266 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



indescribable music. It dropped into my ears 

 like rain from heaven. 



One bird was calling just over the road- 

 side wall. I stole nearer and nearer, taking 

 a few cautious steps after each bleat, till 

 finally I could hear the water dropping into 

 the hogshead. I wonder how many readers 

 will know what I mean by that. After each 

 call, as a kind of pendant to it, there comes, 

 if you are very, very close, a curious small 

 sound, exactly as if a drop of water (the 

 comparison is not mine) had fallen into a 

 hogshead already half full. I had not heard 

 it for years. In fact, I had forgotten it, 

 and heard it now for the first few times 

 without recollecting what it was. 



Then the bird rose always invisible, of 

 course, for by this time there was no thought 

 of seeing anything and went skyward in 

 broad circles, till he was at the top of his 

 flight, and when he descended he came to 

 earth on the other side of the road, a good 

 distance away. He had seen me, I suppose, 

 with those big bull's-eyes of his, which do so 

 much to heighten the oddity of his personal 

 appearance. 



