266 A SPORTING PARADISE 



no cause for it, we both found ourselves fidgety 

 and anxious as though some awful calamity was 

 about to happen. Sometimes we gazed at each 

 other meaningly and then up at the sky. Round 

 the sun was a curious shadowy haze. This haze 

 was neither a London fog nor a white mist, and 

 yet it appeared a mixture of both with a pecu- 

 liarity of its own. The solemn silence became 

 unbearable it was literally a silence " that could 

 be felt." We were walking rapidly, and knew, as 

 though by instinct, that a few more hours would 

 bring us to the large lake. This fact should 

 have had the effect of raising our spirits and 

 creating a sense of safety, but our faces bore a 

 contrary expression, and appeared like the sullen 

 despairing features of men about to be slain. 



How strange is this warning voice of Nature ! 

 During my last visit (1902), while travelling 

 through a portion of forest-land in Maryland, 

 U.S.A., I had the misfortune to lose my way, 

 and drove on hopelessly lost through a blinding 

 rain until daylight dawned. It was about four 

 o'clock in the morning when I realised a sudden 

 sense of danger. It was so dark that I could not 

 see the horse's head, and had not the remotest 

 idea of the locality. The horse stood still, and 



