INTRODUCTION. 21 



orate logical processes, and a power of judging 

 the comparative value of evidence which would 

 do credit to a modern Lord Chancellor. 



At length he cautiously moves forward and 

 comes upon the slot of the antlered herd. A 

 glance tells him that they have been startled 

 before reaching the brook, and have made their 

 way at headlong speed back into the forest. 

 Further scrutiny of the ground reveals the fact 

 that a huge machairodiis has leaped from behind 

 a bush, has clawed the flank of one deer without 

 seizing it, and after galloping clumsily some 

 twenty yards after the herd, has given up the 

 pursuit, and turned down the river- bank in the 

 direction from whence came the blackbird's 

 shriek of warning. The keen eyes of the 

 savas'e wander over the ground in search of 

 one further piece of evidence of the utmost 

 importance. At length he sees where the hoof 

 of a flying hind has displaced a pebble. Bend- 

 ing down and shading his eyes from the dazzling 

 sunlight, he examines the damp surface of the 

 stone intently ; and when he rises, ten seconds 

 later, he could tell you, if you were to ask him, 

 that the events recorded in the writing on the 

 ground happened almost exactly half an hour 



