to eat any of them, but darted up, and they after 

 him. On up he went, round and round in a 

 rapid, mounting spiral, till only one of the dar- 

 ing redwings followed. I watched. Up they 

 went, higher than I had ever seen a blackbird 

 venture before. And against such unequal 

 odds ! But the hawk was scared and had not 

 stopped to look back. He circled ; the black- 

 bird cut across inside and caught him on almost 

 every round. And still higher in pure bravado 

 the redwing forced him. I began to tremble 

 for the plucky bird, when I saw him turn, half 

 fold his shining wings, and shoot straight down 

 —a meteor of jet with fire flying from its opposite 

 sides— down, down, while I held my breath. 

 Suddenly the wings flashed, and he was scaling 

 a steep incline ; another flash, a turn, and he 

 was upon a slower plane — had thrown himself 

 against the air and settled upon the swaying top 

 of a brown cattail. 



A quiet had been creeping over the swamp 

 and meadow. The dry rasp of a dragon-fly's 

 wings was loud in the grass. The stream be- 

 neath the beeches darkened and grew moody as 

 the light neared its noon intensity ; the beech- 

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