“THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE”’ 35 
last brought back the deer for him to hunt, and 
even, as we have just seen, a few moose; but re- 
turning still more, perhaps, because railroads and 
trolleys, the opening of the great western farms, 
the exodus to the cities, have all combined to 
throw back to wilderness again the hilltop land 
our forefathers cleared. When the wilderness 
comes back, the citizens of the wilderness come 
back as well. Swiftfoot, the wolf, was returning 
to his own. 
But not quite to his own. He had just snug- 
gled down to sleep the next morning, at day- 
break, when he was awakened by the report of a 
gun, far off, then quickly of another nearer him. 
Like a dog, he was wide awake and on his feet in 
a second, every sense alert. It was the first Mon- 
day in December, the beginning of “ deer week,” 
when, for six days, deer can be hunted in Massa- 
chusetts, but only with shotguns and without 
dogs. It was for the baying of dogs that Swift- 
foot listened first. Hearing nothing, nor scent- 
ing men near by, he was about to creep deeper into 
his lair, when he caught both the scent and sound 
of a deer. It was running as fast as it could, 
