ZERO BIRDS 31 



tain told the Band that this was the trail of the 

 fierce blarina shrew, one of the killers. Without eyes 

 or ears, this strange little blind death eats its weight 

 in flesh every twenty-four hours, and slays under 

 ground, above ground, and even under the water. 

 The Band regarded the strange tracks with enormous 

 interest. 



"How big do they grow?" anxiously inquired 

 Heimy-Penny, the littlest but one of the Band. 



"Just a little longer than my middle finger," the 

 Captain reassured him. 



Suddenly, in the very midst of this zoological 

 bric-a-brac, a great thought came to each and every 

 of the Band simultaneously. 



"Lunch-time !" they shouted with one accord. 



Then occurred the tragedy of the trip. In a pocket 

 of his shooting-jacket the Captain had a package of 

 sandwiches containing just one apiece, no more, no 

 less. The rest of the lunch, thick scones, raisins, 

 chocolate, saveloy sausage, bacon, and other neces- 

 saries and luxuries, had been wrapped up in another 

 package and intrusted to Honey as head of the com- 

 missary department for the day — and Honey had 

 left the package on the hall table ! It was a grief 

 almost too great to be borne. The Band regarded 

 their guilty comrade reproachfully. Two large tears 

 ran down Honey's cheeks. Alice-Palace, the littlest 

 of them all, gave way to unrestrained emotions which 

 bade fair to frighten away the most blood-thirsty of 

 blarinas within the radius of a mile. 



Then it was that the Captain rose to the emer- 



