254 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



tainment ; as it was, my plans being quite frustrated, I 

 saw no beauty or interest in any object. Such is the 

 perversity of human nature. Never before had I heard 

 such a concert of owls ; never before had the marsh- 

 wrens twittered so cheerily, nor the wild - rice teemed 

 with such a wealth of nocturnal insect life. Nature was 

 celebrating the advent of the harvest-moon ; and yet, be- 

 cause I had planned otherwise, I was in no mood to enjoy 

 a rare opportunity for studying the meadows by moon- 

 light. 



A little later, circumstances forced me to be less fret- 

 ful and more studious. While slowly urging my skiff 

 over the soft mud by very short and most uneasy stages, 

 I reached the carcass of a dog that was being gradually 

 devoured by myriads of small eels. 



This grewsome sight recalled the unfortunate 



" Sir Thomas's body, 

 It looked so odd — he 

 Was half eaten up by the eels! 

 His waistcoat and hose, and the rest of his clothes, 

 Were all gnawed through and through; 

 And out of each shoe 

 An eel they drew, 

 And from each of his pockets they pulled out twol'* 



I would refer these lines to those who of late have in- 

 sisted upon the fact that eels are very dainty, and refuse 

 all food that they do not capture and kill. 



At last I reached the running water and was again 

 afloat, but not until long after the day had closed — a day 

 that I could wish different but in one respect ; it had 

 been too full of pleasant sights and sounds. 



