, back into the woods again, shy, alert, tense 

 as a watching fox, to find out what the fear- 

 <3^Ae O/'Beec/i ful thing was that could make such a com- 

 ^y^frrdgfe motion in the quiet woods. 

 5^ And when he found out at last — ah, that 



was a discovery beside which the panther's 

 kittens are as nothing, as I now think of 

 them. One day in the woods, near the spot 

 where the awful thunder used to burst away, 

 the child heard a cluck and a kwii-kwit, and 

 saw a beautiful bird dodging, gliding, halt- 

 ing, hiding in the underbrush, watching the 

 child's every motion. And when he ran for- 

 ward to put his cap over the bird, it burst 

 away, and then — whirr ! whirr ! whirr ! a 

 whole covey of grouse roared up all about 

 him. The terror of it weakened his legs, 

 so that he fell down in the eddying leaves 

 and covered his ears. But this time he knew 

 what it was, at last ; in a moment he was up 

 and running, not away, but fast as his little 

 legs could carry him after the last bird that 

 he saw hurtling away among the trees, with 

 a birch branch, touched by his wings, nod- 

 ding good-by behind him. 



