Natural Telepathy 



were northward; and at the thought I quickly 

 found an opening in the cover and turned my 

 glass upon the other caribou. Already they were 

 in wild alarm. For a brief interval they ran 

 about confusedly, or stood tense as they searched 

 the plain and the surrounding woods for the source 

 of danger; then they pushed their noses out and 

 racked away at a marvelous pace, crossing the 

 barren diagonally toward me and smashing into 

 the woods a short distance ahead, following a 

 course which must soon bring them and their 

 wounded mate together. If I were dealing with 

 people, I might say confidently that they were bent 

 on finding out what the alarm was about; but as I 

 have no means of knowing the caribou motive, I 

 can only say that the two trails ran straight as a 

 string through the timber to a meeting-point on 

 the edge of another barren to the westward. 



If you would reasonably explain the matter, 

 remember that these startled animals were far away 

 from me ; that the cripple and myself were both 

 hidden from their eyes, and that I was moving up- 

 wind and silently. It was impossible that they 

 should hear or see or smell me ; yet they were on 

 their toes a moment after the cripple started up, 

 as if he had rung a bell for them. It was not the 

 first time I had witnessed a herd of animals break 

 away when, as I suspected, they had received some 

 8 [ ioi ] 



