' 



" On they go to a fence-stake." 



lay upon the grass, and, for safety, had been left 

 directly under the fence. The cows might not 

 step on them here, but nothing prevented their 

 crushing the fragile things with their noses. 



Lengthwise, upon one of the rails, slept the 

 mother. She zigzagged off at my approach, daz- 

 zled and uncertain in the white light of the 

 noon, making no outcry nor stopping an instant 

 to watch the fate of her eggs. She acted like a 

 huge bat, slinking and dodging, out of her ele- 

 ment in the light, and anxious to be hid. She 

 did not seem like a creature that had a voice ; 

 [154] 



