The Haunters of the Silences: a Book of Animal Life

Part 1

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The Haunters of the Silences

A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE BY CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS

Author of "The Kindred of the Wild," "Red Fox," "The Heart of the Ancient Wood," "The Forge in the Forest," "The Heart That Knows," etc.

With many Illustrations and Decorations by

CHARLES LIVINGSTON BULL

GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK

* * * * *

Copyright, 1905, 1906, by THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE COMPANY

Copyright, 1906, by HARPER AND BROTHERS

Copyright, 1906, by PERRY MASON COMPANY

Copyright, 1906, 1907, by THE RIDGWAY COMPANY

Copyright, 1906, by THE CENTURY COMPANY

Copyright, 1904, by THE NEW YORK HERALD COMPANY

Copyright, 1907, by THE S. S. MCCLURE CO.

Copyright, 1907, by THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY

Copyright, 1907, by L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED)

* * * * *

ENTERED AT STATIONER'S HALL, LONDON

All rights reserved

First impression, May, 1907

Prefatory Note

The present collection of stories dealing with creatures of the wilderness differs from its companion volumes, "The Kindred of the Wild" and "The Watchers of the Trails," in one important particular. It contains certain studies and depictions of a sphere of wild life which presents peculiar difficulties to the observer, viz.: the life of the dwellers in the deep sea. Our investigation of these remote kindreds is at best spasmodic, and conducted always at the extreme of disadvantage; and the knowledge which we may gain from such investigation must always remain in a measure fragmentary. It is not easy for any observer to be intimate with a sawfish; and the most ardent naturalist's acquaintance with an orca, or "killer" whale, must be essentially a distant one, if he would hope to put his observations upon record. Needless to say, my own knowledge of the orca, the shark, the narwhal, or the colossal cuttlefish of the ocean depths, is not of the same kind as my knowledge of the bear, the moose, the eagle, and others of the furtive folk of our New Brunswick wilderness. When I write of these latter I build my stories upon a foundation of personal, intimate, sympathetic observation, the result of a boyhood passed in the backwoods, and of almost yearly visits, ever since my boyhood, to the wild forest regions of my native province. But when I write of the kindreds of the deep sea, I am relying upon the collated results of the observations of others. I have spared no pains to make these stories accord, as far as the facts of natural history are concerned, with the latest scientific information. But I have made no vain attempt at interpretation of the lives of creatures so remote from my personal knowledge; and for such tales as "A Duel in the Deep," "The Terror of the Sea Caves," or "The Prowlers," my utmost hope is that they may prove entertaining, without being open to any charge of misrepresenting facts. On the other hand, in certain of the stories dealing with the results of my own observation and experience, I have dared to hope that I might be contributing something of value to the final disputed question of animal psychology. For such stories, which offer in the form of fiction what my observations have compelled me to regard as fact, I have presented my case already, in the prefaces to "The Watchers of the Trails" and "Red Fox." To those prefaces I would add nothing here; and from the conclusions therein stated I have nothing to retract. I would merely take this occasion to reaffirm with confidence the belief, which I find shared by practically all observers whose lives are passed in the closest relationship with animals,--by such vitally interested observers, for instance, as keepers, trainers, hunters, and trappers,--that the actions of animals are governed not only by instinct, but also, in varying degree, by processes essentially akin to those of human reason.

C. G. D. R.

Contents of the Book

PAGE

The Summons of the North 3

The Last Barrier 31

Part 2

Answerers to the Call 70

The Prisoners of the Pitcher-plant 84

The Prowlers 92

A Stranger to the Wild 108

When the Logs Come Down 132

A Duel in the Deep 140

The Little Tyrant of the Burrows 153

The Ringwaak Buck 168

The Heron in the Reeds 194

In the Deep of the Silences 202

On the Night Trail 218

When the Tide Came over the Marshes 235

Under the Ice-roof 243

The Terror of the Air 261

In the Unknown Dark 268

The Terror of the Sea Caves 282

A List of the Full-Page Drawings in the Book

PAGE "THE LEADER OF THE CARIBOU HERD ... RETURNED THE STALLION'S INQUIRING STARE WITH A GLANCE OF MILD CURIOSITY" (See page 122) Frontispiece

"SOME INEXPERIENCED SEAL HAD BEEN FOOLISH ENOUGH TO LIE BASKING CLOSE BESIDE AN ICE-CAKE" 7

"SHE LED HIM FARTHER AND FARTHER ACROSS THE ICE" 13

"WOULD RUN GLEEFULLY TO SNAP THEM UP AND EAT THEM" 14

"SOME ONE ON DECK DISCERNED THE CROUCHING BEAR" 24

"HE SAW A BIG SUCKER SETTLE LAZILY WHERE THE THRONGING FRY WERE THICKEST" 34

"HELD FIRMLY BETWEEN THE EDGES OF HIS GREAT BEAK" 42

"LEAPING HIGH OUT OF THE POOLS" 45

"VANQUISHED IN THEIR OWN ELEMENT BY THE MINK" 59

"AGAIN HE SHOT INTO THE SPRAY-THICK AIR ON THE FACE OF THE FALL" 68

"SCUTTLED OFF INTO THE WOODS LIKE A FRIGHTENED WOODCHUCK" 74

Part 3

"THE MOOSE CAME IN SIGHT UP THE BROOK CHANNEL" 79

"AT THIS MOMENT A PASSING SHRIKE SWOOPED DOWN" 85

"LAY MOTIONLESS BUT FOR THE EASY WAVING OF ITS FINS" 97

"ONLY THAT SHARP BLACK FIN, THAT PROWLED AND PROWLED, KEPT ALWAYS IN SIGHT" 101

"DIRECTLY BENEATH THE SHARK THE STRANGER CAME" 105

"HE STRUCK OUT DESPERATELY, AND SOON CLEARED THE TURMOIL OF THE BREAKERS" 111

"THE SOUTHWARD JOURNEYING DUCKS, WHICH WOULD DROP WITH LOUD QUACKING AND SPLASHING INTO THE SHALLOWS" 121

"IT WAS THE COW MOOSE CALLING FOR HER MATE" 125

"THE PLUCKY LITTLE ANIMAL JUMPED AS FAR AS HE COULD" 136

"THEN, WITH THE LARGEST PRIZE IN HIS JAWS, HE SWAM SLOWLY TO THE ROCK" 151

"LAY DOWN IN SULLEN TRIUMPH TO LICK HIS WOUNDS" 152

"THE BAFFLED SHREW JUMPED STRAIGHT INTO THE AIR" 158

"WITH A FRANTIC LEAP HE SHOT THROUGH THE AIR" 160

"TURN HIS NARROW, SNARLING FACE TO SEE WHAT THREATENED" 173

"WHEN HE STOPPED TO DRINK AT THE GLASSY POOL" 180

"NOISELESSLY FADED BACK THROUGH THE COVERT" 185

"THEN HE LEAPED THE FENCE AGAIN" 186

"HE WAS IN THE IRON CLUTCH OF A MUSKRAT TRAP" 198

"HIS COURSE TOOK HIM FAR OUT OVER THE SOUNDLESS SPACES" 203

"FOR ALL HIS SEEMING AWKWARDNESS HE MOVED AS DELICATELY AS A CAT" 208

"THE WATER SPLASHED HIGH AND WHITE ABOUT HIM" 213

"THE SHREW-MOUSE ... DARTED OUT INTO THE LIGHT" 218

"HIS ROUND, SINISTER EYES GLARED PALELY INTO EVERY COVERT" 220

"HE SAW THE GRAY FORMS OF THE PACK" 228

"A SNIPE WHICH FLEW TOO LOW OVER THE DITCH" 238

"MADLY JOYOUS, HE KILLED, AND KILLED, AND KILLED, FOR THE JOY OF KILLING" 241

"WOULD WHISK SHARPLY INTO THE MOUTH OF THE BLACK TUNNEL" 247

"CONFRONTING THE TWO GREAT CATS WITH UPLIFTED PAW AND MOUTH WIDE OPEN" 258

Part 4

"ONCE MORE THE WATCHFUL SENTINEL APPEARED" 260

"THE NOISELESS WINGS WERE NOW JUST BEHIND HIM" 266

"HIS APPREHENSIVE EARS CAUGHT A CURIOUS SOUND" 274

"THE BIG OWL HAD BEEN DISTURBED AT ITS BANQUET" 277

"WHICH SEEMED TO SCRUTINIZE HIM STEADILY" 278

"THOSE SWIFT AND IMPLACABLE LITTLE WHALES WHO FEAR NO LIVING THING" 296

"FAR OFFSHORE, ONE OF THESE MONSTERS CAME UP AND SPRAWLED UPON THE SURFACE" 300

"UP DARTED A LIVID TENTACLE, AND FIXED UPON IT" 302

"A SINGULAR FIGURE, DESCENDING SLOWLY THROUGH THE GLIMMERING GREEN" 304

The Haunters of the Silences

The Summons of the North

In the mystic gloom and the incalculable cold of the long Arctic night, when Death seemed the only inhabitant of the limitless vasts of ice and snow, the white bear cub was born. Over the desolate expanses swept the awful polar wind, now thick with fine, crystalline snow which volleyed and whirled and bit like points of steel, now glassy clear, so that the great, unwavering Arctic stars could preside unobscured over its destructive fury. When the wind was still, not less awful than the wind had been was the stillness, in which the unspeakable cold wrought secretly its will upon the abandoned world. Sometimes the implacable starlight would pale suddenly, and the lovely, sinister, spectral flames of the aurora, electric blue, and violet, and thin, elusive red, would go dancing in terrible silence across the arch of sky.

But the white cub--contrary to the custom of her kind his mother had borne but the one, instead of two--felt nothing of the cold and the unutterable desolation, saw nothing of the unchanging night, the implacable stars, the heatless and mirthless dancing flames. In a lair between two rocks, under seven or eight feet of snow, he lay snuggled against the warm, furry body of his mother, safe hidden from the world of night and cold. The mother, whose hot breathing kept open a little arched hollow in the sheltering snow, spent practically all her time in sleep, the ample layers of fat which the previous summer had stored upon her ribs supplying food and fuel to her giant frame. The cub, too, slept away most of the long unvarying hours, waking to nurse from time to time, and growing with marvellous rapidity on the inexhaustible nourishment which his mother's milk supplied.

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