THE HEART OF THE WOODS. 61 



stillness of those whom I have surprised and who 

 have, on the instant, sprung to their coverts and 

 are waiting impatiently until I have gone, to re 

 sume their interrupted frolic ! I have often 

 watched and waited here before in vain, but surely 

 to-day I shall beguile these hidden folk into revela 

 tion of that wonderful life they have suddenly 

 suspended ! So I throw myself at the foot of a 

 great pine, and wait ; the minutes move slowly 

 across the unseen dial of the day, and I have be 

 come so still and motionless that I am part of this 

 secluded world. The sun shines abroad, but I have 

 forgotten it; there are clouds passing all day in their 

 aerial journeyings, but they cast no shadow over 

 me ; even the flight of the hours is unnoticed. 

 Eternity might come and I should be no wiser, I 

 should see no change ; for does it not already hold 

 these vast dim aisles and solitudes within its 

 peaceful empire ? And is there not here the slow 

 procession of birth, decay, and death, in that sub 

 lime order of growth which we call immortality ? 



I wait and watch, and I can wait forever if need 

 be. Suddenly from the depths of the forest there 

 comes a note of penetrating sweetness, wild, magi 

 cal, ethereal ; I slowly raise myself and wait. 

 Surely this is the signal, and in a moment I shall 

 see the dim spaces between the trees peopled and 

 animate. There is a moment s pause, and then 

 again that strange, mysterious song rings through 

 the listening forest. It touches me like a sudden 



