Memories 



that rattled near him, as if to demand, "Well, what 

 in the world sent you flying?" Presently he sent 

 forth a call, not the loud, high, prolonged note 

 which you hear from him at a distance, but a soft, 

 wheedling ah-koo! ah-koo! only twice repeated. 

 When his call was answered in a different strain, 

 a questioning strain it seemed to me, he darted 

 away and returned within the minute accompanied 

 by another log-cock. 



But enough of such pictures! They flash joy- 

 ously upon the mental vision whenever one recalls 

 a cherished spot in the woods, but fade quickly 

 if one attempts to hold or describe them, saying 

 as they vanish that the lure of solitary lakes, the 

 companionship of trees, the fascination of wild 

 creatures that hide and look forth with roundly 

 curious eyes at a stranger's approach, these are 

 matters that can never be set down in words: 

 the best always escapes in the telling. I meant 

 only to say (when my pine lifted its crown in the 

 light of an evening sky, and then the mink family 

 came dodging along the shore of memory, and the 

 buck and the log-cock interrupted to urge me be 

 sure and tell the happiest part of the story before 

 I made an end) that many pleasant memories 

 greeted me as I came down the silent trail after 

 a long absence. In the distance sounded a lusty 

 quacking; my imagination painted the mallards 



[295] ' 



