That way they run the deer down.

Cruel it is, but nature, an' no worse than snow an' ice that starve deer, or a fox that kills turkey-chicks breakin' out of the egg, or ravens that pick the eyes out of new-born lambs an' wait till they die.

An' for that matter, men are crueler than beasts of prey, for men add to nature, an' have more than instincts." Helen was silenced, as well as shocked.

She had not only learned a new and striking viewpoint in natural history, but a clear intimation to the reason why she had vaguely imagined or divined a remarkable character in this man.

A hunter was one who killed animals for their fur, for their meat or horns, or for some lust for blood--that was Helen's definition of a hunter, and she believed it was held by the majority of people living in settled states.