again; robins that had sung in many a northern 
village the spring before, and had added pleasure 
to the lives of men and women—yes, and 
brought smiles to the lips of little boys and 
little girls as well. And now through the deep 
shadows a weasel came gliding along. A family 
of skunks and some raccoons also lived in the 
glade, and all of them are skilful in dealing 
with wounded birds. A gray fox came trotting 
across the road. It stopped and sniffed the air 
a moment, then turned toward the cedar 
thicket. They all lived well that night—those 
wild things that hunt their prey when the world 
is asleep, each according to the nature that God 
has given it. 
i 
Every night or two during the period that 
Longtoe came to roost in the cedar glade, bands 
of robin hunters visited the place. Yet so vast 
were the numbers of birds resorting here that 
every evening when they came to roost, there 
seemed to be just as many as ever. 
From the cedar swamp, Longtoe wandered 
68 
