From Fox's Earth 



empty, save of the self-created fears of a great 

 solitude. 



With infinitely more of the wild animal about 

 them, deer help us to picture the old relations. 

 They have all the resources, all the wariness, all 

 the pristine freshness of sense, of days before the 

 captivity. Scent is exquisite, sight keen. They 

 hold a wireless communication with an enemy 

 coming down the wind, detect a distant move- 

 ment of the heather tuft which conceals danger. 

 Fleet as the breeze which brings the scent, is the 

 speed of their vanishing. The hoof has the old 

 mission, to bear to some sanctuary, beyond the 

 reach of pursuit. 



Little happens in the herds of South Africa 

 that does not also happen in these glens, nothing 

 essential. On the veldt, both sides are serious, 

 that is, perhaps, the only difference. With the 

 deer of the glen it is serious enough. It is all as 

 when the wolf came slinking up, under the shelter 

 of the perched boulder, or, with his long swinging 

 gallop, followed on their track. 



The wolf is no more. We resented his inter- 

 ference, and wished the deer for ourselves. We 

 killed him, and took his place. We did not turn 

 the quarry, which as successful rievers we had 

 thus acquired, within the fences, as we do cattle, 

 to fatten for our use. Rather we took a double 

 toll. We sought to preserve the picturesque, the 

 heroic element. We could catch first and eat 



6 4 



