spruce trunk. On my left a heavy splash 

 and a wild, free tumult of quacking told 

 •<Aome/ros '^'^'^lere the black ducks were coming in, as 

 ^ufcasf they had done, undisturbed, for generations. 

 Behind me a long roll echoed through the 

 woods — some young cock partridge, whom 

 the warm sun had beguiled into drumming 

 his spring love call. From the mountain- 

 side a cow moose rolled back a startling 

 answer. Close at hand, yet seeming miles 

 away, a chipmunk was chunking sleepily in 

 the sunshine; while a nest of young wood 

 mice were calling their mother in the grass 

 at my feet. And every wild sound did but 

 deepen the vast, wondrous silence of the 

 wilderness. 



" After all, what place has the roar of a 

 rifle or the smell of sulphurous powder in the 

 midst of all this blessed peace .? " I asked 

 half sadly. As if in answer, the kingfisher 

 dropped with his musical plash, and swept 

 back with exultant rattle to his watchtower. 

 — " Go on with your clatter and your fish- 

 ing, Koskomenos. 'The \\alderness and the 

 solitary place shall still be glad ' for you and 



