ZERO BIRDS 31 
tain told the Band that this was the trail of the 
fierce blarina shrew, one of the killers. Without eyes 
or ears, this strange little blind death eats its weight 
in flesh every twenty-four hours, and slays under 
ground, above ground, and even under the water. 
The Band regarded the strange tracks with enormous 
interest. 
“How big do they grow?” anxiously inquired 
Henny-Penny, the littlest but one of the Band. 
“Just a little longer than my middle finger,” the 
Captain reassured him. 
Suddenly, in the very midst of this zodlogical 
bric-a-brac, a great thought came to each and every 
of the Band simultaneously. 
**Lunch-time !”’ they shouted with one accord. 
Then occurred the tragedy of the trip. Ina pocket 
of his shooting-jacket the Captain had a package of 
sandwiches containing just one apiece, no more, no 
less. The rest of the lunch, thick scones, raisins, 
chocolate, saveloy sausage, bacon, and other neces- 
saries and luxuries, had been wrapped up in another 
package and intrusted to Honey as head of the com- 
missary department for the day — and Honey had 
left the package on the hall table! It was a grief 
almost too great to be borne. The Band regarded 
their guilty comrade reproachfully. Two large tears 
ran down Honey’s cheeks. Alice-Palace, the littlest 
of them all, gave way to unrestrained emotions which 
bade fair to frighten away the most blood-thirsty of 
blarinas within the radius of a mile. 
Then it was that the Captain rose to the emer- 
