92 WAKE-ROBIN 
declares there is yet a single moose in these moun- 
tains. On our return, a pioneer settler, at whose 
house we stayed overnight, told us a long adven- 
ture he had had with a panther. He related how 
it screamed, how it followed him in the brush, how 
he took to his boat, how its eyes gleamed from the 
shore, and how he fired his rifle at them with fatal 
effect. His wife in the mean time took something 
from a drawer, and, as her husband finished his re- 
cital, she produced a toe-nail of the identical animal 
with marked dramatic effect. 
_ But better than fish or game or grand scenery, or 
any adventure by night or day, is the wordless 
intercourse with rude Nature one has on these expe- . 
ditions. It is something to press the pulse of our: 
old mother by mountain lakes and streams, and 
know what health and vigor are in her veins, and 
how regardless of observation she deports herself. 
1866. 
