38 FRESH WOODS. 



whatever else it is called) and his scarlet 

 wattles hung down over his beak and from 

 his cheeks like flaming flags of wrath ; he 

 stamped about with his feet, and trailed the 

 points of his down-stretched wings along the 

 ground. He was in a rage, and I wondered 

 what on earth, in that peaceful scene, sur- 

 rounded as he was by his happy family, 

 could possibly have aroused his ire. 



Looking over into the adjoining field I saw 

 our neighbour's flock, and the Sultan thereof 

 was strutting about in the same preposterous 

 way, now and again uttering a loud note of 

 defiance, which sounded more like bother- 

 other-other-ation than anything else. Pre- 

 sently a hen turkey made her way through a 

 glat in the hedge, and began picking about 

 in our orchard, in a make-believe-uncon- 

 scious way, as though she had a perfect right 

 to be there, but knowing all the time that she 

 was a thief and an intruder. 



She was immediately followed, one by one, 

 by the whole family, last of all by the com- 

 mander-in-chief himself; and they spread 

 out in skirmishing order, pretending to be 

 innocently picking up worms. This was 

 altogether too much for our already-excited 

 Sultan ; it was aggravating enough to have 

 defiance hurled at him over the hedge, but 



