BA TS. i 3 i 



with slings and stones, bent on revenge, the chance 

 for prevention of crime being past : the sky-foxes have 

 already settled on the seaward orchards, and may have 

 stripped the best trees by this time. 



The Kalongs know what is coming, and are all in a 

 flutter, ready to decamp at a moment's notice, but still 

 resolved to make the best of the remaining minutes, and 

 eating away with might and main as they hover about 

 the ripe clusters. At the sight of them the villagers 

 approach with stealthy steps, till suddenly the stones 

 begin to fly, pebbles as big as eggs hurtling through 

 the tree-tops like a storm of grape and canister. Then 

 a rush ahead, — the Kalongs have taken wing and are 

 hurrying off seaward ; but, even as they sail away in 

 headlong flight, their ranks are decimated by smaller 

 stones, and more than one sky-fox comes flopping down, 

 flopping backward also in a desperate attempt to regain 

 the shore, well knowing that in the water he will suffer 

 a speedy sea-change in the maw of an Indian shark. 



