Chumfo, the Super-sense 



where all is wonder. I then thought no more of 

 feeling the presence of an animal than of hearing 

 him walk when I could not see him; but as I grew 

 older the experience seemed a little odd or "queer," 

 and I never spoke of it to any one till I discovered, 

 first, that the faculty seems to be common among 

 animals, and second, that some Indians (not all) 

 have it and regard it as the most natural thing in 

 the world. Here is how the latter discovery came 

 about : 



Simmo and I were calling moose from a lake 

 one moonlit night, with a silent canoe under us, 

 dark evergreen woods at our back, and a little 

 ghost of a beaver-meadow, vague, misty, shadow- 

 filled, immediately before our eyes yet seeming as 

 remote as any drifting cloud. To our repeated 

 call no answer was returned ; then we allowed the 

 canoe to drift ashore where it would, and sat 

 listening to the vast silence. I was brought back 

 from my absorption in the fragrance, the harmony, 

 the infinite stillness of the night by feeling the 

 canoe shake and hearing Simmo whisper, "Some- 

 t'ing near. Look out !" 



Now in a silence like that, the tense, living 

 silence of the wilderness at night, one's ears are 

 as full of tricks as a puckzvudgie, who is one of the 

 mischievous fairy-folk of the Indians. The whine 

 of a mosquito sounds across the whole lake; or 



5 [S3] 



