MYSTEEIES ON FOOT. 77 



aU the evening from the vaUey below; many 

 little birds sang and called; and 



" The gossip of swaUows fiUcd all tte sky." 



But the bluejays? 



The bluejays, too, were there. One saucily 

 flirted his tail at me from the top of a tree; an- 

 other sly rogue flaunted his blue robes over a 

 wall and disappeared the other side; a third 

 shrieked in n.y face and slipped away behmd a 

 tree; but one and all were far too wise to re- 

 veal their domestic secrets. I knew mysteries 

 were on foot among them, as we know little folk 

 are in mischief by their unnatural stiUness, but 

 I knew also that not until every jay baby was 

 out of the nest, and there was nothing to hide 

 should I see that cunning bird in his usual 

 noisy, careless role. 



The peculiarity of that particular corner of na- 

 ture's handiwork was that any way you went you 

 had to climb, except east, where you might roU 

 if you chose; in fact, you could hardly do other- 

 wise. The first day of my hunt I started west. 

 I climbed a hill devoted to pasture, passed 

 through the bars, and faced my mountain It 

 presented a compact front of spruce-trees closely 

 Interlaced at the ground, and of course impas- 

 sable But a way opened in the midst, the path 

 of a mountain brook, deserted now and dry. I 



