172 



to be wriggling through the bushes, making 

 no sound, but showing a wavy line of quiver- 

 Aomenos ing tops as he went. 



Outcast Down the shore, a little way, was a higher 

 point, with a fallen tree that commanded a 

 view of half the lake. I had stood there a 

 few days before, while watching to determine 

 the air paths and lines of flight that shel- 

 drakes use in passing up and down the lake, 

 — for birds have runways, or rather fly ways, 

 just as foxes do. Mooween evidently knew 

 the spot; the alders showed that he was 

 heading straight for it, to look out on the 

 lake and see what the alarm was about. As 

 yet he had no idea what peril had threatened 

 him; though, like all wild creatures, he had 

 obeyed the first clang of a danger note on 

 the instant. Not a creature in the woods, 

 from Mooween down to Tookhees the wood 

 mouse, but has learned from experience that, 

 in matters of this kind, it is well to jump to 

 cover first and investigate afterwards. 



I paddled swiftly to the point, landed and 

 crept to a rock from which I could just see 

 the fallen tree. Mooween was coming. " My 



