IN NATURES GARDEN THE MOUNTAINEER first saw the light of day in a deep ravine, far from the haunts of man, from under an overhanging rock, where his mother had made for herself and him a soft couch of earth which she had scooped up with her sharp forefeet. It was an awfull day on which to come into the world. A terrific gale tore through the trees on all sides, bending the feathery tops of the pines to breaking point the rain came down in sheets, and vivid flashes of lightning were followed by terrifying peals of thunder, which reverberated among the cliffs and echoed and re-echoed in all their awe-inspiring wonder, as though each succeeding peal was intended to strike terror into the hearts of every living thing upon those mountain ranges. The lahr, however, paid little heed to the elements, for were they not, one and all, accustomed to the storms that howl round their mountain fastnesses from babyhood Tenifying though it was to the little one, it was nothing to those more advanced in age, who had taken cover from many even worse during the winter months. The little mother sat unmovable, shielding her newly born kid from the gale with her body, and occasionally licking him with her warm tongue. A small herd of does with two young bucks took shelter from the rain and wind in a miniature cave in the cliffs a little further down, and the little mother had every confidence in the all-seeing eyes of the sentry and her own nose to give her timely warning of danger. The storm passed almost as suddenly as it had come, and the herd left the cliffs to browse on the newly sprouting grasses among the trees in the ravine, but the mother sat on with her kid, only leaving him for a few minutes to pick up a few mouthfuls which grew from the ledge of rock immediately below her. In a couple of days the little kid was able to ..... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.