THE MULE DEEE. 141 



bine to make all a simi)le ecstasy for a lover of Nature and 

 of the hunt. 



To one not fond of these, to stay at home and saw wood 

 would be preferable. I have actually been out amid the 

 grandest scenes, in the most glorious weather, and where 

 ievery breath and every sight was an inspiration, with men 

 who were glad to get back to their saw and their wood, or 

 their equivalents. 



All right! Non cumis omnia! Were all of the same 

 mind, the wilderness world would be speedily overrun, and 

 plain and forest and mountain be stripj)ed of their game 

 more rapidly even than they are now being stripped by the 

 foreign butcher and the skin-hunter — men whom I always 

 class together in my mind. 



Added to all other stimulants of the scenes I was mov- 

 ing in, was the unquenched and unquenchable tenderness 

 for the noble boy who led the way before me; tall, powerful, 

 manly; his face browned by exposure to almost the hue of 

 his rich brown hair, and his dark, hazel eye beaming with 

 affection for the father for whom he had planned this very 

 hunt a year ago, and when he was two thousand miles 

 away. He paused now, as we were entering the thickets 

 of mingled laurel, grease-wood, and mountain mahogany 

 which partially filled the spaces between the boles of the 

 fir and pine. 



" Now, father, we are on the ground, and liable to see a 

 Deer anywhere. This is mostly new ground to me, for I 

 never hunted on it but once, and it is a bad country to get 

 lost in. I wish that you would keep near me to-day, 

 and don't make me look for you, for I shall want all my 

 eyes for the Deer. If we both see the Deer, I want you to 

 shoot, for you are a better shot than I am, while I know 

 best where to look for the game. But don't get away from 

 me, for it is so easy here to get lost." 



He is really a fine shot himself; but he -spoke from a 

 traditional feeling as to my use of the rifle when he was 

 at an age that he could not lift one. AVe passed on, I a few 

 rods to one side of and behind him, and soon were in that 



