'Nothing that I had ever seen had affected me so
strangely as this unfamiliar and unaccountable phe-
nomenon, yet I am unable to recall any sense of
fear. I remember--and tell it here because, singu-
larly enough, I recollected it then--that once in
looking carelessly out of an open window I momen-
tarily mistook a small tree close at hand for one of
a group of larger trees at a little distance away.
It looked the same size as the others, but being more
distinctly and sharply defined in mass and detail
seemed out of harmony with them. It was a mere
falsification of the law of aerial perspective, but it
startled, almost terrified me. We so rely upon the
orderly operation of familiar natural laws that any
seeming suspension of them is noted as a menace
to our safety, a warning of unthinkable calamity. So
now the apparently causeless movement of the
herbage and the slow, undeviating approach of the
line of disturbance were distinctly disquieting. My
companion appeared actually frightened, and I could
hardly credit my senses when I saw him suddenly
throw his gun to his shoulder and fire both barrels
at the agitated grain! Before the smoke of the dis-
charge had cleared away I heard a loud savage cry
--a scream like that of a wild animal--and flinging
his gun upon the ground Morgan sprang away and
ran swiftly from the spot. At the same instant I was
thrown violently to the ground by the impact of
something unseen in the smoke--some soft, heavy
substance that seemed thrown against me with
great force.
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