all kicked at me at once. They all missed 

 me. They made a number of kicks, but being 

 agile I managed each time to be just where their 

 feet were not. Presently they ceased kicking and 

 declared that I had been purposely misleading 

 them all day. My denial did not help matters; 

 but they finally cut short the interview by demand- 

 ing that I vanish in the woods. 



As this was just what I wanted to do I complied. 

 And on the way home, unhampered by further mis- 

 understandings of the scientific spirit, I continued 

 my acquaintance with that interesting pioneer 

 tree, the lodgepole pine. 



