378 



WILD SPAIK. 



sitting on the grass, others standing on one leg with heads 

 snugly tacked away under their back feathers. We had 

 already reached the critical point, and the ponies well know 

 now the importance of caution — step by step, with a halt 

 at every fourth or fifth to crop a mouthful of grass, they 

 slowly advance. We had proceeded thus to within a shot 

 and a half of the still silent geese, when from an interven- 

 ing belt of rush there sprang a couple of the half-wild, 

 blaek pigs of the wilderness. Away they scampered, 

 jostling and fighting with each other in their fright, and 



GREY LAI.; GEESE PLIGHTING— DAYBREAK. 



squealing as only pigs can squeal. In an instant the 

 geese were on the alert — every neck at full stretch, every 

 eye seeking keenly the cause of the unwonted uproar. From 

 the sentinel gander came the low, clear alarm-note — 

 Honk ! honk ! The rest were still silent, but they knew 

 full well the significance of those low warning notes. A 

 few seconds more and, despite our utmost care, the whole 



