THE SPAWN 13 



be the product of nature's choicest selection, 

 for she on her side and he on his were 

 typical of the best of the species. 



It was on a memorable morning twenty- 

 two days after the eggs were deposited that 

 the spawn began to hatch. Little tiny 

 chubs one fourth of an inch long were in 

 the water where days before the mother 

 had kept watch over stillness; small wee 

 bits of protoplasm that expressed in random 

 reflex movement the life that had been given 

 to them. 



Four days passed. As morning advanced 

 the little minnows rose nearer the surface 

 and were warmed; at evening they settled 

 back on the nest. The mother kept up a 

 circling guard, going round and round the 

 school. 



Slowly the tiny sac disappeared from 

 their bodies. They came clean ; their birth 

 process was over. Then for the first time 

 the mother bass showed signs of restlessness. 

 It was as if, her task nearly finished, she 

 fretted to be free: just as the collie, the 

 sheep corralled, yawns her boredom and 

 whimpers for the distant places. 



She watched the inchoate movements of 



