Where Silence Is Eloquent 



it a moment without prejudice, it may appear more 

 natural or familiar, like a chapter from life. If 

 the man who sits opposite you can send his good 

 or evil will across a room, so that you feel his 

 quality without words, or if he can so express him- 

 self silently when he enters your gate that certain 

 dogs instantly take his measure and welcome or 

 bite him, it is not at all improbable that the same 

 man can project the same feelings when he goes 

 afield, or that sensitive wild creatures can under- 

 stand or "feel him out" at a considerable distance. 

 To weigh that probability fairly you must first 

 get rid of your ancient hunting lore. Hunters are 

 like the Medes and Persians in that they have 

 laws which alter not; and I suppose if you met 

 ancient Nimrod in the flesh, his admonition would 

 be, " Keep to leeward and stalk carefully, breaking 

 no twig, for your game will run away if it winds or 

 hears you." That is the first rule I learned for 

 big-game hunting, and it is founded on fact. But 

 there are two other facts I have observed these 

 many years, which Nimrod will never mention: 

 the first, that when you are keenly hunting, it 

 often happens that game breaks away in alarm 

 before it winds or sees or hears you ; and the second, 

 that when you are not hunting, but peaceably rov- 

 ing the woods, going carelessly and paying no 

 attention to the wind, you often come very close 



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