and Peter laid a grimy paw open upon the bedclothes. The master gave it one little stroke with all the strength he had. "The fiddlers," he said softly, "the little fiddlers can't do without me, after all." A tear gathered in his eye and over- 5 flowed and rolled down Bulldog's cheek. Manley hurried the boys out of the room, and, being joined in the garden by the master's dog, the three together played every monkey trick they knew, while upstairs in the sick room Manley declared that Bull- 10 dog had turned the corner and would soon be back again among his "fiddlers."

The doctor insisted upon driving Peter home to his native stable yard, for this was only proper courtesy to a consulting physician. He called him 15 "Doctor" and "Sir Peter" and such like names all the way, whereat Peter was so abashed that friends seeing him sitting in Manley's phaëton, with such an expression on his face, spread abroad the tale that the doctor was bringing him home with two 20 broken legs as the result of riding a strange horse. The doctor bade him good-by in the presence of his father, tipping him ten shillings to treat the school on the news of Bulldog's convalescence.

consultation: a talk over a case by doctors. -phaëton: a low, four-wheeled carriage. convalescence: recovery.

THE WHITE REINDEER1

ERNEST THOMPSON SETON

ERNEST THOMPSON SETON (1860- ), an American artist and writer of animal stories, was born in South Shields, England. From his sixth to his ninth year he lived in the quiet of the backwoods of Canada, and from his eleventh to his sixteenth year his 5 home was on the Western plains. Thus the young observer of nature had ample opportunity to begin the study of wild animals and their ways. This opportunity was greatly enlarged later when he was appointed official naturalist of Manitoba. As a result of studies made while holding this office, he wrote Birds of Manitoba 10 and Animals of Manitoba.

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In order that he might the better draw the birds and beasts in which he delighted, he spent six years in Paris studying art. On his return to America he was one of the chief illustrators of the Century Dictionary.

The freshness and interest of such stories as Wild Animals that I Have Known, the Biography of a Grizzly, and Wild Animal Play make this author popular with both old and young.

Many a little calf reindeer had been born that spring, and had drifted away on the moss barrens, 20 to come back no more; for some were weaklings

and some were fools; some fell by the way, for that is law; and some would not learn the rules, and so died. But the White Calf was strongest of them all, and he was wise, so he learned of his 25 mother, who was wisest of them all. He learned

1 From Animal Heroes. Copyright, 1905. Charles Scribner's Sons, Publishers.

that the grass on the sunny side of a rock is sweet, and though it looks the same in the dark hollows, it is there worthless. He learned that when his mother's hoofs crackled he must be up and moving, 5 and when all the herd's hoofs crackled there was danger, and he must keep by his mother's side. For this crackling is like the whistling of a Whistler Duck's wings; it is to keep the kinds together. He learned that where the little Bomuldblomster 10 hangs its cotton tufts is dangerous bog; that the harsh cackle of the Ptarmigan means that close at hand are Eagles, as dangerous for fawn as for bird. He learned that the little troll berries are deadly, that when the verra-flies come stinging he must 15 take refuge on a snow patch, and that of all animal smells only that of his mother was to be fully trusted. He learned that he was growing. His flat calf sides and big joints were changing to the full barrel and clean limbs of the yearling, and the little 20 bumps which began to show on his head when he was only a fortnight old were now sharp, hard spikes that could win in fight.

More than once the herd had smelt that dreaded destroyer of the north that men call the Gjerv, or 25 Wolverene; and one day, as this danger scent came suddenly and in great strength, a huge blot of dark

brown sprang rumbling from a rocky ledge, and straight for the foremost the White Calf. His eye caught the flash of a whirling, shaggy mass, with gleaming teeth and eyes, hot-breathed and ferocious. Blank horror set his hair on end; his 5 nostrils flared in fear; but before he fled there rose within another feeling, one of anger at the breaker of his peace, a sense that swept all fear away, braced his legs, and set his horns at charge. The brown brute landed with a deep-chested growl, 10 to be received on the young one's spikes. They pierced him deeply, but the shock was overmuch; it bore the White One down, and he might yet have been killed but that his mother, alert and ever near, now charged the attacking monster, and 15 heavier, better armed, she hurled and speared him to the ground. And the White Calf, with a very demon glare in his once mild eyes, charged, too; and even after the Wolverene was a mere hairy mass, and his mother had retired to feed, he came 20 snorting out his rage, to drive his spikes into the hateful thing, till his snowy head was stained with his adversary's blood.

bomuldblomster: a flower. - ptarmigan (tär'ini gan): a bird of the grouse family. - yearling: one year old. - ferocious: fierce. - alert: watchful. - adversary: enemy.