like sleepy eyes, or rest in soft winding 



shadows like the features and wrinkles of a 



^^ifijcrj/ Ui g rea t weather-beaten face. Silence broods 



jT rVafJiU/iA. over if- ; taking visible shape in the form of 



^lutfATJiU. a S0 Ht:ary woods raven that hangs motion- 



^S*,^^ less high in air on sable outstretched wings. 



No sign of life moves on the tranquil face 



of the earth or water; no sound breaks the 



restful stillness save the cheeping of young 



plover hiding in the gray moss, and a low 



surge, like a sound in a dream, drifting in 



over distant woods from where the waves 



break ranks on the unnamed shoals. And 



here — unexpectedly, as good things come 



kat last — was the end of my long quest to 

 find the home of Waptonk the wild goose. 

 Ever since childhood I had sought him. 

 In the spring he had always called to me 

 from the high heavens; and something in 

 the ring of his bugle-call, something in the 

 sight of that living arrow-head driving stead- 

 ily northward, as if the heavens that bounded 

 me could not contain so free a spirit, and 

 something perhaps in the impulse of his wild 

 heart which called him far away from the 



