37& 



77> e Story 

 of Kopseep 



the woods and mountain caves, expecting 

 game every moment, but not knowing whether 

 you would find a rabbit that you wanted, or 

 a big grizzly bear or a dragon that might 

 want you. 



His method of hunting here never varied. 

 He would glide among the waving green 

 fronds, trying, as every other wild creature 

 does, to see everything without himself being 

 seen, until he spied a little cave or den that 

 might hide a soft-shelled lobster. Then he 

 would settle down where the sea growth hid 

 him and watch all the surroundings steadily. 

 If nothing stirred, and if no suspicious glint of 

 bronze or silver scales flickered in the waving 

 forest, he would glide up and peer into the 

 den. If the lobster were there, and not too 

 big, he dragged him out and ate him quickly ; 

 but at the first suspicious glint or movement 

 he would whirl like a flash, making the deli- 

 cate seaweeds roll and quiver violently to 

 hide his flight, and the next instant he was 

 fifty feet away and hidden so cunningly that 

 the big shark or sea-bass would drive straight 

 over his head without seeing him. 



