CHAPTER VIII 



THE CRADLE IN THE REEDS 



the eastern side of the lake there 

 was a long fringe of reeds. These 

 varied in width ; in some spots they were 

 twenty yards wide, and in other places 

 only a few feet divided the bank from 

 the open water. Beyond the reeds on the 

 banks grew a whole host of wild flowers, 

 and in the months of spring it was 

 nothing more or less than a bower of 

 sweet-scented blossoms, filled with a 

 chorus of song from the throats of a 

 thousand birds. The reeds ended in a 

 small creek, and here the still water was 

 overgrown with weeds, and later on in 

 the year we saw the baby Moorhens 

 running about on the leaves of water- 



