Larch-trees and Deer 



Once the sleeper was a buck with noble antlers. 

 He was resting beside a great log on the edge of an 

 opening, half surrounded by dense fir thickets. I 

 speak of him as asleep ; but that is mere habit of 

 speech or poverty of language. Of a score of wild 

 birds or beasts that I have found "asleep" in 

 the woods, not one seemed to lose touch with the 

 waking world even for an instant. The buck's 

 eyelids were blinking, his head nodding heavily; 

 yet all the while his feet were curled in readiness 

 for an instant jump; and somehow those expres- 

 sive feet gave the impression of being as wide awake 

 as a squirrel. Occasionally as I watched him, 

 fascinated by the rare sight, his head would drop 

 almost to the ground, only to be jerked up with 

 an air of immense surprise ; then the sleepy fellow 

 would stare in a filmy, unseeing, "who said I was 

 asleep" kind of way at a little tree that stood 

 in the opening. The stare would end with a slow 

 closing of the eyelids, and in a moment he would 

 be nodding again. 



