246 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



time they are unusually faint, and are lost 

 almost immediately. Only for my acquaint- 

 ance with the matter I should assume that 

 the bird had flown away, and that my even- 

 ing was lost. As it is, I continue to listen. 

 Once and again I catch the sounds. The 

 fellow is still rising. I can see him, but only 

 in my mind's eye. Those black clouds hide 

 him quite as effectually as if he were behind 

 them. Still I can see him. I know he has 

 gone up in a broad spiral up, up, up, as 

 on a winding staircase. 



Now, after silence, begins a different sound, 

 more musical, more clearly vocal ; breathless, 

 broken, eager, passionate, ecstatic. And now, 

 far aloft in the sky, where the clouds are of 

 a lighter color, I suddenly catch sight of the 

 bird, a dark speck, shooting this way and 

 that, descending in sharp zigzags, whistling 

 with his last gasps. And now, as if ex- 

 hausted, and well he may be, he drops 

 to earth (I see him come down) very near 

 me, much nearer than I had thought. 



Spneak, he calls. I know exactly what is 

 coming. At intervals, just as before, he re- 

 peats the sound, till suddenly he is on the 



