quietly in the middle of the flashet, a splen- 

 did big gander, with soft gray body that 

 almost lost its outlines against the gray shore, 

 and glossy black neck standing straight up 

 from the water, and a pure white cravat 

 rising on either side to his cheeks, like the 

 immaculate "choker" of the old-fashioned 

 New England minister. All the wildness 

 and wariness seemed to have fallen away 

 from him, as a man drops a useless garment 

 when he enters his own home. He looked at 

 me steadily, quietly, without fear ; with a cer- 

 tain sense of dignity in every strong, grace- 

 ful line of his body, and with an unmistakable 

 sense of his responsibility in guarding that 

 which was hidden away somewhere on the 

 farther shore. My first wondering impression 

 was, Can this be the same bird that I have 

 followed so long in vain, whose name, in the 

 expression " a wild-goose chase," is a symbol 

 for all that is hopeless and inapproachable ? 

 There he sat, quiet, self-contained, without a 

 tremor of fear or curiosity, and with no inten- 

 tion, so far as my eyes could discover, 

 either to approach or to fly away. 



199 



In Quest of 



n ^gAsit^isk 



