How Animals Talk 



know me; he look down at me," he said; and 

 that was all I could ever get out of him. 



So, though I have seen the gift in operation 

 several times, I have not yet found the man who 

 had it and who could or would give me any 

 explanation. There is no doubt in my own mind, 

 however, that the negro, the Frenchman, and the 

 Indian, and all others who exercise any unusual 

 influence over animals, do so by reason of their 

 subconscious power to "talk" or to convey im- 

 pulses without words, as gregarious wild creatures 

 commonly talk among themselves. At least, I can 

 understand much of what I see among birds and 

 brutes by assuming that they talk in this fashion. 



Such a power seems mysterious, incredible, in a 

 civilized world of sense and noise; but I fancy 

 that every man and woman speaks silently to the 

 brute without being conscious of the fact. "If 

 you want to see game, leave your gun at home," 

 is an accepted saying among hunters; but the 

 reason for the excellent admonition has not been 

 forthcoming. When you have hunted six days 

 in vain, and then on a quiet Sunday stroll come 

 plump upon noble game that seems to have no 

 fear, you are apt to think of the curiosities of luck, 

 but even here also are you under the sway of 

 psychological law and order. As you go quietly 



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