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208
Animal Heroes
·
Ernest Thompson Seton
202
Outside,
against
the
fence,
in
the
winter
night,
was
a
Great
White
Reindeer,
harnessed
to
a
sled,
but
lying
down
with
his
head
doubled
back
on
his
side
as
he
slept,
calm,
unthoughtful,
ox-like.
Which
seemed
likelier
to
decide
the
nation's
fate,
the
earnest
thinkers
indoors,
or
the
ox-like
sleeper
without?
Which
seemed
more
vital
to
Israel,
the
bearded
council
in
King
Saul's
tent,
or
the
light-hearted
shepherd-boy
hurling
stones
across
the
brook
at
Bethlehem?
At
Laersdalsoren
it
was
as
before:
deluded
by
Borgrevinck's
eloquent
plausibility,
all
put
their
heads
in
the
noose,
their
lives
and
country
in
his
hands,
seeing
in
this
treacherous
monster
a
very
angel
of
self-sacrificing
patriotism.
All?
No,
not
all.
Old
Sveggum
was
there.
He
could
neither
read
nor
write.
That
was
his
excuse
for
not
signing.
He
could
not
read
a
letter
in
a
book,
but
he
could
read
something
of
the
hearts
of
men.
As
the
meeting
broke
up
he
whispered
to
Axel
Tanberg:
"Is
his
own
name
on
that
paper?"
And
Axel,
starting
at
the
thought,
said:
"No."
Then
said
Sveggum:
"I
don't
trust
that
man.
They
ought
to
know
of
this
at
Nystuen."
For
there
was
to
be
the
really
important
meeting.
But
how
to
let
them
know
was
the
riddle.
Borgrevinck
was
going
there
at
once
with
his
fast
Horses.
Sveggum's
eye
twinkled
as
he
nodded
toward
the
Storbuk,
standing
tied
to
the
fence.
Borgrevinck
leaped
into
his
sleigh
and
went
off
at
speed,
for
he
was
a
man
of
energy.
Sveggum
took
the
bells
from
the
harness,
untied
the
Reindeer,
stepped
into
the
pulk.
He
swung
the
single
rein,
clucked
to
the
Storbuk,
and
also
turned
his
head
toward
Nystuen.
The
fast
Horses
had
a
long
start,
but
before
they
had
climbed
the
eastward
hill
Sveggum
needs
must
slack,
so
as
not
to
overtake
them.
He
held
back
till
they
came
to
the
turn
above
the
woods
at
Maristuen;
then
he
quit
the
road,
and
up
the
river
flat
he
sped
the
Buk,
a
farther
way,
but
the
only
way
to
bring
them
there
ahead.
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