It was
a poor day for hunting, for the eye could not see forty yards; but it
suited my purpose, since the dull air would deaden the noise of my
musket. I was hunting alone in a strange land among imminent perils,
and my aim was not to glorify my skill, but to find the means of life.
The thought strung me up to a mood where delight was more notable than
care. I was adventuring with only my hand to guard me in those ancient,
haunted woods, where no white man had ever before travelled. To
experience such moments is to live with the high fervour which God gave
to mortals before towns and laws laid their dreary spell upon them.
Early in the day I met a bear--the second I had seen in my life. I did
not want him, and he disregarded me and shuffled grumpily down the
hill-side. I had to be very careful, I remember, to mark my path, so
that I could retrace it, and I followed the Border device of making a
chip here and there in the bark of trees, and often looking backward to
remember the look of the place when seen from the contrary side. Trails
were easy to find on the soft ground, but besides the bear I saw none
but those of squirrel and rabbit, and a rare opossum. But at last, in a
marshy glen, I found the fresh slot of a great stag.
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