A FEBRUARY FRKSIIKT 



109 



like a sailor lashed to the rigging, to be taken 

 off. 



I Jut it was not the multitude of wild things 

 birds, beasts, insects that fascinated me most, that 

 led me out along the slippery, dangerous bank 

 through the swirling storm ; it was rather the fear 

 and confusion of the animals, the wild giant-spirit 



x 



raging over the face of the earth and sky, daunting 

 and terrifying them, that drew me. 



Many of the small creatures had been wakened 

 by the flood out of their deep Avinter sleep, and, 

 dazed and numbed and frightened, they seemed to 

 know nothing, to care for nothing but the touch of 

 the solid earth to their feet. 



All of their natural desires and instincts, their 

 hatreds, hungers, terrors, were sunk beneath the 

 waters. They had lost their wits, like human crea- 

 tures in a panic, and, struggling, fighting for a foot- 

 hold, they did not notice me unless I made at them, 

 and then only took to the water a moment to escape 

 the instant peril. 



