need to appease their hunger. But we and you,
tender-hearted priestess of a gracious goddess--leading us friends of
the Muse--we pursue a different course! What a mound of corpses! And
what will become of it? Perhaps a few geese and ducks will go into the
kitchen; but the rest--the red flamingoes and the brave pelicans who
feed their young with their own blood? They are only fit to throw away,
for the Biamites eat no game that is shot, and your black slaves, too,
would refuse to taste it. So we destroy hundreds of lives for pastime.
Base word! As if we had so many superfluous hours at our disposal ere we
descend into Hades. A philosopher among brutes would be entitled to cry
out, 'Shame upon you, raging monster!'"

"Shame on you, you perpetual grumbler," interrupted Daphne in an
offended tone. "Who would ever have thought it cruel to test the steady
hand and the keen eye upon senseless animals in the joyous chase? But
what shall we call the fault-finder, who spoils his friend's innocent
enjoyment of a happy morning by his sharp reproaches?"

Hermon shrugged his shoulders, and, in a voice which expressed far
more compassion than resentment, answered: "If this pile of dead birds
pleases you, go on with the slaughter. You can sometimes save the arrows
and catch the swarming game with your hands. If your lifeless victims
yonder were human beings, after all, they would have cause to thank you;
for what is existence?"

"To these creatures, everything," said Myrtilus, the Alexandrian's
other cousin, beckoning to Daphne, who had summoned him to her aid by
a beseeching glance, to draw nearer. "Gladly as I would always and
everywhere uphold your cause, I can not do so this time. Only look here!
Your arrow merely broke the wing of yonder sea eagle, and he is just
recovering from the shock. What a magnificent fellow! How wrathfully and
vengefully his eyes sparkle! How fiercely he stretches his brave head
toward us in helpless fury, and--step back!--how vigorously, spite of
the pain of his poor, wounded, drooping pinion, he flaps the other, and
raises his yellow claws to punish his foes! His plumage glistens and
shines exquisitely where it lies smooth, and how savagely he puffs
out the feathers on his neck! A wonderful spectacle! The embodiment
of powerful life! And the others by his side. We transformed the poor
creatures into a motionless, miserable mass, and just now they were
cleaving the air with their strong wings, proclaimi