Megaleep the Wanderer. 19 



of what I saw I could not comprehend, having no 

 key, nor understanding why certain youngsters, who 

 needed reproof according to my standards, were let 

 alone, and others kept moving constantly, and still 

 others led aside often to be talked to by their mothers. 

 But at last came a lesson in which all joined, and 

 which could not be misunderstood, not even by a 

 man. It was the jumping lesson. 



Caribou are naturally poor jumpers. Beside a deer, 

 who often goes out of his way to jump a fallen tree 

 just for the fun of it, they have no show whatever ; 

 though they can travel much farther in a day and 

 much easier. Their gait is a swinging trot, from 

 which it is impossible to jump; and if you frighten 

 them out of their trot into a gallop and keep them 

 at it, they soon, grow exhausted. Countless genera- 

 tions on the northern wastes, where there is no need 

 of jumping, have bred this habit, and modified their 

 muscles accordingly. But now a race of caribou has 

 moved south into the woods, where great trees lie 

 fallen across the way, and where, if Megaleep is in a 

 hurry or there is anybody behind him, jumping is 

 a necessity. Still he does n't like it, and avoids it 

 whenever possible. The little ones, left to them- 

 selves, would always crawl under a tree, or trot 

 round it. And this is another thing to overcome, 



