ITn tbe Moo&s wftb tbe Bow 



which shot from the raven's eyes, while 

 the feathers on its throat stood out sepa- 

 rately, and its wings jumped to their work 

 with a thrashing sweep through the foliage. 

 Gone like a sable ghost, or a plumed de- 

 mon, Corvus corax was seen no more, heard 

 no more, during all my stay in the hill- 

 country. Doubting naturalists may sug- 

 gest to me that it was, after all, only a 

 crow — that the ravens are extinct in the 

 Blue Ridge wilderness; but a raven it is 

 in my notes, a raven it was, a raven it 

 must stand. Maybe the botanists will no 

 more credit me when I state that I found 

 purple lupines on a sandy slant blooming 

 above the violets and claytonias. It was 

 a sunny southeastern slope of warm, light, 

 arenaceous soil, a place for precocious 

 growth. The beautiful pea-like flowers 

 nodded me a welcome. I plucked a fine 

 raceme and stuck it in my cap, not without 

 an impression that such a plume added 

 a certain debonair accent to my make-up, 

 which Mr. Jarvis doubtless observed when 

 he met me at his woodpile just outside the 

 rickety fence in front of his cabin. 

 218 



