A Strenuous Husband 365 



bitterly cold air beneath, mingled with the flying 

 sea-spray in the shape of large flakes of snow. By 

 mid-afternoon the tempest was at its height, raging 

 with utmost fury. And the pretty little hen-bird, 

 fully occupied now with her maternal cares, looked 

 appealingly at her sturdy mate, who puffed out all 

 his feathers and chirped a brave response, as if he felt 

 honoured with the commission to provide for his 

 cherished one. Just a minute or two of careful 

 preparation by sleeking down the close-lying feathers, 

 a quick caress, and with a sudden fluttering spring 

 he was gone, passing out around the precipitous rock 

 barrier almost like a larger snowflake caught in a 

 returning eddy and whirled backwards out to sea. 



Here he was in the very heart and tumult of the 

 storm, and no flap of his wings was needed, only careful 

 and instinctive steering in order to keep in the right 

 place for the reception of the propelling force to carry 

 him whither he would go. It was a strange and 

 strenuous quest. Now poised awhile in mid-air so 

 thick with snow and spindrift that the seething ocean 

 only a few feet beneath was invisible, now darting 

 confidently along the green curve of a monstrous sea, 

 unheeding the curling snowy crest above his head. 

 Anon a meteor-like dash into the creaming smooth 

 between the hollow of one sea and the broad round 

 shoulder of the next, a poise with swift fluttering 

 wings like those of a butterfly hovering over a flower 

 in the momentary calm, a sudden plunge into the 

 whirl, and forceful descent into peace, a delicious 

 mouthful and a triumphant return. And all the while 

 the keen black eyes never ceased their quest or grew 

 weary. For over an hour this fierce search for needful 

 food continued at utmost strain, then suddenly the 

 brave little bird shot into the air from a wave-trough, 



