Part 12

To the hunter without a gun there is no close season on any game, and a doe and her fawns are better hunting than a ten-point buck. By land or water he is always ready; there are no labors for effects, except what he chooses to impose upon himself; no disappointments are possible, for whether his game be still or on the jump, shy as a wilderness raven or full of curiosity as a blue jay, he always finds something to stow away in his heart in the place where he keeps things that he loves to remember. All is fish that comes into his net, and everything is game that catches the glance of his eye in earth or air or water. Now it is the water-spiders--skaters the boys call them--that play a curious game among the grass stems, and that have more wonderful habits than the common balloon spiders which sometimes turned Jonathan Edwards' thoughts from the stern, unlovable God of his theology to the patient, care-taking Servant of the universe that some call Force, and others Law, and that one who knew Him called The Father, alike among the lilies of the field and in the cities of men. Now it is an otter and her cubs playing on the surface, that sink when they see you and suddenly come up near your canoe, like a log shot up on end, and with half their bodies out of water to see better say w-h-e-e-e-yew! like a baby seal to express their wonder at such a queer thing in the water. Now it is a mother loon taking her young on her back as they leave the eggs, and carrying them around the lake awhile to dry them thoroughly in the sun before she dives from under them and wets them for the first time; and you must follow a long while before you find out why. Now it is a bear and her cubs--I watched three of them for an hour or more, one afternoon, as they gathered blueberries. At first they champed them from the bushes, stems, leaves and all, just as they grew. Again, when they found a good bush, a little one with lots of berries, they would bite it off close to the ground, or tear it up by the roots, and then taking it by the stem with both paws would pull it through their mouths from one side to the other, stripping off every berry and throwing the useless bush away. Again they would strike the bushes with their paws, knocking off a shower of the ripest berries, and then scrape them all together very carefully into a pile and gobble them down at a single mouthful. And whenever, in wandering about after a good bush, one of the cubs spied the other busy at an unusually good find, it gave one a curious remembrance of his own boyhood to see the little fellow rush up whimpering to get his share before all the bushes should be stripped clean.

That was good hunting. It made one glad to let even this rare prowler of the woods go in peace. And that suggests the very best thing that can be said for the hunter without a gun:--"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for him," for something of the gentle spirit of Saint Francis comes with him, and when he goes he leaves no pain nor death nor fear of man behind him.

Glossary of Indian Names

=Cheokhes=, ch[=e]-ok-h[)e]s', the mink.

=Cheplahgan=, chep-lâh'gan, the bald eagle.

=Ch'geegee-lokh-sis=, ch'gee-gee'lock-sis, the chickadee.

=Chigwooltz=, chig-wooltz', the bullfrog.

=Clóte Scarpe=, a legendary hero, like Hiawatha, of the Northern Indians. Pronounced variously, Clote Scarpe, Groscap, Gluscap, etc.

=Commoosie=, com-moo-sie', a little shelter, or hut, of boughs and bark.

=Deedeeaskh=, dee-dee'ask, the blue jay.

=Eleemos=, el-ee'mos, the fox.

=Hawahak=, hâ-wâ-h[)a]k', the hawk.

=Hukweem=, huk-weem', the great northern diver, or loon.

=Ismaques=, iss-mâ-ques', the fish-hawk.

=Kagax=, k[)a]g'[)a]x, the weasel.

=Kakagos=, kâ-kâ-g[)o]s', the raven.

=K'dunk=, k'dunk', the toad.

=Keeokuskh=, kee-o-kusk', the muskrat.

=Keeonekh=, kee'o-nek, the otter.

=Killooleet=, kil'loo-leet, the white-throated sparrow.

=Kookooskoos=, koo-koo-skoos', the great horned owl.

=Koskomenos=, k[)o]s'k[)o]m-e-n[)o]s', the kingfisher.

=Kupkawis=, cup-k[a:]'wis, the barred owl.

=Kwaseekho=, kwâ-seek'ho, the sheldrake.

=Lhoks=, locks, the panther.

=Malsun=, m[)a]l'sun, the wolf.

=Meeko=, meek'[=o], the red squirrel.

=Megaleep=, meg'â-leep, the caribou.