THE WATER-HEN 
out for enemies on their trail, but it seemed 
as though they were the only things which 
stirred abroad that night. The woods were still, 
as if lying in expectation. Cearc-uise, who had 
lived in and about water for twelve months, 
recognized the feel of it in the air, and knew 
that heavy rain was coming before morning. 
They crossed the narrow strip of wood which 
lay between the Pool and the 
open meadow. There was a 
loosely built stone wall here. 
The chick saw his mother's 
white tail-feathers suddenly 
disappear as she fluttered to 
the top, and he tried to 
follow her, but his claws 
slipped on the stones and he 
slithered back, cheeping help- 
lessly. This was the first 
serious set-back to their pro- 
gress, and the woodside was 
not a safe place to linger in ; 
nevertheless, as a moorhen 
likes to talk over most situations at length, 
Cearc-uise balanced herself upon the top of 
the wall and began to call and reason with the 
chick more loudly than was at all wise. At 
first he obeyed, and tried frantically to climb 
up the smooth stone, but when he found that 
c 33 
