26 



BUSH DAYS 



TECOMA 



executioners armed with axes and 

 theodolites and all the other im- 

 plements of destruction. They did 

 not walk as executioners should, 

 with saddened steps and bowed 

 heads, but tramped cheerily by 

 with their swags and bags, talking 

 and laughing as gaily as if they 

 were going to a picnic. And all 

 through the week the bush has 

 echoed to the sound of their axes, 

 till now a path of fallen saplings 

 and marked trees shows which way 

 the work of devastation is to go. 

 All the week the birds have been 

 filled with alarm at these strange 

 doings. The honey-eaters have 

 darted in terror from bush to bush, 

 seeking some explanation ; the 

 butcher-birds have called forth 

 their disgust in ringing notes ; the 

 wrens and tits and all the smaller 

 birds have chattered and scolded in 

 vain fury; and a lone fan-tailed 

 cuckoo has wailed in misery for the 

 fate that has befallen him. 



