278 BIRDS AND MAN 



were not hurt after all. You didn't know what you 

 were doing — you had no young ones of your own." 



" Hadn't I indeed ! My little ones were there 

 close by in the drey." 



" And when they were out of the drey did you 

 teach them to run about in the tree, and jump from 

 one branch to another, and pass from tree to tree ? " 



" I never saw them leave the drey — I was shot." 



" Where was that, squirrel ? " 



" In the Treve Woods where the big beeches are, 

 beyond Lostwithiel." 



" Never ! Why, that's just where I lived and was 

 shot, too. Did it hurt you, squirrel ? " 



" I don't know. I saw a flash and remembered 

 no more until I found myself dead in the man's 

 pocket pressed against some wet soft thing. Did 

 it hurt you ? " 



" Yes, very much. I fell when he fired and tried to 

 get away, but he chased and caught me and the blood 

 ran out on to his hand. He wiped it off on his coat, 

 then squeezed my sides with his finger and thumb 

 until I was dead, then put me in his pocket. There 

 was some dead warm soft thing in it." 



Here there was a break in the talk owing to a 

 momentary lull in the wind. I listened intently, 

 but the shrieking and wailing noises without had 



