Atalapha, a Winged Brownie 
and the heartless human laughed triumphant, then 
ran to the margin to look for his victim. 
One wing was useless, but Atalapha was swim- 
ming bravely with the other. He had nearly 
reached the land when the boy reached out with 
a stick and raked him ashore, then stooped to se- 
cure the victim; but Atalapha gave such a succes- 
sion of harsh shrieks of pain and anger that the 
boy recoiled. He came again, however, with a tin 
can; the wounded Bat was roughly pushed in with 
a stick and carried to the house to be shut up ina 
cage. 
That boy was not deliberately cruel or wicked. 
He was simply ignorant and thoughtless. He 
had no idea that the Bat was a sensitive, high- 
strung creature, a mortal of absolutely blameless 
life, a hidden worker, a man-defender from the evil 
powers that plot and walk in darkness, the real 
Brownie of the woods, the uncrowned king of the 
kindly little folk of Shadowland; and so in striking 
down Atalapha the fool had harmed his own, but 
the linking of his life with the inner chain of life 
was hidden from him. Cruelty was far from his 
thoughts; it began with the hunting instinct, then 
came the desire to possess, and the gratification of 
a kindly curiosity—all good enough. But the 
methods were hard on the creature caught. The 
180 
