THE COMING OF SPRING IQ 



True, I thought, Spring will not shake her 

 garments to the breeze and dance and sing in full 

 abandonment without her baptism. Earth and sun 

 are ready, but water must complete the creative trio. 

 But where was Nell ? There were the bars, with 

 only the neck strap tethered to them. 



"Goose," I said to myself as I looked, "you 

 were so excited by the prospects of finding 

 Arbutus that you simply noosed Nell instead of 

 pulling the strap through the bit. If you have 

 to walk home and find your very best camera 

 sprinkled in sections along the way you will have 

 no one but yourself to blame!" 



But Nell had merely freed herself, in resentment 

 at being tied instead of wholly trusted, and was 

 grazing along a little beyond the turn, looking over 

 her shoulder every few minutes in the direction 

 where I had disappeared. The chaise and its con- 

 tents were right side up, and upon the seat lay a 

 single sprig of Arbutus, a wand of blossoming 

 Shadbush, and two exquisitely spotted brook trout 

 resting on a few dry beech leaves. How had the 

 old man placed them there? 



"Well done," I said to Nell, rubbing her nose 

 with my cheek. "Time o' Year approves of us 

 and believes that we are honest folk, so he has 



