THE HOODED CROW 
last morsel and now they were waiting for it 
to complete its work in him. There was nothing 
else in the whole countryside left for them to eat. 
So much he saw, and then another paroxysm 
seized him. When it passed off, and he could 
see clearly again, both crows were standing a 
little distance away, preening their feathers un- 
concernedly. But their tracks showed how 
they had walked round and round him, trying 
to summon up courage to deal the death-blow ; 
and there was a long smear where the wing of 
the bolder of the two had flicked the snow as 
he bounced aside startled when his intended 
victim's eyes opened. 
Thus they watched him for an hour, while the 
life in him fought a tough battle with the 
poison, and slowly conquered it. Every time 
that he closed his eyes he heard his persecutors 
hop stealthily nearer, and he dared not relax his 
vigilance for more than a minute at a time lest 
they should rush upon him and take him 
unawares. A loathing of them and their silent 
impatience seized him something of the same 
horror which had driven Geirr-fiad the Hare 
up the mountain long after his strength was 
spent. He broke away from them suddenly, 
half-hopping, half-flying among the rocks. The 
crows followed eagerly : they had seen the 
game start in such despairing panic before. 
'33 
