148 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



The reader will pardon this digression; but that was the 

 kind of boy God had given me, and that was my companion 

 for this hunt in tlie mountains. In camp or in cabin, no 

 meal without the word of thanks to the Giver. 



" Father, have you got the coffee-x)ot full? I am dried 

 up like paper, and I'm hollow to the knees! " 



I knew whom I was i)urveying for, and what had been the 

 draught of the day on that sturdy frame. Indeed, I had 

 only to judge by my own measure, and double it for his. 

 There was something of all the dishes left when, after an 

 hour of untiring application, he leaned back, laid down his 

 knife and fork, wiped his lips, and said: 



" Well, I must call a halt, or I shall be as bad as old 

 Tige when he had filled up on the first Deer' s inwards. He 

 looked like a gjw and near her time! " 



This is the restorative power of the woods. The pure, 

 clear air; the wild, grand scenery; the manly trami), with 

 the eager exjjectancy of the hunter every moment; every 

 physical power drawn on, and then all physical waste 

 repaired by the appetite that would seem gluttony at home; 

 then the profound, dreamless sleep of the tired frame in the 

 hemlock-boughs; the flickering flame of the camp-fire; the 

 sighing of winds through the pines; the weird sounds and 

 shadows of the woods — all soothing the nerves, relaxing the 

 muscles, and leading the mind into that state which the 

 ancients beautifully made the province of the twin-brother 

 of death; but with a daily resurrection to restored powers, 

 instead of the final one to an endless, immortal, unwearied 

 state. 



The dawning of the following morning found us in our 

 woods again, wholly restored from the fatigue of the preced- 

 ing day, and eager to follow up our yesterday' s success by 

 another like it. It was to be Bates' day to-day. While 

 the light was yet dim, and a slight mist hung over the 

 ground, I saw, at a good, fair distance from me, a doe 

 feeding from a laurel-bush. Her head was dow^n in the 

 center of the bush, her whole body outside, and per- 

 fectly defined. I counted her as good as in my hand, and 



