Chumfo, the Super-sense 



Doubtless I have been many times watched in 

 the woods when I did not know or feel it; and 

 certainly I have often had my eyes upon an un- 

 conscious bird or beast when, though I fancied he 

 grew uneasy under my scrutiny, he did not have 

 enough sense of danger to run away possibly 

 because no real danger threatened him, the eyes 

 that looked upon him being friendly or merely 

 curious. 



Once on a hardwood ridge I came upon a buck 

 lying asleep in open timber, and stood with my 

 back against a great sugar-maple, observing him 

 for five or six minutes before he stirred. No, I 

 was not trying to awaken him by a look, or to 

 stage any other experiment. I was simply enjoy- 

 ing a rare sight, noting with immense interest that 

 this wild creature, whom I had always seen so 

 splendidly alert, could nod and blink like any 

 ordinary mortal. So near was he that I could 

 mark the drowsiness of his eyes, the position of 

 his feet, the swelling of his sides as he breathed. I 

 happened to be counting his respirations in friendly 

 fashion, comparing them with my own, when sud- 

 denly his head turned to me; his eyes snapped 

 wide open, and they were looking straight into 

 mine. Apparently his feeling or subconscious per- 

 ception had warned him where danger was; but 

 still his eyes could not recognize it, standing there 



[55] 



