76 More Tales of the Birds 



high time to swim, for the water was up to his 

 middle and higher, and swayed him to and fro 

 in a way that made the angler watch him 

 eagerly. Then came a splash and a plunge, 

 and his head was seen working up against the 

 current, zigzagging to diminish the force of it. 

 Twenty yards is a long way in such a stream, 

 but if he could once get under the lee of that 

 great boulder he would do. And in something 

 like five minutes he was under the stone, and 

 then on it. 



A strange sight it was to see a naked 

 human creature sitting cross-legged on a boulder 

 in such a flood ! But he has caught the truant, 

 and now he is tying that handy gut line round 

 his leg. And then, standing up on the boulder, 

 he flings the bird shorewards, one end of the 

 line being still fast round his wrist. 



The bird sank on the water, and the man 

 plunged in ; fighting with the current that was 

 sweeping him down, he made for the shore, 

 and reached it breathless far below the stepping- 

 stones, where the angler pulled him out of 

 the water as joyfully as he ever pulled a 



