, „ river ; but the drowsiness had gone fronn the 

 atmosphere, and the haze had crept into it. 

 omenos Here and there birches and maples flung out 

 Outcast their gorgeous banners of autumn over the 

 silent water. A tingle came into the even- 

 ing air; the lake's breath lay heavy and 

 white in the twilight stillness; birds and 

 beasts became suddenly changed as they 

 entered the brief period of sport and of full 

 feeding. 



I was drifting about a reedy bay (the same 

 bay in which the almost forgotten kingfisher 

 had cheated me out of my bear, after eating 

 a minnow that my paddle had routed out 

 for him) shooting frogs for my table with 

 a pocket rifle. How different it was here, 

 I reflected, from the woods about home. 

 There the game was already harried; the 

 report of a gun set every living creature 

 skulking. Here the crack of my little rifle 

 was no more heeded than the plunge of a 

 fish-hawk, or the groaning of a burdened elm 

 bough. A score of fat woodcock lay unheed- 

 ing in that bit of alder tangle' yonder, the 

 ground bored like a colander after their 



