MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS 201 



black burrow, while the mate comes forth and 

 spreads her wings out over the darkening waters, 

 not to return, it may be, until the day and the 

 night have passed and dusk comes creeping once 

 more over the sea. 



But why waste words to make those who can- 

 not understand know why we were willing to risk 

 limb and life on the Rocks, not to mention the 

 crossing of Tillamook Bar, in order to watch the 

 coming and going of birds no larger than my 

 hand ? To them I speak in parables. And to you 

 with hearts that understand I need not speak at 

 all, for you know why we took the tug at Tilla- 

 mook, why we fought for hours the three great 

 breakers on the narrow, dangerous bar, why we 

 steamed miles down the coast to the big rocks, 

 where we landed amid the din of screaming gulls 

 and bellowing sea-lions — why, in short, we never 

 dreamed of counting the cost of watching for 

 the petrels to come home on Shag Rock. 



It is cheapest and safest, and, perhaps sanest, 

 not to have any loves or enthusiasms. But it is 

 also very stupid. A person so lacking might 

 cross the ocean a hundred times and never see a 

 stormy petrel. More than that, such a person 



