Mighty man has dominion over his badly scarred earth and every living thing on it. He has forcibly made it his. But instead of being the wise custodian of a priceless treasure, he has acted like a drunken monarch and squandered the greater part of it. The guardian has abused his trust.
It is long past the time for the guardian to come awake and somehow make amends. His ailing vessel is still green with life, and the task ahead is to keep it so.
To do that, we of the race of man must never again forget our kinship with the realm beyond our doors. Let us go out into the living night and listen and hear the voices and the music of it, and feel the slow eternal drumbeat that marks the pulse of life.
If we can hear it and feel it and know that we are part of it, perhaps some of our lost awareness will return.
Surely we shall become better guardians of our treasure.
SOURCES AND REFERENCES
Boone, J. Allen, Kinship with All Life. Harper & Brothers, 1954.
Carthy, J. D., Animal Navigation. Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1956.
Dröscher, Vitus B., The Mysterious Senses of Animals. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1965.
Fate Magazine, March, 1956; June, 1969; October, 1969; November, 1970.
Gaddis, Vincent H. and Margaret, The Strange World of Animals and Pets. Cowles Book Company, Inc., 1970.
Grey Owl, Tales of an Empty Cabin. Dodd, Mead & Company, 1936.
Kellner, Esther, Out of the Woods. Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964.
Kulish, John, Bobcats Before Breakfast. Stackpole Books, 1969.
Lilly, John C., M.D., The Mind of the Dolphin. Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1967.
Sanderson, Ivan T., Animal Treasure. The Viking Press, Inc., 1937.
Teale, Edwin Way, Wandering Through Winter. Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc., 1965.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their kindness and help in the task of research, and in the gathering of material for this book, I am deeply indebted to the following people: Mildred Moore Davenport, of the Macon Public Library of North Carolina; McKie and Ernestine Salley, of Tarpon Springs; Randy Grobe, of Sarasota; Cecil Ryder, Sr., and Cecil Ryder, Jr.; and Vincent H. and Margaret Gaddis, whose book The Strange World of Animals and Pets was an invaluable reference.
About the Author
Alexander Key (1904–1979) started out as an illustrator before he began writing science fiction novels for young readers. He has published many titles, including Sprockets: A Little Robot, Mystery of the Sassafras Chair, and The Forgotten Door, winner of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Key’s novel Escape to Witch Mountain was adapted for film in 1975, 1995, and 2009.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1972 by Alexander Key
Cover design by Jesse Hayes
ISBN: 978-1-4976-5254-5
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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The Strange White Doves Page 7