WILD LIFE ON THE WING 
behind then* grow tall trees, so that in the 
evening; Stfiie can only tell that the sun has set 
% byt the fading 'oT the light in the sky. There 
is' neither iriobhrise nor moonset for the people 
of the Pool, for they cannot see the moon 
unless she is right overhead. Perhaps it is 
because it was so dark that the woodfolk did 
not like the Pool. The hunting paths turned 
eastward, fifty yards from the place ; and the 
Fur Folk never lay out to sun themselves on 
its banks, because by the time the sun was 
high enough to warm the water they must 
return to their lairs. I have seen honeymoon- 
ing teal swoop down, and then sheer off at an 
alder's height from the water, fearful of what 
might lurk in the thick covert round the 
edge ; and no rabbit loitered by the Pool, but 
passed on quickly. The Dark Pool had a 
sinister name in the woods. When a rare sun- 
beam struck aslant the water under the over- 
hanging branches at the north side, something 
white glimmered on the muddy bottom. That 
is why the foxes never drank at that end of the 
Pool the water was fouled. Ever since the 
cord which bound it to an anchoring stone had 
loosened, a certain shapeless thing floated just 
awash under the briars : it waited its time to 
sink down among other stones and the white 
bones which had been consigned at different 
