132 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



" sheer hole trew them so you could see the sk}'/' as the 

 old fenman and ratter said gravel}'. He knew, too, the fir- 

 trees where they slept after the reed-beds had been cut. 



And so the dead scavenger goes to feed the ferret, and 

 the ferret goes to kill the living scavenger — the rat ; and 

 thus the great fly-wheel of life revolves. 



