Kookooskoos and the Wrong Rat. 61 



wet with blood. More startled than ever, I sprang 

 through the thicket, looking, listening everywhere for 

 sight or sound of my enemy. Still no creature bigger 

 than a wood mouse; no movement save that of nod- 

 ding fir tips ; no sound but the thumping of my own 

 heart, and, far behind me, a sudden rush and a bump 

 or two as the frightened deer broke away ; then per- 

 fect stillness again, as if nothing had ever lived in the 

 thickets. 



I was little more than a boy ; and I went home that 

 night more puzzled and more frightened than I have 

 ever been, before or since, in the woods. I ran into 

 the doctor's office on my way. He found three cuts 

 in my scalp, and below them two shorter ones, where 

 pointed things seemed to have been driven through 

 to the bone. He looked at me queerly when I told 

 my story. Of course he did not believe me, and I 

 made no effort to persuade him. Indeed, I scarcely 

 believed myself. But for the blood which stained my 

 handkerchief, and the throbbing pain in my head, 

 I should have doubted the reality of the whole 

 experience. 



That night I started up out of sleep, some time 

 towards morning, and said before I was half awake: 

 "It was an owl that hit you on the head of course 

 it was an owl ! " Then I remembered that, years 



