Page:The clerk of the woods.djvu/203

Rh rods away, facing us squarely. He had come up a little rise of ground, and had stopped as he saw us. But for my friend's muscular assistance, I should have missed him, near as he was, for in one second he was gone; and though we scaled the wall instantly and ran up the slope, we got no further sight of him.

Yes, if you are a discouraged, winter-killed nature lover, who has begun to think that Massachusetts woods—woods within sight of the State House dome—are pretty much devoid of wild life, go out after a light snowfall and read the natural history record of a single night. We shall not be without woods, nor will the woods be without inhabitants, for a good while yet.