The Witchery of Wa-Wa 5 



third visit, he was leading his battalion in to feed at 

 gray dawn, when a long-legged, lathy-looking, brown- 

 faced boy suddenly rose from a pile of corn-fodder 

 and shot at him. Wa-Wa felt something hot slice 

 across his breast, and for a moment his strong flight 

 wavered. Then he recovered himself, and, shouting 

 defiance at his foe's single-barrel, he led his honking 

 troop five miles away to a safer ground. But before 

 departing he took a good look at his enemy, and 

 the mental picture never faded. The long, lean 

 figure, the smooth, swart face, the black hair, and 

 the great, staring eyes were unmistakable, and 

 Wa-Wa vowed to get even or, as he put it, " hunk ! " 



For weeks the wound bothered him, but at last 

 it healed. Yet the mark of it remained. When- 

 ever Wa-Wa reared his long body upright and bent 

 his snaky black neck to arrange his lower plumage, 

 he saw a snow-white streak amid his dressy gray. 

 And every time he saw it his eyes would gleam and 

 he'd hiss savagely and snap at the grass. 



" Why do you brood over it, dear ? That miser- 

 able boy is not worth remembering," his wife would 

 say. In her heart she was rather proud of Wa-Wa's 

 badge of having been in action, and she almost 

 wished that the shot could have raked both sides 

 alike, for a white line on both sides would have 

 been so dressy and so different from anything worn 

 by any of the other ganders. She used to declare 

 that she loved to stand upon Wa-Wa's left, for then 

 the white line exactly matched the crescent-shaped 

 white cravat which she always wore. She never 

 said so much to Wa-Wa but once. That time he 

 looked at her with a perfectly horrible stare then 



