3 



silence he becomes intimate with the elements, 

 and, while listening, hears and understands all 

 moods and movements that concern him. He is 

 a master in translating sound. It wakens or warns, 

 threatens or gladdens, and woos him back to 

 slumberland. 



On the wild frontier in his fortress island home 

 in safety he sits and sleeps in darkness. He can- 

 not see outside, but the ever-changing conditions 

 of the surrounding outer world are revealed to 

 him by continuous and varying sounds that pene- 

 trate the thick windowless walls of his house. He 

 hears the cries of the coyote and the cougar, the 

 call of moose, the wild and fleeting laugh of the 

 kingfisher, the elemental melody of the ouzel, and 

 many an echo faintly from afar. He hears the 

 soft vibrations from the muffled feet of enemies ; 

 and, above his head, the raking threat of claws 

 upon the top of his house. Endlessly the water 

 slides and gently pours over the dam, and softly 

 ebbs around the pond's primeval shores. The 

 earthquake thunder warns of storm, the floods 

 roar; then through day and night the cleared and 

 calmed stream goes by. The wind booms among 



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