TX?i(^ Soti of {mottn^ain^^ttmm«0 



ears; is dark gray above~and whitish beneath. 

 In appearance he reminds one of a small guinea- 

 pig, or a young rabbit. 



Up in this region, the most skyward of life 

 zones, nature, as everywhere, is red in tooth 

 and claw. There are strength and cunning, 

 victor and vanquished, pursuit and death. One 

 day, while watching a beetle, I saw a deadly at- 

 tack. For more than an hour the beetle had 

 been doing nothing except turn this way and 

 then that without getting two inches from the 

 grass-edge on the top of a stone. Suddenly a 

 black bit darted past my face, struck the beetle, 

 and knocked him over. It was a wasp, and for 

 a few seconds these two warriors clinched, and 

 fought with all their strength, cunning, and 

 weapons. While locked in deadly struggle, they 

 fell over a cliff that was twelve inches high; the 

 fall broke their hold; this was instantly renewed, 

 but presently they ceased to struggle, with the 

 wasp victor. 



The weasel is the white wolf among the 

 small people of the heights. In winter his pure 

 white fur allows him to slip almost unsuspected 



III 



