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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wood Magic, by Richard Jefferies, Illustrated
+by Eleanor Vere Boyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Wood Magic
+       A Fable
+
+
+Author: Richard Jefferies
+
+
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2008  [eBook #25299]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOOD MAGIC***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Malcolm Farmer and the Project Gutenberg Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 25299-h.htm or 25299-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/2/9/25299/25299-h/25299-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/2/9/25299/25299-h.zip)
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Obvious minor typesetting errors in punctuation have been
+      silently corrected.
+
+      One sentence which began  "The gale had cracked a very
+      large bow..." has been changed for consistency with the
+      rest of the paragraph to read "The gale had cracked a very
+      large bough..."
+
+
+
+
+
+WOOD MAGIC
+
+A Fable
+
+by
+
+RICHARD JEFFERIES
+
+Author of "The Gamekeeper at Home," "Field and Hedgerow," "The Toilers
+of the Field," Etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+New Impression
+
+Longmans, Green, and Co.
+39 Paternoster Row, London
+New York, Bombay, and Calcutta
+1907
+
+All rights reserved
+
+
+
+
+_BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE._
+
+_First published, 2 vols., post 8vo, by Cassell & Co., in 1881; Reissued
+by them in one volume in 1882._
+
+_'Silver Library' Edition, June, 1883. Reprinted September, 1894;
+January, 1899; February, 1903; April, 1907._
+
+
+
+
+_Inscribed to Harold._
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+
+
+      I. Sir Bevis
+     II. At Home
+    III. Adventures of the Weasel
+     IV. Brook-Folk
+      V. Kapchack
+     VI. The Squirrel
+    VII. The Courtiers
+   VIII. The Emperor Choo Hoo
+     IX. The Council
+      X. Traitors
+     XI. The Storm in the Night
+    XII. The Old Oak.--The King's Despair
+   XIII. The Courtship in the Orchard
+    XIV. The Great Battle
+     XV. Palace Secrets
+    XVI. The New King
+   XVII. Sir Bevis and the Wind
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+
+Little need be said as to this re-issue of _Wood Magic_. It was
+originally published in two volumes, post 8vo, by Messrs. Cassell & Co.
+in 1881, and re-issued by them in one volume in 1882. The present
+edition is reprinted from the original edition. The frontispiece and
+vignette are drawn by the accomplished lady who chooses to be known as
+E. V. B., whose illustrations to the _Story Without an End_ charmed many
+boys and girls years ago, and I hope still fascinate their children.
+
+C. J. L.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WOOD MAGIC.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+SIR BEVIS.
+
+
+One morning as little "Sir" Bevis [such was his pet name] was digging in
+the farmhouse garden, he saw a daisy, and throwing aside his spade, he
+sat down on the grass to pick the flower to pieces. He pulled the
+pink-tipped petals off one by one, and as they dropped they were lost.
+Next he gathered a bright dandelion, and squeezed the white juice from
+the hollow stem, which drying presently, left his fingers stained with
+brown spots. Then he drew forth a bennet from its sheath, and bit and
+sucked it till his teeth were green from the sap. Lying at full length,
+he drummed the earth with his toes, while the tall grass blades tickled
+his cheeks.
+
+Presently, rolling on his back, he drummed again with his heels. He
+looked up at the blue sky, but only for a moment, because the glare of
+light was too strong in his eyes. After a minute, he turned on his side,
+thrust out one arm, placed his head on it, and drew up one knee, as if
+going to sleep. His little brown wrist, bared by the sleeve shortening
+as he extended his arm, bent down the grass, and his still browner
+fingers played with the blades, and every now and then tore one off.
+
+A flutter of wings sounded among the blossom on an apple-tree close by,
+and instantly Bevis sat up, knowing it must be a goldfinch thinking of
+building a nest in the branches. If the trunk of the tree had not been
+so big, he would have tried to climb it at once, but he knew he could
+not do it, nor could he see the bird for the leaves and bloom. A puff of
+wind came and showered the petals down upon him; they fell like
+snowflakes on his face and dotted the grass.
+
+Buzz! A great bumble-bee, with a band of red gold across his back, flew
+up, and hovered near, wavering to and fro in the air as he stayed to
+look at a flower.
+
+Buzz! Bevis listened, and knew very well what he was saying. It was:
+"This is a sweet little garden, my darling; a very pleasant garden; all
+grass and daisies, and apple-trees, and narrow patches with flowers and
+fruit-trees one side, and a wall and currant-bushes another side, and a
+low box-hedge and a haha, where you can see the high mowing grass quite
+underneath you; and a round summer-house in the corner, painted as blue
+inside as a hedge-sparrow's egg is outside; and then another haha with
+iron railings, which you are always climbing up, Bevis, on the fourth
+side, with stone steps leading down to a meadow, where the cows are
+feeding, and where they have left all the buttercups standing as tall
+as your waist, sir. The gate in the iron railings is not fastened, and
+besides, there is a gap in the box-hedge, and it is easy to drop down
+the haha wall, but that is mowing grass there. You know very well you
+could not come to any harm in the meadow; they said you were not to go
+outside the garden, but that's all nonsense, and very stupid. _I_ am
+going outside the garden, Bevis. Good-morning, dear." Buzz! And the
+great bumble-bee flew slowly between the iron railings, out among the
+buttercups, and away up the field.
+
+Bevis went to the railings, and stood on the lowest bar; then he opened
+the gate a little way, but it squeaked so loud upon its rusty hinges
+that he let it shut again. He walked round the garden along beside the
+box-hedge to the patch by the lilac trees; they were single lilacs,
+which are much more beautiful than the double, and all bowed down with a
+mass of bloom. Some rhubarb grew there, and to bring it up the faster,
+they had put a round wooden box on it, hollowed out from the sawn butt
+of an elm, which was rotten within and easily scooped. The top was
+covered with an old board, and every time that Bevis passed he lifted up
+the corner of the board and peeped in, to see if the large red, swelling
+knobs were yet bursting.
+
+One of these round wooden boxes had been split and spoilt, and half of
+it was left lying with the hollow part downwards. Under this shelter a
+toad had his house. Bevis peered in at him, and touched him with a twig
+to make him move an inch or two, for he was so lazy, and sat there all
+day long, except when it rained. Sometimes the toad told him a story,
+but not very often, for he was a silent old philosopher, and not very
+fond of anybody. He had a nephew, quite a lively young fellow, in the
+cucumber frame on the other side of the lilac bushes, at whom Bevis also
+peered nearly every day after they had lifted the frame and propped it
+up with wedges.
+
+The gooseberries were no bigger than beads, but he tasted two, and then
+a thrush began to sing on an ash-tree in the hedge of the meadow.
+"Bevis! Bevis!" said the thrush, and he turned round to listen: "My
+dearest Bevis, have you forgotten the meadow, and the buttercups, and
+the sorrel? You know the sorrel, don't you, that tastes so pleasant if
+you nibble the leaf? And I have a nest in the bushes, not very far up
+the hedge, and you may take just one egg; there are only two yet. But
+don't tell any more boys about it, or we shall not have one left. That
+is a very sweet garden, but it is very small. I like all these fields to
+fly about in, and the swallows fly ever so much farther than I can; so
+far away and so high, that I cannot tell you how they find their way
+home to the chimney. But they will tell you, if you ask them.
+Good-morning! I am going over the brook."
+
+Bevis went to the iron railings and got up two bars, and looked over;
+but he could not yet make up his mind, so he went inside the
+summer-house, which had one small round window. All the lower part of
+the blue walls was scribbled and marked with pencil, where he had
+written and drawn, and put down his ideas and notes. The lines were
+somewhat intermingled, and crossed each other, and some stretched out
+long distances, and came back in sharp angles. But Bevis knew very well
+what he meant when he wrote it all. Taking a stump of cedar pencil from
+his pocket, one end of it much gnawn, he added a few scrawls to the
+inscriptions, and then stood on the seat to look out of the round
+window, which was darkened by an old cobweb.
+
+Once upon a time there was a very cunning spider--a very cunning spider
+indeed. The old toad by the rhubarb told Bevis there had not been such a
+cunning spider for many summers; he knew almost as much about flies as
+the old toad, and caught such a great number, that the toad began to
+think there would be none left for him. Now the toad was extremely fond
+of flies, and he watched the spider with envy, and grew more angry about
+it every day.
+
+As he sat blinking and winking by the rhubarb in his house all day long,
+the toad never left off thinking, thinking, thinking about the spider.
+And as he kept thinking, thinking, thinking, so he told Bevis, he
+recollected that he knew a great deal about a good many other things
+besides flies. So one day, after several weeks of thinking, he crawled
+out of his house in the sunshine, which he did not like at all, and went
+across the grass to the iron railings, where the spider had then got his
+web. The spider saw him coming, and being very proud of his cleverness,
+began to taunt and tease him.
+
+"Your back is all over warts, and you are an old toad," he
+said. "You are so old, that I heard the swallows saying their
+great-great-great-grandmothers, when they built in the chimney, did
+not know when you were born. And you have got foolish, and past doing
+anything, and so stupid that you hardly know when it is going to rain.
+Why, the sun is shining bright, you stupid old toad, and there isn't a
+chance of a single drop falling. You look very ugly down there in the
+grass. Now, don't you wish that you were me and could catch more flies
+than you could eat? Why, I can catch wasps and bees, and tie them up so
+tight with my threads that they cannot sting nor even move their wings,
+nor so much as wriggle their bodies. I am the very cleverest and most
+cunning spider that ever lived."
+
+"Indeed, you are," replied the toad. "I have been thinking so all the
+summer; and so much do I admire you, that I have come all this way,
+across in the hot sun, to tell you something."
+
+"Tell _me_ something!" said the spider, much offended, "_I_ know
+everything."
+
+"Oh, yes, honoured sir," said the toad; "you have such wonderful eyes,
+and such a sharp mind, it is true that you know everything about the
+sun, and the moon, and the earth, and flies. But, as you have studied
+all these great and important things, you could hardly see all the very
+little trifles like a poor old toad."
+
+"Oh, yes, I can. I know everything--everything!"
+
+"But, sir," went on the toad so humbly, "this is such a little--such a
+very little--thing, and a spider like you, in such a high position of
+life, could not mind me telling you such a mere nothing."
+
+"Well, I don't mind," said the spider--"you may go on, and tell me, if
+you like."
+
+"The fact is," said the toad, "while I have been sitting in my hole, I
+have noticed that such a lot of the flies that come into this garden
+presently go into the summer-house there, and when they are in the
+summer-house, they always go to that little round window, which is
+sometimes quite black with them; for it is the nature of flies to buzz
+over glass."
+
+"I do not know so much about that," said the spider; "for I have never
+lived in houses, being an independent insect; but it is possible you may
+be right. At any rate, it is not of much consequence. You had better go
+up into the window, old toad." Now this was a sneer on the part of the
+spider.
+
+"But I can't climb up into the window," said the toad; "all I can do is
+to crawl about the ground, but you can run up a wall quickly. How I do
+wish I was a spider, like you. Oh, dear!" And then the toad turned
+round, after bowing to the clever spider, and went back to his hole.
+
+Now the spider was secretly very much mortified and angry with himself,
+because he had not noticed this about the flies going to the window in
+the summer-house. At first he said to himself that it was not true; but
+he could not help looking that way now and then, and every time he
+looked, there was the window crowded with flies. They had all the garden
+to buzz about in, and all the fields, but instead of wandering under
+the trees, and over the flowers, they preferred to go into the
+summer-house and crawl over the glass of the little window, though it
+was very dirty from so many feet. For a long time, the spider was too
+proud to go there too; but one day such a splendid blue-bottle fly got
+in the window and made such a tremendous buzzing, that he could not
+resist it any more.
+
+So he left his web by the railings, and climbed up the blue-painted
+wall, over Bevis's writings and marks, and spun such a web in the window
+as had never before been seen. It was the largest and the finest, and
+the most beautifully-arranged web that had ever been made, and it caught
+such a number of flies that the spider grew fatter every day. In a
+week's time he was so big that he could no longer hide in the crack he
+had chosen, he was quite a giant; and the toad came across the grass one
+night and looked at him, but the spider was now so bloated he would not
+recognise the toad.
+
+But one morning a robin came to the iron railings, and perched on the
+top, and put his head a little on one side, to show his black eye the
+better. Then he flew inside the summer-house, alighted in the window,
+and gobbled up the spider in an instant. The old toad shut his eye and
+opened it again, and went on thinking, for that was just what he knew
+would happen. Ever so many times in his very long life he had seen
+spiders go up there, but no sooner had they got fat than a robin or a
+wren came in and ate them. Some of the clever spider's web was there
+still when Bevis looked out of the window, all dusty and draggled, with
+the skins and wings of some gnats and a dead leaf entangled in it.
+
+As he looked, a white butterfly came along the meadow, and instantly he
+ran out, flung open the gate, rushed down the steps, and taking no heed
+of the squeak the gate made as it shut behind him, raced after the
+butterfly.
+
+The tall buttercups brushed his knees, and bent on either side as if a
+wind was rushing through them. A bennet slipped up his knickerbockers
+and tickled his leg. His toes only touched the ground, neither his heels
+nor the hollow of his foot; and from so light a pressure the grass,
+bowed but not crushed, rose up, leaving no more mark of his passage than
+if a grasshopper had gone by.
+
+Daintily fanning himself with his wings, the butterfly went before
+Bevis, not yet knowing that he was chased, but sauntering along just
+above the buttercups. He peeped as he flew under the lids of the
+flowers' eyes, to see if any of them loved him. There was a glossy green
+leaf which he thought he should like to feel, it looked so soft and
+satin-like. So he alighted on it, and then saw Bevis coming, his hat on
+the very back of his head, and his hand stretched out to catch him. The
+butterfly wheeled himself round on the leaf, shut up his wings, and
+seemed so innocent, till Bevis fell on his knee, and then under his
+fingers there was nothing but the leaf. His cheek flushed, his eye lit
+up, and away he darted again after the butterfly, which had got several
+yards ahead before he could recover himself. He ran now faster than
+ever.
+
+"Race on," said the buttercups; "race on, Bevis; that butterfly disdains
+us because we are so many, and all alike."
+
+"Be quick," said a great moon-daisy to him; "catch him, dear. I asked
+him to stay and tell me a story, but he would not."
+
+"Never mind me," said the clover; "you may step on me if you like,
+love."
+
+"But just look at me for a moment, pet, as you go by," cried the purple
+vetch by the hedge.
+
+A colt in the field, seeing Bevis running so fast, thought he too must
+join the fun, so he whisked his tail, stretched his long floundering
+legs, and galloped away. Then the mare whinnied and galloped too, and
+the ground shook under her heavy hoofs. The cows lifted their heads from
+gathering the grass close round the slender bennets, and wondered why
+any one could be so foolish as to rush about, when there was plenty to
+eat and no hurry.
+
+The cunning deceitful butterfly, so soon as Bevis came near, turned
+aside and went along a furrow. Bevis, running in the furrow, caught his
+foot in the long creepers of the crowfoot, and fell down bump, and
+pricked his hand with a thistle. Up he jumped again, red as a peony, and
+shouting in his rage, ran on so quickly that he nearly overtook the
+butterfly. But they were now nearer the other hedge. The butterfly,
+frightened at the shouting and Bevis's resolution, rose over the
+brambles, and Bevis stopping short flung his hat at him. The hat did not
+hit the butterfly, but the wind it made puffed him round, and so
+frightened him, that he flew up half as high as the elms, and went into
+the next field.
+
+When Bevis looked down, there was his hat, hung on a branch of ash, far
+beyond his reach. He could not touch the lowest leaf, jump as much as he
+would. His next thought was a stone to throw, but there were none in the
+meadow. Then he put his hand in his jacket pocket for his knife, to cut
+a long stick. It was not in that pocket, nor in the one on the other
+side, nor in his knickers. Now the knife was Bevis's greatest
+treasure--his very greatest. He looked all round bewildered, and the
+tears rose in his eyes.
+
+Just then Pan, the spaniel, who had worked his head loose from the
+collar and followed him, ran out of the hedge between Bevis's legs with
+such joyful force, that Bevis was almost overthrown, and burst into a
+fit of laughter. Pan ran back into the hedge to hunt, and Bevis, with
+tears rolling down his cheeks into the dimples made by his smiles,
+dropped on hands and knees and crept in after the dog under the briars.
+On the bank there was a dead grey stick, a branch that had fallen from
+the elms. It was heavy, but Bevis heaved it up, and pushed it through
+the boughs and thrust his hat off.
+
+Creeping out again, he put it on, and remembering his knife, walked out
+into the field to search for it. When Pan missed him, he followed, and
+presently catching scent of a rabbit, the spaniel rushed down a furrow,
+which happened to be the very furrow where Bevis had tumbled. Going
+after Pan, Bevis found his knife in the grass, where it had dropped when
+shaken from his pocket by the jerk of his fall. He opened the single
+blade it contained at once, and went back to the hedge to cut a stick.
+As he walked along the hedge, he thought the briar was too prickly to
+cut, and the thorn was too hard, and the ash was too big, and the willow
+had no knob, and the elder smelt so strong, and the sapling oak was
+across the ditch, and out of reach, and the maple had such rough bark.
+So he wandered along a great way through that field and the next, and
+presently saw a nut-tree stick that promised well, for the sticks grew
+straight, and not too big.
+
+He jumped into the ditch, climbed half up the mound, and began to cut
+away at one of the rods, leaning his left arm on the moss-grown stole.
+The bark was easily cut through, and he soon made a notch, but then the
+wood seemed to grow harder, and the chips he got out were very small.
+The harder the wood, the more determined Bevis became, and he cut and
+worked away with such force that his chest heaved, his brow was set and
+frowning, and his jacket all green from rubbing against the hazel.
+Suddenly something passed between him and the light. He looked up, and
+there was Pan, whom he had forgotten, in the hedge looking down at him.
+"Pan! Pan!" cried Bevis. Pan wagged his tail, but ran back, and Bevis,
+forsaking his stick, scrambled up into the stole, then into the mound,
+and through a gap into the next field. Pan was nowhere to be seen.
+
+There was a large mossy root under a great oak, and, hot with his
+cutting, Bevis sat down upon it. Along came a house martin, the kind of
+swallow that has a white band across his back, flying very low, and only
+just above the grass. The swallow flew to and fro not far from Bevis,
+who watched it, and presently asked him to come closer. But the swallow
+said: "I shall not come any nearer, Bevis. Don't you remember what you
+did last year, sir? Don't you remember Bill, the carter's boy, put a
+ladder against the wall, and you climbed up the ladder, and put your
+paw, all brown and dirty, into my nest and took my eggs? And you tried
+to string them on a bennet, but the bennet was too big, so you went
+indoors for some thread. And you made my wife and me dreadfully unhappy,
+and we said we would never come back any more to your house, Bevis."
+
+"But you have come back, swallow."
+
+"Yes, we have come back--just once more; but if you do it again we shall
+go away for ever."
+
+"But I won't do it again; no, that I won't! Do come near."
+
+So the swallow came a little nearer, only two yards away, and flew
+backwards and forwards, and Bevis could hear the snap of his beak as he
+caught the flies.
+
+"Just a little bit nearer still," said he. "Let me stroke your lovely
+white back."
+
+"Oh, no, I can't do that. I don't think you are quite safe, Bevis. Why
+don't you gather the cowslips?"
+
+Bevis looked up and saw that the field was full of cowslips--yellow with
+cowslips. "I will pick every one," said he, "and carry them all back to
+my mother."
+
+"You cannot do that," said the swallow, laughing, "you will not try long
+enough."
+
+"I _hate_ you!" cried Bevis in a passion, and flung his knife, which was
+in his hand, at the bird. The swallow rose up, and the knife whizzed by
+and struck the ground.
+
+"I told you you were not safe," said the swallow over his head; "and I
+am sure you won't pick half the cowslips."
+
+Bevis picked up his knife and put it in his pocket; then he began to
+gather the cowslips, and kept on for a quarter of an hour as fast as
+ever he could, till both hands were full. There was a rustle in the
+hedge, and looking up he saw Pan come out, all brown with sand sticking
+to his coat. He shook himself, and sent the sand flying from him in a
+cloud, just like he did with the water when he came up out of the pond.
+Then he looked at Bevis, wagged his tail, cried "Yowp!" and ran back
+into the hedge again.
+
+Bevis rushed to the spot, and saw that there was a large rabbits' hole.
+Into this hole Pan had worked his way so far that there was nothing of
+him visible but his hind legs and tail. Bevis could hear him panting in
+the hole, he was working so hard to get at the rabbit, and tearing with
+his teeth at the roots to make the hole bigger. Bevis clapped his hands,
+dropping his cowslips, and called "Loo! Loo!" urging the dog on. The
+sand came flying out behind Pan, and he worked harder and harder, as if
+he would tear the mound to pieces.
+
+Bevis sat down on the grass under the shadow of the oak, by a maple
+bush, and taking a cowslip, began to count the spots inside it. It was
+always five in all the cowslips--five brown little spots--that he was
+sure of, because he knew he had five fingers on each hand. He lay down
+at full length on his back, and looked up at the sky through the boughs
+of the oak. It was very, very blue, and very near down. With a long
+ladder he knew he could have got up there easily, and it looked so
+sweet. "Sky," said Bevis, "I love you like I love my mother." He pouted
+his lips, and kissed at it. Then turning a little on one side to watch
+Pan, in an instant he fell firm asleep.
+
+Pan put his head out of the hole to breathe two or three times, and
+looked aside at Bevis, and seeing that he was still, went back to work
+again. Two butterflies came fluttering along together. The swallow
+returned, and flew low down along the grass near Bevis. The wind came
+now and then, and shook down a shower of white and pink petals from a
+crab-tree in the hedge. By-and-by a squirrel climbing from tree to tree
+reached the oak, and stayed to look at Bevis beneath in the shadow. He
+knew exactly how Bevis felt--just like he did himself when he went to
+sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+AT HOME.
+
+
+"Yowp, yow; wow-wow!" The yelling of Pan woke Bevis, who jumped up, and
+seeing the bailiff beating the spaniel with a stick, instantly, and
+without staying the tenth of a second to rub his eyes or stretch
+himself, rushed at the man and hit him with his doubled fists. As if he
+had seen it in his sleep, Bevis understood what was taking place
+immediately his eyelids opened. So the bailiff beat the dog, and Bevis
+beat the bailiff. The noise made quite an echo against the thick hedges
+and a high bank that was near. When the bailiff thought he had thrashed
+Pan sufficiently, he turned round and looked down at Bevis, whose face
+was red, and his knuckles sore with striking the bailiff's hard coat.
+
+"How fess you be, measter," said the bailiff (meaning fierce), "you mind
+as you don't hurt yourself. Look'ee here, there've bin a fine falarie
+about you, zur." He meant that there had been much excitement when it
+was found that Bevis was not in the garden, and was nowhere to be found.
+Everybody was set to hunt for him.
+
+First they thought of the brook, lest he should have walked in among the
+flags that were coming up so green and strong. Then they thought of the
+tallet over the stable,--perhaps he had climbed up there again from the
+manger, over the heads of the great cart-horses, quietly eating their
+hay, while he put his foot on the manger and then on the projecting
+steps in the corner, and into the hayrack--and so up. He had done it
+once before, and could not get down, and so the tallet was searched. One
+man was sent to the Long Pond, with orders to look everywhere, and
+borrow the punt and push in among the bulrushes.
+
+Another was despatched to the Close, to gruffly inquire where the
+cottage boys were, and what they had been doing, for Bevis was known to
+hanker after their company, to go catching loach under the stones in the
+stream that crossed the road, and creeping under the arch of the bridge,
+and taking the moor-hens' eggs from the banks of the ponds where the
+rushes were thick. Another was put on the pony, to gallop up the road
+after the carter and his waggon, for he had set off that morning with a
+load of hay for the hills that could be seen to the southward.
+
+Running over every possible thing that Bevis could have done in his
+mind, his papa remembered that he had lately taken to asking about the
+road, and would not be satisfied till they had taken him up to the
+sign-post--a mile beyond the village, and explained the meaning of it.
+Some one had told him that it was the road to Southampton--the place
+where the ships came. Now, Bevis was full of the ships, drawing them on
+the blue wall of the summer-house, and floating a boat on the trough in
+the cow-yard, and looking wistfully up the broad dusty highway, as if
+he could see the masts and yards sixty miles away or more. Perhaps when
+the carter went with the waggon that way, Bevis had slipped up the
+footpath that made a short cut across the fields, and joined the waggon
+at the cross-roads, that he might ride to the hills thinking to see the
+sea on the other side.
+
+And the bailiff, not to be behindhand, having just come in for his
+lunch, ran out again without so much as wetting his stubbly white beard
+in the froth of the drawn quart of ale, and made away as fast as his
+stiff legs could carry him to where there was a steam ploughing engine
+at work--a mile distant. The sight of the white steam, and the humming
+of the fly-wheel, always set Bevis "on the jig," as the village folk
+called it, to get to the machinery, and the smell of the cotton waste
+and oil wafted on the wind was to him like the scent of battle to the
+war-horse.
+
+But Bevis was not in the tallet, nor the brook, nor among the bulrushes
+of the Long Pond, nor under the bridge dabbling for loach, nor watching
+the steam plough, and the cottage boys swore their hardest (and they
+knew how to swear quite properly) that they had not seen him that
+morning. But they would look for him, and forthwith eagerly started to
+scour the fields and hedges. Meantime, Bevis, quite happy, was sleeping
+under the oak in the shadow, with Pan every now and then coming out of
+the rabbit-hole to snort out the sand that got into his nostrils.
+
+But, by-and-by, when everything had been done and everybody was
+scattered over the earth seeking for him, the bailiff came back from the
+steam plough, weary with running, and hungry, thirsty, and cross. As he
+passed through the yard he caught a glimpse of Pan's kennel, which was a
+tub by the wood pile, and saw that the chain was lying stretched to its
+full length. Pan was gone. At first the bailiff thought Bevis had loosed
+him, and that he had got a clue. But when he came near, he saw that the
+collar was not unbuckled; Pan had worked his head out, and so escaped.
+
+The bailiff turned the collar over thoughtfully with his foot, and felt
+his scanty white beard with his hard hand; and then he went back to the
+cart-house. Up in the cart-house, on the ledge of the wall beneath the
+thatch, there were three or four sticks, each about four feet long and
+as thick as your thumb, with the bark on--some were ground ash, some
+crab-tree, and one was hazel. This one was straight and as hard as could
+be. These sticks were put there for the time when the cows were moved,
+so that the men might find their sticks quick. Each had his stick, and
+the bailiff's was the hazel one. With the staff in his hand the bailiff
+set out straight across the grass, looking neither to the right nor the
+left, but walking deliberately and without hesitation.
+
+He got through a gap in one hedge, and then he turned to the corner
+making towards the rabbit-burrows, for he guessed that Pan had gone
+there. As he approached he saw Bevis sleeping, and smiled, for looking
+for the dog he had found the boy. But first stepping softly up to Bevis,
+and seeing that he was quite right and unhurt, only asleep, the bailiff
+went to the hedge and thrust his staff into the hole where Pan was at
+work.
+
+Out came Pan, and instantly down came the rod. Pan cowered in the grass;
+he was all over sand, which flew up in a cloud as the rod struck him
+again. "Yowp!--yow--wow--wow!" and this row awoke Bevis.
+
+Bevis battled hard for his dog, but the bailiff had had his lunch
+delayed, and his peace of mind upset about the boy, and he was
+resolutely relieving himself upon the spaniel. Now the hazel rod, being
+dry and stiff, was like a bar of iron, and did not yield or bend in the
+least, but made the spaniel's ribs rattle. Pan could not get low enough
+into the grass; he ceased to howl, so great was the pain, but merely
+whimpered, and the tears filled his brown eyes. At last the bailiff
+ceased, and immediately Bevis pulled out his handkerchief, and sat down
+on the grass and wiped away the spaniel's tears.
+
+"Now, measter, you come along wi' I," said the bailiff, taking his hand.
+Bevis would not come, saying he hated him. But when the bailiff told him
+about the hunt there had been, and how the people were everywhere
+looking for him, Bevis began to laugh, thinking it was rare fun.
+
+"Take me 'pick-a-back,'" said he.
+
+So the bailiff stooped and took him. "Gee-up!" said Bevis, punching his
+broad back and kicking him to go faster. Pan, now quite forgotten, crept
+along behind them.
+
+Bevis listened to the lecture they gave him at home with a very bad
+grace. He sulked and pouted, as if he had himself been the injured
+party. But no sooner was he released from the dinner-table, than he was
+down on his knees at his own particular corner cupboard, the one that
+had been set apart for his toys and things ever since he could walk. It
+was but a small cupboard, made across the angle of two walls, and with
+one shelf only, yet it was bottomless, and always contained something
+new.
+
+There were the last fragments of the great box of wooden bricks, cut and
+chipped, and notched and splintered by that treasure, his pocket-knife.
+There was the tin box for the paste, or the worms in moss, when he went
+fishing. There was the wheel of his old wheelbarrow, long since smashed
+and numbered with the Noah's arks that have gone the usual way. There
+was the brazen cylinder of a miniature steam-engine bent out of all
+shape. There was the hammer-head made specially for him by the
+blacksmith down in the village, without a handle, for people were tired
+of putting new handles to it, he broke them so quickly. There was a
+horse-shoe, and the iron catch of a gate, and besides these a boxwood
+top, which he could not spin, but which he had payed away half the
+savings in his money-box for, because he had seen it split the other
+boys' tops in the road.
+
+In one corner was a brass cannon, the touch-hole blackened by the
+explosion of gunpowder, and by it the lock of an ancient pistol--the
+lock only, and neither barrel nor handle. An old hunting-crop, some
+feathers from pheasants' tails, part of a mole-trap, an old brazen
+bugle, much battered, a wooden fig-box full of rusty nails, several
+scraps of deal board and stumps of cedar pencil were heaped together in
+confusion. But these were not all, nor could any written inventory
+exhaust the contents, and give a perfect list of all that cupboard held.
+There was always something new in it: Bevis never went there, but he
+found something.
+
+With the hunting-crop he followed the harriers and chased the doubling
+hare; with the cannon he fought battles, such as he saw in the pictures;
+the bugle, too, sounded the charge (the bailiff sometimes blew it in the
+garden to please him, and the hollow "who-oo!" it made echoed over the
+fields); with the deal boards and the rusty nails, and the hammer-head,
+he built houses, and even cities. The jagged and splintered wooden
+bricks, six inches long, were not bricks, but great beams and baulks of
+timber; the wheel of the wheelbarrow was the centre of many curious
+pieces of mechanism. He could see these things easily. So he sat down at
+his cupboard and forgot the lecture instantly; the pout disappeared from
+his lips as he plunged his hand into the inexhaustible cupboard.
+
+"Bevis, dear," he heard presently, "you may have an apple."
+
+Instantly, and without staying to shut the door on his treasures, he
+darted upstairs--up two flights, with a clatter and a bang, burst open
+the door, and was in the apple-room. It was a large garret or attic,
+running half the length of the house, and there, in the autumn, the best
+apples from the orchard were carried, and put on a thin layer of hay,
+each apple apart from its fellow (for they ought not to touch), and each
+particular sort, the Blenheim Oranges and the King Pippins, the Creepers
+and the Grindstone Pippins (which grew nowhere else), divided from the
+next sort by a little fence of hay.
+
+The most of them were gone now, only a few of the keeping apples
+remained, and from these Bevis, with great deliberation, chose the
+biggest, measuring them by the eye and weighing them in his hand. Then
+downstairs again with a clatter and a bang, down the second stairs this
+time, past the gun-room, where the tools were kept, and a carpenter's
+bench; then through the whole length of the ground floor from the
+kitchen to the parlour slamming every door behind him, and kicking over
+the chairs in front of him.
+
+There he stayed half-a-minute to look at the hornet's nest under the
+glass-case on the mantelpiece. The comb was built round a central pillar
+or column, three stories one above the other, and it had been taken from
+the willow tree by the brook, the huge hollow willow which he had twice
+tried to chop down, that he might make a boat of it. Then out of doors,
+and up the yard, and past the cart-house, when something moved in the
+long grass under the wall. It was a weasel, caught in a gin.
+
+The trap had been set by the side of a drain for rats, and the weasel
+coming out, or perhaps frightened by footsteps, and hastening
+carelessly, had been trapped. Bevis, biting his apple, looked at the
+weasel, and the weasel said: "Sir Bevis, please let me out, this gin
+hurts me so; the teeth are very sharp and the spring is very strong, and
+the tar-cord is very stout, so that I cannot break it. See how the iron
+has skinned my leg and taken off the fur, and I am in such pain. Do
+please let me go, before the ploughboy comes, or he will hit me with a
+stick, or smash me with a stone, or put his iron-shod heel on me; and I
+have been a very good weasel, Bevis. I have been catching the horrid
+rats that eat the barley-meal put for the pigs. Oh, let me out, the gin
+hurts me so!"
+
+Bevis put his foot on the spring, and was pressing it down, and the
+weasel thought he was already free, and looked across at the wood pile
+under which he meant to hide, when Bevis heard a little squeak close to
+his head, and looked up and saw a mouse under the eaves of the
+cart-house, peeping forth from a tiny crevice, where the mortar had
+fallen from between the stones of the wall.
+
+"Bevis, Bevis!" said the mouse, "don't you do it--don't you let that
+weasel go! He is a most dreadful wicked weasel, and his teeth are ever
+so much sharper than that gin. He does not kill the rats, because he is
+afraid of them (unless he can assassinate one in his sleep), but he
+murdered my wife and sucked her blood, and her body, all dry and
+withered, is up in the beam there, if you will get a ladder and look.
+And he killed all my little mouses, and made me very unhappy, and I
+shall never be able to get another wife to live with me in this
+cart-house while he is about. There is no way we can get away from him.
+If we go out into the field he follows us there, and if we go into the
+sheds he comes after us there, and he is a cruel beast, that wicked
+weasel. You know you ate the partridge's eggs," added the mouse,
+speaking to the weasel.
+
+"It is all false," said the weasel. "But it is true that you ate the
+wheat out of the ears in the wheat-rick, and you know what was the
+consequence. If that little bit of wheat you ate had been thrashed, and
+ground, and baked, and made into bread, then that poor girl would have
+had a crust to eat, and would not have jumped into the river, and she
+would have had a son, and he would have been a great man and fought
+battles, just as Bevis does with his brazen cannon, and won great
+victories, and been the pride of all the nation. But you ate those
+particular grains of wheat that were meant to do all this, you wicked
+little mouse. Besides which, you ran across the bed one night, and
+frightened Bevis's mother."
+
+"But I did not mean to," said the mouse; "and you did mean to kill my
+wife, and you ate the partridge's eggs."
+
+"And a very good thing I did," said the weasel. "Do you know what would
+have happened, if I had not taken them? I did it all for good, and with
+the best intentions. For if I had left the eggs one more day, there was
+a man who meant to have stolen them all but one, which he meant to have
+left to deceive the keeper. If he had stolen them, he would have been
+caught, for the keeper was watching for him all the time, and he would
+have been put to prison, and his children would have been hungry. So I
+ate the eggs, and especially I ate every bit of the one the man meant to
+have left."
+
+"And why were you so particular about eating that egg?" asked Bevis.
+
+"Because," said the weasel, "if that egg had come to a partridge chick,
+and the chick had lived till the shooting-time came, then the sportsman
+and his brother, when they came round, would have started it out of the
+stubble, and the shot from the gun of the younger would have
+accidentally killed the elder, and people would have thought it was done
+to murder him for the sake of the inheritance."
+
+"Now, is this true?" said Bevis.
+
+"Yes, that it is; and I killed the mouse's wife also for the best of
+reasons."
+
+"You horrid wretch!" cried the mouse.
+
+"Oh, you needn't call me a wretch," said the weasel; "I am sure you
+ought to be grateful to me, for your wife was very jealous because you
+paid so much attention to the Miss Mouse you want to marry now, and in
+the night she meant to have gnawn your throat."
+
+"And you frightened my mother," said Bevis, "by running across her bed
+in the night;" and he began to press on the spring of the gin.
+
+"Yes, that he did," said the weasel, overjoyed; "and he made a hole in
+the boards of the floor, and it was down that hole that the
+half-sovereign rolled and was lost, and the poor maid-servant sent away
+because they thought she had stolen it."
+
+"What do you say to that?" asked Bevis.
+
+But the mouse was quite aghast and dumb-founded and began to think that
+it was he after all who was in the wrong, so that for the moment he
+could not speak. Just then Bevis caught sight of the colt that had come
+up beside his mother, the cart mare, to the fence; and thinking that he
+would go and try and stroke the pretty creature, Bevis started forward,
+forgetting all about the weasel and the mouse. As he started, he pressed
+the spring down, and in an instant the weasel was out, and had hobbled
+across to the wood pile. When the mouse saw this, he gave a little
+squeak of terror, and ran back to his hiding-place.
+
+But when Bevis put out his hand to stroke the colt, the colt started
+back, so he picked up a stick and threw it at him. Then he took another
+stick and hunted the hens round and round the ricks to make them lay
+their eggs faster, as it is well known that is the best way. For he
+remembered that last year they had shown him three tiny bantam chicks,
+such darling little things, all cuddled cosily together in the hollow of
+a silver table-spoon. The hens clucked and raced, and Bevis raced after
+and shouted, and the cock, slipping on one side, for it hurt his
+dignity to run away like the rest, hopped upon the railings, napped his
+wings, crew, and cried: "You'll be glad when I'm dead". That was how
+Bevis translated his "hurra-ca-roorah".
+
+In the midst of the noise out came Polly, the dairy-maid, with a bone
+for Pan, which Bevis no sooner saw, than he asked her to let him give
+Pan his dinner. "Very well, dear," said Polly, and went in to finish her
+work. So Bevis took the bone, and Pan, all weary and sore from his
+thrashing, crept out from his tub to receive it; but Bevis put the bone
+on the grass (all the grass was worn bare where Pan could reach) just
+where the spaniel could smell it nicely but could not get it. Pan
+struggled, and scratched, and howled, and scratched again, and tugged
+till his collar, buckled tightly now, choked him, and he gasped and
+panted, while Bevis, taking the remnant of his apple from his pocket,
+nibbled it and laughed with a face like an angel's for sweetness.
+
+Then a rook went over and cawed, and Bevis, looking up at the bird,
+caught a glimpse of the swing over the wall--it stood under the sycamore
+tree. Dropping the bit of apple, away he ran to the swing, and sat in
+it, and pushed himself off. As he swung forward he straightened his legs
+and leant back; when he swung back he drew his feet under him and leant
+forward, and by continuing this the weight of his body caused the swing
+to rise like a pendulum till he went up among the sycamore boughs,
+nearly as high as the ivy-grown roof of the summer-house, just
+opposite. There he went to and fro, as easily as possible, shutting his
+eyes and humming to himself.
+
+Presently a cock chaffinch came and perched in the ash close by, and
+immediately began to sing his war-song: "I am lord of this tree," sang
+the chaffinch, "I am lord of this tree; every bough is mine, and every
+leaf, and the wind that comes through it, and the sunshine that falls on
+it, and the rain that moistens it, and the blue sky over it, and the
+grass underneath it--all this is mine. My nest is going to be made in
+the ivy that grows half-way up the trunk, and my wife is very busy
+to-day bringing home the fibres and the moss, and I have just come back
+a little while to tell you all that none of you must come into or touch
+my tree. I like this tree, and therefore it is mine. Be careful that
+none of you come inside the shadow of it, or I shall peck you with all
+my might."
+
+Then he paused awhile, and Bevis went on swinging and listening. In a
+minute or two another chaffinch came to the elm in the hedge just
+outside the garden, and quite close to the ash. Directly he perched, he
+ruffled up and began to sing too: "I am lord of this tree, and it is a
+very high tree, much higher than the ash, and even above the oak where
+that slow fellow the crow is building. Mine is the very highest tree of
+all, and I am the brightest and prettiest of all the chaffinches. See my
+colours how bright they are, so that you would hardly know me from a
+bullfinch. There is not a feather rumpled in my wing, or my tail, and I
+have the most beautiful eyes of all of you."
+
+Hardly had he done singing than another chaffinch came into the
+crab-tree, a short way up the hedge, and he began to sing too: "I have a
+much bigger tree than either of you, but as it is at the top of the
+field I cannot bring it down here, but I have come down into this
+crab-tree, and I say it is mine, and I am lord of two trees. I am
+stronger than both of you, and neither of you dare come near me."
+
+The two other chaffinches were silent for a minute, and then one of
+them, the knight of the ash-tree, flew down into the hedge under the
+crab-tree; and instantly down flew the third chaffinch, and they fought
+a battle, and pecked and buffeted one another with their wings, till
+Bevis's tears ran down with laughing. Presently they parted, and the
+third chaffinch went home to his tree at the top of the field, leaving
+one little feather on the ground, which the first chaffinch picked up
+and carried to his nest in the ash.
+
+But scarcely had he woven it into the nest than down flew the second
+chaffinch from the elm into the shadow of the ash. Flutter, flutter went
+the first chaffinch to meet him, and they had such a battle as Bevis had
+never seen before, and fought till they were tired; then each flew up
+into his tree, and sang again about their valour.
+
+Immediately afterwards ten sparrows came from the house-top into the
+bushes, chattering and struggling all together, scratching, pecking,
+buffeting, and all talking at once. After they had had a good fight
+they all went back to the house-top, and began to tell each other what
+tremendous blows they had given. Then there was such a great cawing from
+the rook trees, which were a long way off, that it was evident a battle
+was going on there, and Bevis heard the chaffinch say that one of the
+rooks had been caught stealing his cousin's sticks.
+
+Next two goldfinches began to fight, and then a blackbird came up from
+the brook and perched on a rail, and he was such a boaster, for he said
+he had the yellowest bill of all the blackbirds, and the blackest coat,
+and the largest eye, and the sweetest whistle, and he was lord over all
+the blackbirds. In two minutes up came another one from out of the
+bramble bushes at the corner, and away they went chattering at each
+other. Presently the starlings on the chimney began to quarrel, and had
+a terrible set-to. Then a wren came by, and though he was so small, his
+boast was worse than the blackbird's, for he said he was the sharpest
+and the cleverest of all the birds, and knew more than all put together.
+
+Afar off, in the trees, there were six or seven thrushes, all declaring
+that they were the best singers, and had the most speckled necks; and up
+in the sky the swallows were saying that they had the whitest bosoms.
+
+"Oo! whoo," cried a wood-pigeon from the very oak under which Bevis had
+gone to sleep. "There are none who can fly so fast as I can. I am a
+captain of the wood-pigeons, and in the winter I have three hundred and
+twenty-two pigeons under me, and they all do exactly as I tell them.
+They fly when I fly, and settle down when I settle down. If I go to the
+west, they go to the west; and if I go to the east, then they follow to
+the east. I have the biggest acorns, and the best of the peas, for they
+leave them especially for me. And not one of all the three hundred and
+twenty-two pigeons dares to begin to eat the wheat in August till I say
+it is ripe and they may, and not one of them dares to take a wife till I
+say yes. Oo-whoo! Is not my voice sweet and soft, and delicious, far
+sweeter than that screeching nightingale's in the hawthorn yonder?"
+
+But he had no sooner finished than another one began in the fir copse,
+and said he was captain of one thousand pigeons, and was ever so much
+stronger, and could fly ten miles an hour faster. So away went the first
+pigeon to the fir copse, and there was a great clattering of wings and
+"oo-whoo"-ing, and how it was settled Bevis could not tell.
+
+So as he went on swinging, he heard all the birds quarrelling, and
+boasting, and fighting, hundreds of them all around, and he said to the
+chaffinch on the ash:--
+
+"Chaffinch, it seems to me that you are all very wicked birds, for you
+think of nothing but fighting all day long".
+
+The chaffinch laughed, and said: "My dear Sir Bevis, I do not know what
+you mean by wicked. But fighting is very nice indeed, and we all feel
+so jolly when fighting time comes. For you must know that the spring is
+the duelling time, when all the birds go to battle. There is not a tree
+nor a bush on your papa's farm, nor on all the farms all around, nor in
+all the country, nor in all this island, but some fighting is going on.
+I have not time to tell you all about it; but I wish you could read our
+history, and all about the wars that have been going on these thousand
+years. Perhaps if you should ever meet the squirrel he will tell you,
+for he knows most about history. As we all like it so much, it must be
+right, and we never hurt one another very much. Sometimes a feather is
+knocked out, and sometimes one gets a hard peck; but it does not do any
+harm. And after it is over, in the autumn, we are all very good friends,
+and go hunting together. You may see us, hundreds of us in your papa's
+stubble-fields, Bevis, all flying together very happy. I think the
+skylarks fight the most, for they begin almost in the winter if the sun
+shines warm for an hour, and they keep on all day in the summer, and
+till it is quite dark and the stars are out, besides getting up before
+the cuckoo to go on again. Yet they are the sweetest and nicest of all
+the birds, and the most gentle, and do not mind our coming into their
+fields. So I am sure, Bevis, that you are wrong, and fighting is not
+wicked if you love one another. You and Mark are fond of one another,
+but you hit him sometimes, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, that I do," said Bevis, very eagerly, "I hit him yesterday so
+hard with my bat that he would not come and play with me. It is very
+nice to hit any one."
+
+"But you cannot do it like we do it," said the chaffinch, swelling with
+pride again, "for we sing and you can't, and if you can't sing you have
+no business to fight, and besides, though you are much older than me you
+are not married yet. Now I have such a beautiful wife, and to tell you
+the truth, Bevis, we do the fighting because the ladies love to see it,
+and kiss us for it afterwards. I am the knight of this tree!"
+
+After which Bevis, being tired of swinging, went to the summer-house to
+read what he had written with his stump of pencil till he was called to
+tea. In the evening, when the sun was sinking, he went out and lay down
+on the seat--it was a broad plank, grey with lichen--under the russet
+apple-tree, looking towards the west, over the brook below. He saw the
+bees coming home to the hives close by on the haha, and they seemed to
+come high in the air, flying straight as if from the distant hills where
+the sun was. He heard the bees say that there were such quantities of
+flowers on the hills, and such pleasant places, and that the sky was
+much more blue up there, and he thought if he could he would go to the
+hills soon.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+ADVENTURES OF THE WEASEL.
+
+
+After awhile the mowers came and began to cut the long grass in the Home
+Field, and the meadow by the brook. Bevis could see them from the
+garden, and it was impossible to prevent him from straying up the
+footpath, so eager was he to go nearer. The best thing that could be
+done, since he could not be altogether stopped, was to make him promise
+that he would not go beyond a certain limit. He might wander as much as
+he pleased inside the hedge and the Home Field, in which there was no
+pond, nor any place where he could very well come to harm. But he must
+not creep through the hedge, so that he would always be in sight from
+the garden. If he wished to enter the meadow by the brook he must ask
+special permission, that some one might be put to watch now and then.
+
+But more expressly he was forbidden to enter the Little Field. The grass
+there was not yet to be mown--it was too long to walk in--and they were
+afraid lest he should get through the hedge, or climb over the high
+padlocked gate in some way or other, for the Long Pond was on the other
+side, though it could not be seen for trees. Nor was he to approach
+nearer to the mowers than one swathe; he was always to keep one swathe
+between him and the scythes, which are extremely sharp and dangerous
+instruments.
+
+Sir Bevis repeated these promises so seriously, and with so demure and
+innocent an expression, that no one could doubt but that he would keep
+them strictly, nor, indeed, did any idea of exceeding these limits occur
+to him. He was so overjoyed at the vast extent of territory, almost a
+new world thrown open for exploration, that he did not think it possible
+he could ever want to go any farther. He rushed into the Home Field,
+jumping over the swathes till he was tired, and kicking the grass about
+with his feet. Then he wanted a prong, and a stout stick with a fork was
+cut and pointed for him, and with this he went eagerly to work for five
+minutes. Next he wanted some one to bury under the grass, and could not
+be satisfied till the dairy-maid was sent out and submitted to be
+completely hidden under a heap of it.
+
+Next he walked all round the field, and back home down the middle.
+By-and-by he sat down and looked at the mowers, who were just finishing
+the last corner before they went into the meadow by the brook. While he
+was sitting there a number of greenfinches, and sparrows, and two or
+three hasty starlings (for they are always in a hurry), came to the
+sward where the mowers had just passed, and searched about for food.
+They seemed so happy and looked so pretty, Bevis thought he should like
+to shoot one, so away he ran home to the summer-house for his bow and
+arrow. Hastening back with these, he built a heap of the grass to hide
+behind, like a breastwork, and then sat down and watched for the birds.
+
+They did not come directly, as they ought to have done, so he kicked up
+his heels, and rolled over on his back, and looked up at the sky, as was
+his wont. Every now and then he could hear Pan whining woefully in his
+tub a long way off. Since the whipping the spaniel had been in disgrace,
+and no one would let him loose. Bevis, so delighted with his field to
+roam about in, quite forgot him, and left him to sorrow in his tub.
+Presently he heard a lark singing so sweetly, though at a great
+distance, that he kept quite still to listen. The song came in verses,
+now it rose a little louder, and now it fell till he could hardly hear
+it, and again returned. Bevis got up on his knees to try and find where
+the lark was, but the sky was so blue there or the bird so high up, he
+could not see it, though he searched and searched. It was somewhere in
+the next field, far beyond the great oak where he once fell asleep.
+
+He then peered round his heap of grass, but there were no greenfinches
+near; they had come out from the hedges, and the starling had come from
+the hollow pollard where he had a nest, but all had settled a long way
+off from his hiding-place. Bevis was very angry, so he stood up, and
+pulled his bow with all his might, and let the arrow fly into the air
+almost straight up. When it had risen so far, it turned over and came
+down among the flock of birds and stuck in the ground.
+
+They flew away in terror, and though he had not killed any, Bevis was
+highly delighted at the fright they were in. He picked up his arrow,
+and tried another long shot at a rook on the other side of the field,
+but he could not send it so great a distance. As he ran for it, he saw
+that the rook's back was towards him, and, thinking that the rook could
+not see him, he raced on quietly to try and catch him, but just as he
+got close, up rose the rook over the hedge with a "Caw, caw!" Whizz!
+went Bevis's arrow after him, and fell on the other side of the hedge,
+where he was not to go.
+
+In his anger at the rook's behaviour Bevis forgot all about his promise;
+he jumped into the ditch regardless of the stinging-nettles, pushed his
+way up through the briars, tearing his sleeve, forced his way across the
+mound, and went on his hands and knees through the young green fern on
+the other side (just as Pan would have done) under the thick thorn
+bushes, and so out into the next field. It was the very field where he
+and Pan had wandered before, only another part of it. There was his
+arrow ever so far off, sticking upright in the grass among the cowslips.
+As he went to pick up his arrow he saw another flower growing a little
+farther on, and went to gather that first; it was an orchid, and when he
+stood up with it in his hand he heard a mouse rustle in the grass, and
+stepped quietly to try and see it, but the mouse hid in a hole.
+
+Then there was an enormous humble-bee, so huge that when it stayed to
+suck a cowslip, the cowslip was bent down with its weight. Bevis walked
+after the giant humble-bee, and watched it take the honey from several
+cowslips; then he saw a stone standing in the field, it was not
+upright, but leaned to one side--yet it was almost as tall as he was. He
+went to the stone and looked all round it, and got up on it and sat
+still a minute, and while he was there a cuckoo came by, so close, that
+he jumped off to run after it. But the cuckoo flew fast, and began to
+call "Cuckoo!" and it was no use to chase him.
+
+When Bevis stopped and looked about he was in a hollow, like a big salad
+bowl, only all grass, and he could see nothing but the grass and
+cowslips all round him--no hedges--and the sky overhead. He began to
+dance and sing with delight at such a curious place, and when he paused
+the lark was on again, and not very far this time. There he was, rising
+gradually, singing as he went. Bevis ran up the side of the hollow
+towards the lark, and saw a hedge cut and cropped low, and over it a
+wheat-field. He watched the lark sing, sing, sing, up into the sky, and
+then he thought he would go and find his nest, as he remembered the
+ploughboy had told him larks made their nests on the ground among the
+corn.
+
+He ran to the low hedge, but though it was low it was very thorny, and
+while he was trying to find a place to get through, he looked over and
+spied a hare crouched in the rough grass, just under the hedge between
+it and the wheat. The hare was lying on the ground; she did not move,
+though she saw Bevis, and when he looked closer he saw that her big eyes
+were full of tears. She was crying very bitterly, all by herself, while
+the sun was shining so brightly, and the wind blowing so sweetly, and
+the flowers smelling so pleasantly, and the lark sing, sing, singing
+overhead.
+
+"Oh! dear," said Bevis, so eager and so sorry, that he pushed against
+the hedge, and did not notice that a thorn was pricking his arm:
+"Whatever is the matter?" But the hare was so miserable she would not
+answer him at first, till he coaxed her nicely. Then she said: "Bevis,
+Bevis, little Sir Bevis, do you know what you have done?"
+
+"No," said Bevis, "I can't think: was it me?"
+
+"Yes, it was you; you let the weasel loose, when he was caught in the
+gin."
+
+"Did I?" said Bevis, "I have quite forgotten it."
+
+"But you did it," said the hare, "and now the weasel has killed my son,
+the leveret, while he was sleeping, and sucked his blood, and I am so
+miserable; I do not care to run away any more." Then the hare began to
+weep bitterly again, till Bevis did not know what to do to comfort her.
+
+"Perhaps the weasel only killed the leveret for your good," he said
+presently.
+
+"What!" cried the hare, putting her fore-feet down hard, and stamping
+with indignation. "That is what the wicked old wretch told you, did he
+not, about the mouse and the partridge's eggs. Cannot you see that it is
+all a pack of lies? But I do not wonder that he deceives you, dear,
+since he has deceived the world for so long. Let me tell you, Sir Bevis,
+the weasel is the wickedest and most dreadful creature that lives, and
+above all things he is so cunning he can make people believe anything
+he chooses, and he has succeeded in making fools of us all--every one.
+
+"There is not one of all the animals in the hedge, nor one of the birds
+in the trees, that he has not cheated. He is so very, very cunning, and
+his talk is so soft and smooth. Do you please take care, Sir Bevis, or
+perhaps he may deceive you, as he deceived the fox. Why, do you know, he
+has made the people believe that his crimes are committed by the fox,
+who consequently bears all the disgrace; and not only that, but he has
+spread it abroad that the fox is the most cunning of all, in order that
+he may not be suspected of being so clever as he is. I daresay the
+weasel will have me some day, and I do not care if he does, now my
+leveret is dead; and very soon his poor bones will be picked clean by
+the ants, and after the corn is carried the plough will bury them."
+
+Bevis was terribly distressed at the hare's story, and showed such
+indignation against the weasel, and stamped his little foot so hard,
+knitting his brow, that the hare was somewhat appeased, and began to
+explain all about it.
+
+"Of course you did not know, dear," she said, "when you stepped on the
+spring of the gin, what trouble we had had to get him into the trap. For
+we had all suffered so long from his cruelty, that we had all agreed at
+last to try and put an end to it. The trees could not bear to stand
+still and see it go on under them, yet they could not move. The earth
+could not bear to feel him running about on his bloodthirsty business,
+through the holes the rabbits had made. The grass hated to feel him
+pushing through, for it had so often been stained with the blood that he
+had shed. So we all took counsel together, and I carried the messages,
+dear, from the oak, where you slept, to the ash and the elm, and to the
+earth in the corner where the rabbits live; and the birds came up into
+the oak and gave their adherence, every one; and the fox, too, though he
+did not come himself, for he is too cunning to commit himself till he
+knows which way the wind is going to blow, sent word of his high
+approval.
+
+"Thus we were all prepared to act against that midnight assassin, the
+weasel, but we could not begin. The trees could not move, the earth
+could not wag a step, the grass could do nothing, and so it went on for
+some months, during all which time the weasel was busy with his
+wickedness, till at last the bailiff set the gin for the rat by the
+cart-house. Then the fox came out by day--contrary to his custom, for he
+likes a nap--and went to a spot where he knew a rabbit sat in the grass;
+and he hunted the poor rabbit (it was very good sport to see--I do not
+like rabbits), till he had driven him across the ditch, where the weasel
+was. Then the fox stopped, and hid himself in the furze; and the weasel,
+first looking round to see that no one was near, stole after the rabbit.
+Now the rabbit knew that the fox was about, and therefore he was afraid
+to run across the open field; all he could do was to go down the hedge
+towards the garden.
+
+"Everything was going on well, and we sent word to the rat, to warn him
+against the gin--we did not like the rat, but we did not want the gin
+thrown--don't you see, dear? But when the rabbit had gone half-way down
+the hedge, and was close to the garden, he became afraid to venture any
+nearer your house, Bevis. Still the weasel crept after him, and
+presently drove him almost up to your sycamore-tree. Then the rabbit did
+not know what to do; for if he went forward the people in the house
+might see him and bring out the gun, and if he turned back the weasel
+would have him, and if he ran out into the field the fox would be there,
+and he could not climb up a tree. He stopped still, trying to think,
+till the weasel came so near he could smell the rabbit's blood, and
+then, in his terror, the rabbit darted out from the hedge, and into the
+ditch of your haha wall, under where the bee-hives are. There he saw a
+dry drain, and hopped into it, forgetting in his fright that he might
+not be able to get out at the other end.
+
+"The weasel thought he had now got him safe, and was just going to rush
+across and follow, when an ant spoke to him from the trunk of a tree it
+was climbing. The ant said the fox had asked him yesterday to watch, and
+if the weasel came that way, to warn him that there was a plot laid for
+his life, and not to be too venturesome. This was a piece of the same
+double-faced ways the fox has been notorious for these many years past.
+No one hates the weasel so much as the fox, but he said to himself: 'The
+weasel is so cunning, that even if he is caught, he is sure to find some
+way to get free, and then he will perhaps discover that I had a hand in
+it, and will turn round on me and spoil some of my schemes out of spite.
+Besides which, I don't see why I should take much interest in the hare
+or the mouse.' So, though he hunted the rabbit for us, yet he sent the
+weasel this message, to take care and mind and not be too bold.
+
+"When the weasel heard this he stopped, and thought to himself that it
+was rather dangerous to go so near a house, almost under it; and yet he
+could not help licking his mouth, as he remembered the sweet scent of
+the rabbit's blood. But he was so very, very cunning, that he thought to
+himself the rabbit would be obliged to come out again presently, and
+would be sure to come up the hedge if he did not see the weasel. So the
+weasel turned round to go up the hedge, and we were all in anxiety lest
+the scheme should miscarry. But as the weasel was going under the elm,
+the elm dropped a large dead branch, and as it came crashing down, it
+fell so near the weasel as to pinch his foot, and, hearing another
+branch go crack, he lost his presence of mind, turned back again, and
+darted across the corner into the drain. There the scent of the rabbit
+was so strong he could not help but follow it, and in a moment or two he
+saw the poor creature crouched at the end where he could not pass.
+
+"The weasel bounded forward, when the earth squeezed out a stone, and
+the stone fell between the weasel and the rabbit. Before he could tell
+what to do, the earth squeezed out another stone behind him and he was
+caught, and could neither go forward or backward. Now we thought we had
+got him, and that he must starve to death. As for the rabbit, when the
+stone fell down it left a hole above, up which he scrambled into the
+cow-yard, and there hid himself behind a bunch of nettles till night,
+when he escaped into the field.
+
+"Meantime the weasel in a dreadful fright was walking to and fro in his
+narrow prison, gnashing his teeth with rage and terror, and calling to
+all the animals and birds and insects and even to the mole (whom he
+despised most of all) to help him out. He promised to be the nicest,
+kindest weasel that ever was known; but it was no use, for they were all
+in the secret, and overjoyed to see him on the point of perishing. There
+he had to stay, and though he scratched and scratched, he could not make
+any hole through the solid stone, and by-and-by he got weaker, and he
+began to die. While he was dying the rat came and peeped down at him
+through a chink, and laughed and said: 'What is the use of all your
+cunning, you coward? If you had been bold like me you would never have
+got into this scrape, by being afraid of a dead branch of a tree because
+it pinched your foot. I should have run by quickly. You are a silly,
+foolish, blind sort of creature; could you not see that all the things
+had agreed to deceive you?'
+
+"At this the weasel was so wroth it woke him up from his dying, and he
+returned the taunt and said: 'Rat, you are by far the silliest to help
+the hare and the mouse; it is true they sent you a message about the
+gin, but that was not for love of you, I am sure, and I can't think why
+they should send it; but you may depend it is some trick, and very
+likely the gin is not where they said at all, but in another place, and
+you will walk into it when you are not thinking, and then you will curse
+the hare and the mouse'.
+
+"'Ah,' said the rat, 'that sounds like reason; you are right, the hare
+and the mouse are going to play me a trick. But I will spite them, I
+will let you out.'
+
+"'Will you?' said the weasel, starting up and feeling almost strong
+again. 'But you can't, these stones are so thick you cannot move them,
+nor scratch through them, nor raise them; no, you cannot let me out.'
+
+"'Oh, yes, I can,' said the rat, 'I know a way to move the biggest
+stones, and if you can only wait a day or two I will make this chink
+large enough for you to come up.'
+
+"'A day or two,' said the weasel in despair; 'why, I am nearly dead now
+with hunger.'
+
+"'Well then,' said the rat, 'gnaw your own tail;' and off he went
+laughing at the joke. The miserable weasel cried and sniffed, and
+sniffed and cried, till by-and-by he heard the rat come back and begin
+to scratch outside. Presently the rat stopped, and was going away again,
+when the weasel begged and prayed him not to leave him to die there in
+the dark.
+
+"'Very well,' said the rat, 'I will send the cricket to sing to you. In
+a day or two you will see the chink get bigger, and meantime you can
+eat your tail; and as you will get very thin, you will be able to creep
+through a very small hole and get out all the quicker. Ha! ha! As for
+me, I am going to have a capital dinner from Pan's dish, for he has
+fallen asleep in his tub.'
+
+"So the weasel was left to himself, and though he watched and watched,
+he could not see the chink open in the least, and he got so dreadfully
+hungry that at last, after sucking his paws, he was obliged to bring his
+tail round and begin to gnaw it a little bit. The pain was dreadful, but
+he could not help himself, he was obliged to do it or die. In the
+evening the cricket came, as the rat had promised, to the top of the
+chink, and at once began to sing. He sang all about the lady cricket
+with whom he was in love, and then about the beautiful stars that were
+shining in the sky, and how nice it was to be a cricket, for the
+crickets were by far the most handsome and clever of all creatures, and
+everybody would like to be a cricket if they could.
+
+"Next, he went on to praise himself, that his lady might hear what fine
+limbs he had, and so noble a form, and such a splendid chink to live in.
+Thus he kept on the livelong night, and all about himself; and his
+chirp, chirp, chirp filled the weasel's prison with such a noise that
+the wretched thing could not sleep. He kept asking the cricket to tell
+him if the rat had really done anything to enlarge the chink; but the
+cricket was too busy to answer him till the dawn, and then, having
+finished his song, he found time to attend to the weasel.
+
+"'You have been very rude,' he said, 'to keep on talking while I was
+singing, but I suppose, as you are only an ignorant weasel, you do not
+understand good manners, and therefore I will condescend so far as to
+inform you of the measures taken by my noble friend the rat to get you
+out. If you were not so extremely ignorant and stupid you would guess
+what he has done.'
+
+"Now all this was very bitter to the weasel, who had always thought he
+knew everything, to be insulted by a cricket; still he begged to be told
+what it was. 'The rat,' went on the cricket, 'has brought a little piece
+from a fungus, and has scratched a hole beside the stone and put it in
+there. Now, when this begins to grow and the fungus pushes up, it will
+move the stone and open a chink. In this way I have seen my lord the rat
+heave up the heaviest paving stones and make a road for himself. Now are
+you not stupid?' Then the cricket went home to bed.
+
+"All day long the miserable weasel lay on the floor of his prison,
+driven every now and then to gnaw his tail till he squeaked with the
+pain. The only thing that kept him from despair was the hope of the
+revenge he would have, if ever he did get out, on those who had laid the
+trap for him. For hours he lay insensible, and only woke up when the rat
+looked down the chink and asked him, with a jolly chuckle, how his tail
+tasted, and then went off without waiting for an answer. Then the
+cricket came again, and taking not the least notice of the prisoner,
+sang all night.
+
+"In the morning the weasel looked up, and saw that the chink had really
+opened. He crawled to it, he was so faint he could not walk, so he had
+to crawl over the floor, which was all red with his own blood. The
+fungus, a thick, yellowish-green thing, like a very large and
+unwholesome mushroom, was growing fast, so fast he could see it move,
+and very slowly it shoved and lifted up the stone. The chink was now so
+far open that in his thin, emaciated state, the weasel could have got
+through; but he was so weak he could not climb up. He called to the rat,
+and the rat came and tried to reach him, but it was just a little too
+far down.
+
+"'If I only had something to drink,' said the weasel, 'only one drop of
+water, I think I could do it, but I am faint from thirst.'
+
+"Off ran the rat to see what he could do, and as he passed the tub where
+Pan lived he saw a bowl of water just pumped for the spaniel. The bowl
+was of wood with a projecting handle--not a ring to put the fingers
+through, but merely a short straight handle. He went round to the other
+side of the tub in which Pan was dozing and began to scratch. Directly
+Pan heard the scratching:--
+
+"'Ho! ho!' said he, 'that's that abominable rat that steals my food,'
+and he darted out, and in his tremendous hurry his chain caught the
+handle of the bowl, just as the rat had hoped it would. Over went the
+bowl, and all the water was spilt, but the rat, the instant he heard Pan
+coming, had slipped away back to the weasel.
+
+"When Pan was tired of looking where he had heard the scratching, he
+went back to take a lap, but found the bowl upset, and that all the
+water had run down the drain. As he was very thirsty after gnawing a
+salt bacon-bone, he set up a barking, and the dairy-maid ran out,
+thinking it was a beggar, and began to abuse him for being so clumsy as
+to knock over his bowl. Pan barked all the louder, so she hit him with
+the handle of her broom, and he went howling into his tub. He vowed
+vengeance against the rat, but that did not satisfy his thirst.
+
+"Meantime the water had run along the drain, and though the fungus
+greedily sucked up most of it, the weasel had a good drink. After that
+he felt better, and he climbed up the chink, squeezing through and
+dragging his raw tail behind him, till he nearly reached the top. But
+there it was still a little tight, and he could not manage to push
+through, not having strength enough left. He felt himself slipping back
+again, and called on the rat to save him. The rat without ceremony leant
+down the chink, and caught hold of his ear with his teeth, and snipped
+it so tight he bit it right through, but he dragged the weasel out.
+
+"There he lay a long time half dead and exhausted, under a dock leaf
+which hid him from view. The rat began to think that the weasel would
+die after all, so he came and said: 'Wake up, coward, and come with me
+into the cart-house; there is a very nice warm hole there, and I will
+tell you something; if you stay here very likely the bailiff may see
+you, and if Pan should be let loose he will sniff you out in a second'.
+So the weasel, with very great difficulty, dragged himself into the
+cart-house, and found shelter in the hole.
+
+"Now the rat, though he had helped the weasel, did not half like him,
+for he was afraid to go to sleep while the weasel was about, lest his
+guest should fasten on his throat, for he knew he was treacherous to the
+last degree. He cast about in his mind how to get rid of him, and at the
+same time to serve his own purpose. By-and-by he said that there was a
+mouse in the cart-house who had a very plump wife, and two fat little
+mouses. At this the weasel pricked up his ears, for he was so terribly
+hungry, and sat up and asked where they were. The rat said the wife and
+the children were up in the beam; the wood had rotted, and they had a
+hole there, but he was afraid the mouse himself was away from home just
+then, most likely in the corn-bin, where the barley-meal for the pigs
+was kept.
+
+"'Never mind,' said the weasel, eagerly, 'the wife and the baby mice
+will do very well,' and up he started and climbed up through the rat's
+hole in the wall to the roof, and then into the hole in the beam, where
+he had a good meal on the mice. Now the rat hated this mouse because he
+lived so near, and helped himself to so much food, and being so much
+smaller, he could get about inside the house where you live, Bevis,
+without being seen, and so got very fat, and made the rat jealous. He
+thought, too, that when the weasel had eaten the wife and the babies,
+that he would be strong enough to go away. Presently the weasel came
+down from his meal, and looked so fierce and savage that the rat, strong
+as he was, was still more anxious to get rid of him as quickly as
+possible.
+
+"He told the weasel that there was a way by which he could get to the
+corn-bin without the least danger, though it was close to the house, and
+there he would be certain to find the mouse himself, and very likely
+another Miss Mouse whom he used to meet there. At this the weasel was so
+excited he could hardly wait to be shown the way, and asked the rat to
+put him in the road directly; he was so hungry he did not care what he
+did. Without delay the rat took him to the mouth of the hole, and told
+him to stay there and listen a minute to be sure that no one was coming.
+If he could not hear any footsteps, all he had to do was to rush across
+the road there, only two or three yards, to the rough grass, the
+dandelions, and the docks opposite. Just there there was an iron grating
+made in the wall of the house to let in the air and keep the rats out;
+but one of the bars had rusted off and was broken, and that was the
+mouse's track to the corn-bin.
+
+"The weasel put out his head, glanced round, saw no one, and without
+waiting to listen rushed out into the roadway. In an instant the rat
+pushed against a small piece of loose stone, which he kept for the
+purpose, and it fell down and shut up the mouth of his hole. As the
+weasel was running across the roadway suddenly one of the labourers came
+round the corner with a bucket of food for the pigs. Frightened beyond
+measure, the weasel hastened back to the rat's hole, but could not get
+in because of the stone. Not knowing what to do, he ran round the
+cart-house, where there was some grass under the wall, with the man
+coming close behind him. Now it was just there that the bailiff had set
+the gin for the rat, near the mouth of the drain, but the rat knew all
+about it, and used the other hole.
+
+"The grass, knowing that we wished to drive the weasel that way into the
+gin, had tried to grow faster and hide the trap, but could not get on
+very well because the weather was so dry. But that morning, when the rat
+upset Pan's bowl of water, and it ran down the drain, some part of it
+reached the roots of the grass and moistened them, then the grass shot
+up quick and quite hid the trap, except one little piece. Now, seeing
+the weasel rushing along in his fright, the grass was greatly excited,
+but did not know what to do to hide this part, so the grass whispered to
+his friend the wind to come to his help.
+
+"This the wind was very ready to do, for this reason--he hated to smell
+the decaying carcases of the poor creatures the weasel killed, and left
+to rot and to taint the air, so that it quite spoilt his morning ramble
+over the fields. With a puff the wind came along and blew a dead leaf,
+one of last year's leaves, over the trap, and so hid it completely.
+
+"The weasel saw the mouth of the drain, and thinking to be safe in a
+minute darted at it, and was snapped up by the gin. The sudden shock
+deprived him of sense or motion, and well for him it did, for had he
+squeaked or moved ever so little the man with the bucket must have seen
+or heard him. After a time he came to himself, and again began to beg
+the rat to help him; but the rat, having had his revenge on the mouse,
+did not much care to trouble about it, and, besides, he remembered how
+very wolfish and fierce the weasel had looked at him when in his hole.
+At least he thought he would have a night's sleep in comfort first, for
+he had been afraid to sleep a wink with the weasel so near. Now the
+weasel was in the gin he could have a nap.
+
+"All night long the weasel was in the gin, and to a certainty he would
+have been seen--for the bailiff would have been sure to come and look at
+his trap--but if you remember, Bevis, dear, that was the very day you
+were lost (while asleep under the oak), and everything was confusion,
+and the gin was forgotten. Well, in the morning the weasel begged so
+piteously of the rat to help him again, that the rat began to think he
+would, now he had had a good sleep, when just as he was peeping out
+along you came, Bevis, dear, and found the weasel in the gin.
+
+"Now, I daresay you remember the talk you had with the weasel, and what
+the mouse said; well, the rat was listening all the while, and he heard
+the weasel say to you that he always killed the rats. 'Aha!' thought
+the rat, 'catch me helping you again, sir;' and the weasel heard him say
+it. So when you stepped on the spring and loosed the weasel, he did not
+dare go into the drain, knowing that the rat (while awake) was stronger
+than he, but hobbled as well as he could across to the wood-pile. There
+he stopped, exhausted, and stiff from his wounds. Meantime the rat
+deliberated how best he could drive the treacherous weasel away from the
+place.
+
+"At night, accordingly, he cautiously left his hole and went across to
+the tub where Pan was sleeping, curled up comfortably within. The end of
+Pan's chain, where it was fastened to the staple outside the tub, was
+not of iron, but tar-cord. The last link had been broken, and it was
+therefore tied in this manner. The rat easily gnawed through the
+tar-cord, and then slipped back to his hole to await events. About the
+middle of the night, when the weasel had rested and began to stir out,
+Pan woke up, and seeing that it was light, stepped out to bay at the
+moon. He immediately found that his chain was undone, and rushed about
+to try and find some water, being very thirsty. He had not gone very far
+before he smelt the weasel, and instantly began to chase him. The
+weasel, however, slipped under a faggot, and so across and under the
+wood-pile, where he was safe; but he was so alarmed that presently he
+crept out the other side, and round by the pig-sty, and so past the
+stable to the rick-yard, and then into the hedge, and he never stopped
+running, stiff as he was, till he was half-a-mile away in the ash copse
+and had crept into a rabbit's hole. He could not have got away from the
+wood-pile, only Pan, being so thirsty, gave up looking for him, and went
+down to the brook.
+
+"In the morning, as they thought Pan had broken his chain, they kicked
+the spaniel howling into his tub again. And now comes the sad part of
+it, Bevis, dear. You must know that when the weasel was in the trap we
+all thought it was quite safe, and that our enemy was done for at last,
+and so we went off to a dancing-party, on the short grass of the downs
+by moonlight, leaving our leverets to nibble near the wheat. We stayed
+at the dancing-party so late that the dawn came and we were afraid to go
+home in the daylight, and next night we all felt so merry we had another
+dance, and again danced till it was morning.
+
+"While we were sleeping in the day, the weasel, having now recovered a
+good deal, crept out from the rabbit-hole in the copse. We were so far
+off, you see, the mice could not send us word that he had escaped from
+the gin in time, and, indeed, none of them knew exactly where to find
+us; they told the swallows, and the swallows searched, but missed us.
+The wind, too, blew as many ways as he could to try and reach us, but he
+had to blow east that day, and could not manage it. If we had only been
+at home we should have been on the watch; but my poor leveret, and my
+two friends' poor leverets, were sleeping so comfortably when the wicked
+weasel stole on them one by one, and bit their necks and killed them. He
+could not eat them, nor half of them, he only killed them for revenge,
+and oh! dear little Sir Bevis, what shall I do? what shall I do?"
+
+"I will kill the weasel," said Bevis. "He is dreadfully wicked. I will
+shoot him this minute with my bow and arrow."
+
+But when he looked round he had got neither of them; he had dropped the
+bow in the Home Field when he jumped into the ditch to scramble through
+the hedge, and he had wandered so far among the cowslips that he could
+not see the arrow. Bevis looked all round again, and did not recognise
+any of the trees, nor the hedges, nor could he see the house nor the
+ricks, nor anything that he knew. His face flushed up, and the tears
+came into his eyes; he was lost.
+
+"Don't cry," said the hare, much pleased at the eagerness with which he
+took up the quarrel against the weasel; "don't cry, darling, I will show
+you the way home and where to find your arrow. It is not very far,
+though you cannot see it because of the ground rising between you and
+it. But will you really kill the weasel next time?"
+
+"Yes, indeed I will," said Bevis, "I will shoot my arrow and kill him
+quite dead in a minute."
+
+"But I am not sure you can hit him with your arrow; don't you remember
+that you could not hit the greenfinches nor the rook?"
+
+"Well then," said Bevis, "if you will wait till I am a man, papa will
+lend me his gun, and then I can certainly kill him."
+
+"But that will be such a long time, Sir Bevis; did not your papa tell
+you you would have to eat another peck of salt before you could have a
+gun?"
+
+"Then I know what I will do," said Bevis, "I will shoot the weasel with
+my brass cannon. Ah, that is the way! And I know where papa keeps his
+gunpowder; it is in a tin canister on the topmost shelf, and I will tell
+you how I climb up there. First, I bring the big arm-chair, and then I
+put the stool on that, and then I stand on the lowest shelf, and I can
+just reach the canister."
+
+"Take care, Sir Bevis," said the hare, "take care, and do not open the
+canister where there is a fire in the room, or a candle, because a spark
+may blow you up just when you are not thinking."
+
+"Oh! I know all about that; I'll take care," said Bevis, "and I will
+shoot the wretch of a weasel in no time. Now please show me the way
+home."
+
+"So I will; you stay there till I come to you, I will run round by the
+gateway."
+
+"Why not come straight through the hedge?" said Bevis, "you could easily
+creep through, I'm sure."
+
+"No, dear. I must not come that way, that road belongs to another hare,
+and I must not trespass."
+
+"But you can run where you like--can you not?"
+
+"Oh, dear no; all the hares have different roads, Sir Bevis, and if I
+were to run along one of theirs that did not belong to me, to-night they
+would bite me and thump me with their paws till I was all bruised."
+
+"I can't see any path," said Bevis, "you can run where you like in the
+field, I'm sure."
+
+"No, I can't, dear; I shall have to go a quarter of a mile round to come
+to you, because there are three paths between you and me, and I shall
+have to turn and twist about not to come on them."
+
+While Bevis was thinking about this, and how stupid it was of the hares
+to have roads, the hare ran off, and in two or three minutes came to him
+through the cowslips. "Oh, you pretty creature!" said Sir Bevis,
+stooping down and stroking her back, and playing with the tips of her
+long ears. "Oh, I do love you so!" At this the hare was still more
+pleased, and rubbed her head against Bevis's hand.
+
+"Now," she said, "you must come along quickly, because I dare not stay
+on this short grass, lest some dog should see me. Follow me, dear." She
+went on before him, and Bevis ran behind, and in a minute or two they
+went over the rising ground, past the tall stone (put there for the cows
+to rub their sides against), and then the hare stopped and showed Bevis
+the great oak tree, where he once went to sleep. She told him to look at
+it well, and recollect the shape of it, so that another time he could
+find his way home by the tree. Then she told him to walk straight to the
+tree, and on his way there he would find the arrow, and close by the
+tree was the gap in the hedge, and when he got through the gap, he would
+see the house and the ricks, and if he followed the ditch then he would
+presently come to the place where he dropped his bow. "Thank you," said
+Bevis, "I will run as fast as I can, for I am sure it must be nearly
+dinner time. Good-bye, you pretty creature;" and having stroked her ears
+just once more, off he started. In a few minutes he found his arrow, and
+looked back to show it to the hare, but she was gone; so he went on to
+the oak, got through the gap, and there was the house at the other side
+of the field. He could hear Pan barking, so he felt quite at home, and
+walked along the ditch till he picked up his bow. He was very hungry
+when he got home, and yet he was glad when the dinner was over, that he
+might go to the cupboard and get his brass cannon.
+
+When he came to examine the cannon, and to think about shooting the
+weasel with it, he soon found that it would not do very well, because he
+could not hold it in his hand and point it straight, and when it went
+off it would most likely burn his fingers. But looking at his papa's gun
+he saw that the barrel, where the powder is put in, was fixed in a
+wooden handle called the stock, so he set to work with his pocket-knife
+to make a handle for his cannon. He cut a long thick willow stick,
+choosing the willow because it was soft and easiest to cut, and chipped
+away till he had made a groove in it at one end in which he put the
+cannon, fastening it in with a piece of thin copper wire twisted round.
+Next he cut a ramrod, and then he loaded his gun, and fired it off with
+a match to see how it went.
+
+This he did at the bottom of the orchard, a long way from the house,
+for he was afraid that if they saw what he was doing they might take it
+from him, so he kept it hidden in the summer-house under an old sack.
+The cannon went off with a good bang, and the shot he had put in it
+stuck in the bark of an apple tree. Bevis jumped about with delight, and
+thought he could now kill the weasel. It was too late to start that day,
+but the next morning off he marched with his gun into the Home Field,
+and having charged it behind the shelter of a tree out of sight, began
+his chase for the weasel.
+
+All round the field he went, looking carefully into the ditch and the
+hedge, and asking at all the rabbits'-holes if they knew where the
+scoundrel was. The rabbits knew very well, but they were afraid to
+answer, lest the weasel should hear about it, and come and kill the one
+that had betrayed him. Twice he searched up and down without success,
+and was just going to call to the hare to come and show him, when
+suddenly he discovered a thrush sitting on her nest in a bush. He put
+down his gun, and was going to see how many eggs she had got, when the
+weasel (who had no idea he was there) peeped over the bank, having a
+fancy for the eggs, but afraid that the nest was too high for him to
+reach.
+
+"Ho! Ho!" cried Bevis, "there you are. Now I have you. Just stand still
+a minute, while I get my gun and strike a match."
+
+"Whatever for?" asked the weasel, very innocently.
+
+"I am going to shoot you," said Bevis, busy getting his gun ready.
+
+"Shoot _me_!" said the weasel, in a tone of the utmost astonishment;
+"why ever do you want to shoot me, Sir Bevis? Did I not tell you that I
+spent all my life doing good?"
+
+"Yes, you rascal!" said Bevis, putting a pinch of powder on the
+touch-hole, "you know you are a wicked story-teller; you killed the poor
+leveret after I let you loose. Now!" and he went down on one knee, and
+put his cannon-stick on the other as a rest to keep it straight.
+
+"Wait a minute," said the weasel, "just listen to me a minute. I assure
+you----"
+
+"No; I sha'n't listen to you," said Bevis, striking his match.
+
+"Oh," said the weasel, kneeling down, "if you will only wait one second,
+I will tell you all the wickedness I have committed. Don't, please, kill
+me before I have got this load of guilt off my mind."
+
+"Well, make haste," said Bevis, aiming along his cannon.
+
+"I will," said the weasel; "and first of all, if you are going to kill
+me, why don't you shoot the thrush as well, for she is ever so much more
+wicked and cruel than I have been?"
+
+"Oh, what a dreadful story!" said the thrush. "How can you say so?"
+
+"Yes, you are," said the weasel. "Sir Bevis, you remember the two snails
+you found in the garden path--those you put on a leaf, and watched to
+see which could crawl the fastest?"
+
+"I remember," said Sir Bevis. "But you must make haste, or my match will
+burn out."
+
+"And you recollect that the snails had no legs and could not walk, and
+that they had no wings and could not fly, and were very helpless
+creatures?"
+
+"Yes, I remember; I left them on the path."
+
+"Well, directly you left them, out came this great ugly speckled thrush
+from the shrubbery--you see how big the thrush is, quite a monster
+beside the poor snails; and you see what long legs she has, and great
+wings, and such a strong, sharp beak. This cruel monster of a thrush
+picked up the snails, one at a time, and smashed them on the stones, and
+gobbled them up."
+
+"Well," said the thrush, much relieved, "is that all? snails are very
+nice to eat."
+
+"Was it not brutally cruel?" asked the weasel.
+
+"Yes, it was," said Bevis.
+
+"Then," said the weasel, "when you shoot me, shoot the thrush too."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis, "but how can I hit you both?"
+
+"I will show you," said the weasel. "I will walk along the bank till I
+am just in a line with the thrush's nest, and then you can take aim at
+both together."
+
+So he went along the bank and stopped behind the nest, and Bevis moved
+his cannon-stick and took another aim.
+
+"Dear me!" cried the thrush, dreadfully alarmed, "you surely are not
+going to shoot me? I never did any harm. Bevis, stop--listen to me!"
+
+Now if the thrush had flown away she might have escaped, but she was
+very fond of talking, and while she was talking Bevis was busy getting
+his gun ready.
+
+"It is straight now," said the weasel; "it is pointed quite straight.
+Hold it still there, and I will sit so that I shall die quick;--here is
+my bosom. Tell the hare to forgive me."
+
+"Oh," said the thrush, "don't shoot!"
+
+"Shoot!" cried the weasel.
+
+Bevis dropped his match on the touch-hole, puff went the priming, and
+bang went the cannon. Directly the smoke had cleared away, Bevis looked
+in the ditch, to see the dead weasel and the thrush. There was the
+thrush right enough, quite dead, and fallen out of the nest; the nest,
+too, was knocked to pieces, and the eggs had fallen out (two were
+broken), but there was one not a bit smashed, lying on the dead leaves
+at the bottom of the ditch. But the weasel was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"Weasel," cried Bevis, "where are you?" But the weasel did not answer.
+Bevis looked everywhere, over the bank and round about, but could not
+find him. At last he saw that under some grass on the bank there was a
+small rabbit's-hole. Now the weasel had sat up for Bevis to shoot him
+right over this hole, and when he saw him move the match, just as the
+priming went puff, the weasel dropped down into the hole, and the shot
+went over his head.
+
+Bevis was very angry when he saw how the weasel had deceived him, and
+felt so sorry for the poor thrush, whose speckled breast was all
+pierced by the shot, and who would never sing any more. He did not know
+what to do, he was so cross; but presently he ran home to fetch Pan, to
+see if Pan could hunt out the weasel.
+
+When he had gone a little way the weasel came out of the hole, and went
+down into the ditch and feasted on the thrush's egg, which he could not
+have got had not the shot knocked the nest to pieces, just as he had
+contrived. He never tasted so sweet an egg as that one, and as he sucked
+it up he laughed as he thought how cleverly he had deceived them all.
+When he heard Pan bark he went back into the hole, and so along the
+hedge till he reached the copse; and then creeping into another hole, a
+very small one, where no dog could get at him, he curled himself up very
+comfortably and went to sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+BROOK-FOLK.
+
+
+Some time afterwards it happened one morning that Bevis was sitting on a
+haycock in the Home Field, eating a very large piece of cake, and
+thinking how extremely greedy the young rook was yonder across the
+meadow. For he was as big and as black as his father and mother, who
+were with him; and yet he kept on cawing to them to stuff his beak with
+sweets. Bevis, who had another large slice in his pocket, having stolen
+both of them from the cupboard just after breakfast, felt angry to see
+such greediness, and was going to get up to holloa at this ill-mannered
+rook, when he heard a grasshopper making some remarks close by the
+haycock.
+
+"S----s," said the grasshopper to a friend, "are you going down to the
+brook? I am, in a minute, so soon as I have hopped round this haycock,
+for there will be a grand show there presently. All the birds are going
+to bathe, as is their custom on Midsummer Day, and will be sure to
+appear in their best feathers. It is true some of them have bathed
+already, as they have to leave early in the morning, having business
+elsewhere. I spoke to the cricket just now on the subject, but he could
+not see that it was at all interesting. He is very narrow-minded, as
+you know, and cannot see anything beyond the mound where he lives.
+S----s."
+
+"S----s," replied the other grasshopper; "I will certainly jump that way
+so soon as I have had a chat with my lady-love, who is waiting for me on
+the other side of the furrow. S----s."
+
+"S----s, we shall meet by the drinking-place," said the first
+grasshopper; and was just hopping off when Bevis asked him what the
+birds went down to bathe for.
+
+"I'm sure I do not know," said the grasshopper, speaking fast, for he
+was rather in a hurry to be gone, he never could stand still long
+together. "All I can tell you is that on Midsummer Day every one of the
+birds has to go down to the brook and walk in and bathe; and it has been
+the law for so many, many years that no one can remember when it began.
+They like it very much, because they can show off their fine feathers,
+which are just now in full colour; and if you like to go with me you
+will be sure to enjoy it."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis, and he followed the grasshopper, who hopped so
+far at every step that he had to walk fast to keep up with him. "But why
+do the birds do it?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know why," said the grasshopper; "what is why?"
+
+"I want to know," said Bevis, "why do they do it?"
+
+"Why?" repeated the grasshopper; "I never heard anybody say anything
+about that before. There is always a great deal of talking going on,
+for the trees have nothing else to do but to gossip with each other; but
+they never ask why."
+
+After that they went on in silence a good way except that the
+grasshopper cried "S----s" to his friends in the grass as he passed, and
+said good-morning also to a mole who peeped out for a moment.
+
+"Why don't you hop straight?" said Bevis, presently. "It seems to me
+that you hop first one side and then the other, and go in such a zig-zag
+fashion it will take us hours to reach the brook."
+
+"How very stupid you are," said the grasshopper. "If you go straight of
+course you can only see just what is under your feet, but if you go
+first this way and then that, then you see everything. You are nearly as
+silly as the ants, who never see anything beautiful all their lives. Be
+sure you have nothing to do with the ants, Bevis; they are a mean,
+wretched, miserly set, quite contemptible and beneath notice. Now I go
+everywhere all round the field, and spend my time searching for lovely
+things; sometimes I find flowers, and sometimes the butterflies come
+down into the grass and tell me the news, and I am so fond of the
+sunshine, I sing to it all day long. Tell me, now, is there anything so
+beautiful as the sunshine and the blue sky, and the green grass, and the
+velvet and blue and spotted butterflies, and the trees which cast such a
+pleasant shadow and talk so sweetly, and the brook which is always
+running? I should like to listen to it for a thousand years."
+
+"I like you," said Bevis; "jump into my hand, and I will carry you." He
+held his hand out flat, and in a second up sprang the grasshopper, and
+alighted on his palm, and told him the way to go, and thus they went
+together merrily.
+
+"Are you sure the ants are so very stupid and wicked?" asked Bevis, when
+the grasshopper had guided him through a gateway into the meadow by the
+brook.
+
+"Indeed I am. It is true they declare that it is I who am wrong, and
+never lose a chance of chattering at me, because they are always laying
+up a store, and I wander about, laughing and singing. But then you see,
+Bevis dear, they are quite demented, and so led away by their greedy,
+selfish wishes that they do not even know that there is a sun. They say
+they cannot see it, and do not believe there is any sunshine, nor do
+they believe there are any stars. Now I do not sing at night, but I
+always go where I can see a star. I slept under a mushroom last night,
+and he told me he was pushing up as fast as he could before some one
+came and picked him to put on a gridiron. I do not lay up any store,
+because I know I shall die when the summer ends, and what is the use of
+wealth then? My store and my wealth is the sunshine, dear, and the blue
+sky, and the green grass, and the delicious brook who never ceases sing,
+sing, singing all day and night. And all the things are fond of me, the
+grass and the flowers, and the birds, and the animals, all of them love
+me. So you see I am richer than all the ants put together." "I would
+rather be you than an ant," said Bevis. "I think I shall take you home
+and put you under a glass-case on the mantelpiece."
+
+Off jumped the grasshopper in a moment, and fell so lightly on the grass
+it did not hurt him in the least, though it was as far as if Bevis had
+tumbled down out of the clouds. Bevis tried to catch him, but he jumped
+so nimbly this way and that, and hopped to and fro, and lay down in the
+grass, so that his green coat could not be seen. Bevis got quite hot
+trying to catch him, and seeing this, the grasshopper, much delighted,
+cried out: "Are you not the stupid boy everybody is laughing at for
+letting the weasel go? You will never catch the weasel."
+
+"I'll stamp on you," said Bevis, in a great rage.
+
+"S----s," called the grasshopper--who was frightened at this--to his
+friends, and in a minute there were twenty of them jumping all round in
+every direction, and as they were all just alike Bevis did not know
+which to run after. When he looked up there was the brook close by, and
+the drinking-place where the birds were to meet and bathe. It was a spot
+where the ground shelved gently down from the grass to the brook; the
+stream was very shallow and flowed over the sandy bottom with a gentle
+murmur.
+
+He went down to the brook and stood on the bank, where it was high near
+a bush at the side of the drinking-place. "Ah, dear little Sir Bevis!"
+whispered a reed, bending towards him as the wind blew, "please do not
+come any nearer, the bank is steep and treacherous, and hollow
+underneath where the water-rats run. So do not lean over after the
+forget-me-nots--they are too far for you. Sit down where you are, behind
+that little bush, and I will tell you all about the bathing." Bevis sat
+down and picked a June rose from a briar that trailed over the bush, and
+asked why the birds bathed.
+
+"I do not know why," said the reed. "There is no why at all. We have
+been listening to the brook, me and my family, for ever so many
+thousands of years, and though the brook has been talking and singing
+all that time, I never heard him ask why about anything. And the great
+oak, where you went to sleep, has been there, goodness me, nobody can
+tell how long, and every one of his leaves (he has had millions of them)
+have all been talking, but not one of them ever asked why; nor does the
+sun, nor the stars which I see every night shining in the clear water
+down there, so that I am quite sure there is no why at all.
+
+"But the birds come down to bathe every Midsummer Day, the goldfinches,
+and the sparrows, and the blackbirds, and the thrushes, and the
+swallows, and the wrens, and the robins, and almost every one of them,
+except two or three, whose great-grandfathers got into disgrace a long
+while ago. The rooks do not come because they are thieves, and steal the
+mussels, nor the crows, who are a very bad lot; the swan does not come
+either, unless the brook is muddy after a storm. The swan is so tired of
+seeing himself in the water that he quite hates it, and that is the
+reason he holds his neck so high, that he may not see more of himself
+than he can help.
+
+"It is no use your asking the brook why they come, because even if he
+ever knew, he has forgotten. For the brook, though he sparkles so bright
+in the sun, and is so clear and sweet, and looks so young, is really so
+very, very old that he has quite lost his memory, and cannot remember
+what was done yesterday. He did not even know which way the moor-hen
+went just now, when I inquired, having a message to send to my relations
+by the osier-bed yonder.
+
+"But I have heard the heron say--he is talkative sometimes at night when
+you are asleep, dear; he was down here this morning paddling about--that
+the birds in the beginning learnt to sing by listening to the brook, and
+perhaps that is the reason they pay him such deep respect. Besides,
+everybody knows that according to an ancient prophecy which was
+delivered by the raven before he left this country, if only the birds
+can all bathe in the brook on Midsummer Day and hold their tongues, and
+not abuse one another or quarrel, they will be able to compose their
+differences, and ever afterwards live happily together.
+
+"Then they could drive away the hawk, for there is only one hawk to ten
+thousand finches, and if they only marched shoulder to shoulder all
+together they could kill him with ease. They could smother the cat even,
+by all coming down at once upon her, or they could carry up a stone and
+drop on her head; and as for the crow, that old coward, if he saw them
+coming he would take wing at once. But as they cannot agree, the hawk,
+and the cat, and the crow do as they like. For the chaffinches all fight
+one another, you heard them challenging, and saw them go to battle, and
+then when at last they leave off and are good fellows again, they all
+flock together and will have nothing to do with the goldfinches, or the
+blackbirds. It is true the wood-pigeons, and the rooks, and the
+starlings, and the fieldfares and redwings are often about in the same
+field, but that is only because they eat the same things; if a hawk
+comes they all fly away from each other, and do not unite and fight him
+as they might do.
+
+"But if once they could come down to the brook on Midsummer Day, and
+never quarrel, then, according to the prophecy I told you of, all this
+diversity would cease, and they would be able to do just as they
+pleased, and build three or four nests in the summer instead of one, and
+drive away and kill all the hawks, and crows, and cats. They tried to do
+it, I can't tell you how many years, but they could never succeed, for
+there was always a dispute about something, so at last they gave it up,
+and it was almost forgotten (for they came to the conclusion that it was
+no use to try), till last year, when the mole, the one that spoke to the
+grasshopper just now, reminded them of it.
+
+"Now the reason the mole reminded them of it was because one day a hawk
+came down too quick for his wife (who was peeping out of doors), and
+snapped her up in a minute, so he bore the hawk a grudge, and set about
+to seek for vengeance. And as he could not fly or get at the hawk he
+thought he would manage it through the other birds. So one morning when
+the green woodpecker came down to pick up the ants with his tongue, the
+mole looked out and promised to show him where there was a capital
+feast, and to turn up the ground for him, if in return he would fly all
+round the forest and the fields, and cry shame on the birds for letting
+the hawk go on as he did when they could so easily prevent it, just by
+holding their tongues one day.
+
+"This the woodpecker promised to do, and after he had feasted off he
+went, and having tapped on a tree to call attention, he began to cry
+shame upon them, and having a very loud voice he soon let them know his
+mind. At which the birds resolved to try again, and, do you know, last
+year they very nearly succeeded. For it rained hard all Midsummer Day,
+and when the birds came down to the brook they were so bedraggled, and
+benumbed, and cold, and unhappy, that they had nothing to say for
+themselves, but splashed about in silence, and everything would have
+happened just right had not a rook, chancing to pass over, accidentally
+dropped something he was carrying in his bill, which fell into the flags
+there.
+
+"The starling forgot himself, and remarked he supposed it was an acorn;
+when the wood-pigeon called him a donkey, as the acorns were not yet
+ripe, nor large enough to eat; and the usual uproar began again. But
+afterwards, when they talked it over, they said to each other that, as
+they had so nearly done it, it must be quite possible, and next year
+they would all hold their tongues as tight as wax, though the sun should
+drop out of the sky. Now the hawk, of course, being so high up, circling
+round, saw and heard all this, and he was very much alarmed, as they had
+so nearly succeeded; and he greatly feared lest next year, what he had
+dreaded so long would come to pass, as the raven had foretold.
+
+"So he flew down and took counsel of his ancient friend the weasel. What
+they said I cannot tell you, nor has it been found out, but I have no
+doubt they made up something wicked between them, and it is greatly to
+be regretted that you let the weasel go, for the hawk, sharp as he is,
+is not very clever at anything new, and if he had not got the weasel to
+advise him I suspect he would not be much after all. We shall see
+presently what they have contrived--I am much mistaken if they have not
+put their heads together for something. Do you keep quite still, Bevis
+dear, when the birds come, and take care and not frighten them."
+
+"I will," said Bevis; "I will be very quiet."
+
+"It is my turn to tell you a story now," said a green flag waving to and
+fro in the brook. "The reed has been talking too much."
+
+"No, it is my turn," said a perch from the water under the bank. Bevis
+leaned over a little, and could see the bars across his back and sides.
+
+"Hold your tongue," replied the flag; "you ate the roach this morning,
+whose silvery scales used to flash like a light under the water."
+
+"I will nibble you," said the perch, very angry. "I will teach you to
+tell tales."
+
+"I will ask the willow, he is a very old friend of mine, not to shake
+any more insects into the brook for you from his leaves," replied the
+flag.
+
+"It was not I who ate the roach," said the perch; "it was the pike,
+Bevis dear."
+
+"Indeed it was not," said the pike, coming forward a little from under
+some floating weeds, where he had been in hiding, so that Bevis could
+now see his long body. "The perch says things that are not true."
+
+"You know you hate me," said the perch; "because your
+great-great-grandfather swallowed mine in a rage, and my
+great-great-grandfather's spines stuck in your great-great-grandfather's
+throat and killed him. And ever since then, Bevis dear, they have done
+nothing but tell tales against me. I did not touch the roach; the pike
+wanted him, I know, for breakfast."
+
+"I deny it," said the pike; "but if it was not the perch it was the
+rat."
+
+"That's false," said the rat; "I have only this minute come down to the
+brook. If it was not the pike nor the perch, depend upon it it was the
+heron."
+
+"I am sure it was not the heron," said a beautiful drake, who came
+swimming down the stream. "I was here as early as any one, and I will
+not have my acquaintance the heron accused in his absence. I assure you
+it was not the heron."
+
+"Well, who did it then?" said Bevis.
+
+"The fact is," said a frog on the verge of the stream, "they are all as
+bad as one another; the perch is a rogue and a thief; the pike is a
+monster of iniquity; the heron never misses a chance of gobbling up
+somebody; and as for the drake, for all his glossy neck and his innocent
+look, he is as ready to pick up anything as the rest."
+
+"Quack," cried the drake in a temper; "quack."
+
+"Hush!" said a tench from the bottom of a deep hole under the bank--he
+was always a peacemaker. "Hush! do stop the noise you are making. If you
+would only lie quiet in the mud like me, how pleasant you would find
+life."
+
+"Bevis," began the reed; "Bevis dear. Ah, ah!" His voice died away, for
+as the sun got higher the wind fell, and the reed could only speak while
+the wind blew. The flag laughed as the reed was silenced.
+
+"You need not laugh," said the perch; "you can only talk while the water
+waggles you. The horse will come down to the brook to-morrow, and bite
+off your long green tip, and then you will not be able to start any more
+falsehoods about me."
+
+"The birds are coming," said the frog. "I should like to swim across to
+the other side, where I can see better, but I am afraid of the pike and
+the drake. Bevis dear, fling that piece of dead stick at them."
+
+Bevis picked up the dead stick and flung it at the drake, who hastened
+off down the stream; the pike, startled at the splash, darted up the
+brook, and the frog swam over in a minute. Then the birds began to come
+down to the drinking-place, where the shore shelved very gently, and the
+clear shallow water ran over the sandy bottom. They were all in their
+very best and brightest feathers, and as the sun shone on them and they
+splashed the water and strutted about, Bevis thought he had never seen
+anything so beautiful.
+
+They did not all bathe, for some of them were specially permitted only
+to drink instead, but they all came, and all in their newest dresses. So
+bright was the goldfinch's wing, that the lark, though she did not dare
+speak, had no doubt she rouged. The sparrow, brushed and neat, so quiet
+and subdued in his brown velvet, looked quite aristocratic among so much
+flaunting colour. As for the blackbird, he had carefully washed himself
+in the spring before he came to bathe in the brook, and he glanced round
+with a bold and defiant air, as much as to say: "There is not one of you
+who has so yellow a bill, and so beautiful a black coat as I have". In
+the bush the bullfinch, who did not care much to mix with the crowd,
+moved restlessly to and fro. The robin looked all the time at Bevis, so
+anxious was he for admiration. The wood-pigeon, very consequential,
+affected not to see the dove, whom Bevis longed to stroke, but could
+not, as he had promised the reed to keep still.
+
+All this time the birds, though they glanced at one another, and those
+who were on good terms, like the chaffinch and the greenfinch, exchanged
+a nod, had not spoken a word, and the reed, as a puff came, whispered to
+Bevis that the prophecy would certainly come to pass, and they would
+all be as happy as ever they could be. Why ever did they not make haste
+and fly away, now they had all bathed or sipped? The truth was, they
+liked to be seen in their best feathers, and none of them could make up
+their minds to be the first to go home; so they strutted to and fro in
+the sunshine. Bevis, in much excitement, could hardly refrain from
+telling them to go.
+
+He looked up into the sky, and there was the hawk, almost up among the
+white clouds, soaring round and round, and watching all that was
+proceeding. Almost before he could look down again a shadow went by, and
+a cuckoo flew along very low, just over the drinking-place.
+
+"Cuckoo!" he cried, "cuckoo! The goldfinch has the prettiest dress," and
+off he went.
+
+Now the hawk had bribed the cuckoo, who was his cousin, to do this, and
+the cuckoo was not at all unwilling, for he had an interest himself in
+keeping the birds divided, so he said that although he had made up his
+mind to go on his summer tour, leaving his children to be taken care of
+by the wagtail, he would stop a day or two longer, to manage this little
+business. No sooner had the cuckoo said this, than there was a most
+terrible uproar, and all the birds cried out at once. The blackbird was
+so disgusted that he flew straight off, chattering all across the field
+and up the hedge. The bullfinch tossed his head, and asked the goldfinch
+to come up in the bush and see which was strongest. The greenfinch and
+the chaffinch shrieked with derision; the wood-pigeon turned his back,
+and said "Pooh!" and went off with a clatter. The sparrow flew to tell
+his mates on the house, and you could hear the chatter they made about
+it, right down at the brook. But the wren screamed loudest of all, and
+said that the goldfinch was a painted impostor, and had not got half so
+much gold as the yellow-hammer. So they were all scattered in a minute,
+and Bevis stood up.
+
+"Ah!" said the reed, "I am very sorry. It was the hawk's doings, I am
+sure, and he was put up to the trick by the weasel, and now the birds
+will never agree, for every year they will remember this. Is it not a
+pity they are so vain? Bevis dear, you are going, I see. Come down
+again, dear, when the wind blows stronger, and I will tell you another
+story. Ah! ah!" he sighed; and was silent as the puff ceased.
+
+Bevis, tired of sitting so long, went wandering up the brook, peeping
+into the hollow willow trees, wishing he could dive like the rats, and
+singing to the brook, who sang to him again, and taught him a very old
+tune. By-and-by he came to the hatch, where the brook fell over with a
+splash, and a constant bubbling, and churning, and gurgling. A
+kingfisher, who had been perched on the rail of the hatch, flew off when
+he saw Bevis, whistling: "Weep! weep!"
+
+"Why do you say, weep, weep?" said Bevis. "Is it because the birds are
+so foolish?" But the kingfisher did not stay to answer. The water
+rushing over the hatch made so pleasant a sound that Bevis, delighted
+with its tinkling music, sat down to listen and to watch the bubbles,
+and see how far they would swim before they burst. Then he threw little
+pieces of stick on the smooth surface above the hatch to see them come
+floating over and plunge under the bubbles, and presently appear again
+by the foam on the other side among the willow roots.
+
+Still more sweetly sang the brook, so that even restless Bevis stayed to
+hearken, though he could not quite make out what he was saying. A
+moor-hen stole out from the rushes farther up, seeing that Bevis was
+still enchanted with the singing, and began to feed among the green
+weeds by the shore. A water-rat came out of his hole and fed in the
+grass close by. A blue dragon-fly settled on a water-plantain. Up in the
+ash-tree a dove perched and looked down at Bevis. Only the gnats were
+busy; they danced and danced till Bevis thought they must be dizzy, just
+over the water.
+
+"Sing slower," said Bevis presently, "I want to hear what you are
+saying." So the brook sang slower, but then it was too low, and he could
+not catch the words. Then he thought he should like to go over to the
+other side, and see what there was up the high bank among the brambles.
+He looked at the hatch, and saw that there was a beam across the brook,
+brown with weeds, which the water only splashed against and did not
+cover deeply. By holding tight to the rail and putting his feet on the
+beam he thought he could climb over.
+
+He went down nearer and took hold of the rail, and was just going to put
+his foot on the beam, when the brook stopped singing, and said: "Bevis
+dear, do not do that; it is very deep here, and the beam is very
+slippery, and if you should fall I would hold you up as long as I could,
+but I am not very strong, and should you come to harm I should be very
+unhappy. Do please go back to the field, and if you will come down some
+day when I am not in such a hurry, I will sing to you very slowly, and
+tell you everything I know. And if you come very gently, and on tip-toe,
+you will see the kingfisher, or perhaps the heron." Bevis, when he heard
+this, went back, and followed the hedge a good way, not much thinking
+where he was going, but strolling along in the shadow, and humming to
+himself the tune he had learnt from the brook. By-and-by he spied a gap
+in the hedge under an ash-tree, so he went through in a minute, and
+there was a high bank with trees like a copse, and bramble-bushes and
+ferns. He went on up the bank, winding in and out the brambles, and at
+last it was so steep he had to climb on his hands and knees, and
+suddenly as he came round a bramble-bush there was the Long Pond, such a
+great piece of water, all gleaming in the sunshine and reaching far away
+to the woods and the hills, as if it had no end.
+
+Bevis clapped his hands with delight, and was just going to stand up,
+when something caught him by the ankles; he looked round, and it was the
+bailiff, who had had an eye on him all the time from the hayfield. Bevis
+kicked and struggled, but it was no use; the bailiff carried him home,
+and then went back with a bill-hook, and cutting a thorn bush, stopped
+up the gap in the hedge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+KAPCHACK.
+
+
+"Q--q--q," Bevis heard a starling say some weeks afterwards on the
+chimney-top one morning when he woke up. The chimney was very old and
+big, and the sound came down it to his room. "Q--q--q, my dear, I will
+tell you a secret"--he was talking to his lady-love.
+
+"Phe-hu," she said, in a flutter. Bevis could hear her wings go plainly.
+"Whatever is it? Do tell me."
+
+"Look all round first," he said, "and see that no one is about."
+
+"No one is near, dear; the sparrows are out in the corn, and the
+swallows are very high up; the blackbird is busy in the orchard, and the
+robin is down at the red currants; there's no one near. Is it a very
+great secret?"
+
+"It is a very great secret indeed, and you must be very careful not to
+whistle it out by accident; now if I tell you will you keep your beak
+quite shut, darling?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"Then, listen--Kapchack is in love."
+
+"Phe--hu--u; who is it? Is he going to be married? How old is she? Who
+told you? When did you hear it? Whatever will people say? Tell me all
+about it, dear!"
+
+"The tomtit told me just now in the fir-tree; the woodpecker told him on
+his promising that he would not tell anybody else."
+
+"When is the marriage to come off, dear?" she asked, interrupting him.
+"Kapchack--Phe--u!"
+
+Somebody came round the house, and away they flew, just as Bevis was
+going to ask all about it. He went to the window as soon as he was
+dressed, and as he opened it he saw a fly on the pane; he thought he
+would ask the fly, but instantly the fly began to fidget, and finding
+that the top of the window was open out he went, buzzing that Kapchack
+was in love. At breakfast time a wasp came in--for the fruit was
+beginning to ripen, and the wasps to get busy--and he went all round the
+room saying that Kapchack was in love, but he would not listen to
+anything Bevis asked, he was so full of Kapchack. When Bevis ran out of
+doors the robin on the palings immediately said: "Kapchack is in love;
+do you know Kapchack is in love?" and a second afterwards the wren flew
+up to the top of the wood-pile and cried out just the same thing.
+
+Three finches passed him as he went up the garden, telling each other
+that Kapchack was in love. The mare in the meadow whinnied to her colt
+that Kapchack was in love, and the cows went "boo" when they heard it,
+and "booed" it to some more cows ever so far away. The leaves on the
+apple-tree whispered it, and the news went all down the orchard in a
+moment; and everything repeated it. Bevis got into his swing, and as he
+swung to and fro he heard it all round him.
+
+A humble-bee went along the grass telling all the flowers that were
+left, and then up into the elm, and the elm told the ash, and the ash
+told the oak, and the oak told the hawthorn, and it ran along the hedge
+till it reached the willow, and the willow told the brook, and the brook
+told the reeds, and the reeds told the kingfisher, and the kingfisher
+went a mile down the stream and told the heron, and the heron went up
+into the sky and called it out as loud as he could, and a rabbit heard
+it and told another rabbit, and he ran across to the copse and told
+another, and he told a mouse, and he told a butterfly, and the butterfly
+told a moth, and the moth went into the great wood and told another
+moth, and a wood-pigeon heard it and told more wood-pigeons, and so
+everybody said: "Kapchack is in love!"
+
+"But I thought it was a great secret," said Bevis to a thrush, "and that
+nobody knew it, except the tomtit, and the woodpecker, and the starling;
+and, besides, who is Kapchack?" The thrush was in the bushes where they
+came to the haha, and when he heard Bevis ask who Kapchack was, he
+laughed, and said he should tell everybody that Bevis, who shot his
+uncle with the cannon-stick, was so very, very stupid he did not know
+who Kapchack was. Ha! Ha! Could anybody be so ignorant? he should not
+have believed it if he had not heard it.
+
+Bevis, in a rage at this, jumped out of the swing and threw a stone at
+the thrush, and so well did he fling it that if the thrush had not
+slipped under a briar he would have had a good thump. Bevis went
+wandering round the garden, and into his summer-house, when he heard
+some sparrows in the ivy on the roof all chattering about Kapchack, and
+out he ran to ask them, but they were off in a second to go and tell the
+yellow-hammers. Bevis stamped his foot, he was so cross because nobody
+would tell him about Kapchack, and he could not think what to do, till
+as he was looking round the garden he saw the rhubarb, and remembered
+the old toad. Very likely the toad would know; he was so old, and knew
+almost everything. Away he ran to the rhubarb and looked under the piece
+of wood, and there was the toad asleep, just as he always was.
+
+He was so firm asleep, he did not know what Bevis said, till Bevis got a
+twig and poked him a little. Then he yawned and woke up, and asked Bevis
+what time it was, and how long it would be before the moon rose.
+
+"I want to know who Kapchack is, this minute," said Bevis, "this _very_
+minute, mind."
+
+"Well I never!" said the toad, "well I never! Don't you know?"
+
+"Tell me directly--this very minute--you horrid old toad!"
+
+"Don't you really know?" said the toad.
+
+"I'll have you shovelled up, and flung over to the pigs, if you don't
+tell me," said Bevis. "No, I'll get my cannon-stick, and shoot you! No,
+here's a big stone--I'll smash you! I hate you! Who's Kapchack?"
+
+"Kapchack," said the toad, not in the least frightened, "Kapchack is the
+magpie; and he is king over everything and everybody--over the fly and
+the wasp, and the finches, and the heron, and the horse, and the rabbit,
+and the flowers, and the trees. Kapchack, the great and mighty magpie,
+is the king," and the toad bumped his chin on the ground, as if he stood
+before the throne, so humble was he at the very name of Kapchack. Then
+he shut one eye in a very peculiar manner, and put out his tongue.
+
+"Why don't you like Kapchack?" said Bevis, who understood him in a
+minute.
+
+"Hush!" said the toad, and he repeated out loud, "Kapchack is the great
+and noble magpie--Kapchack is the king!" Then he whispered to Bevis to
+sit down on the grass very near him, so that he might speak to him
+better, and not much louder than a whisper. When Bevis had sat down and
+stooped a little, the toad came close to the mouth of his hole, and said
+very quietly: "Bevis dear, Kapchack is a horrid wretch!"
+
+"Why," said Bevis, "why do you hate him? and where does he live? and why
+is he king? I suppose he is very beautiful?"
+
+"Oh, dear, no!" said the toad, hastily, "he is the ugliest creature that
+ever hopped. The feathers round one eye have all come out and left a
+bare place, and he is quite blind on the other. Indeed his left eye is
+gone altogether. His beak is chipped and worn; his wings are so beaten
+and decayed that he can hardly fly; and there are several feathers out
+of his tail. He is the most miserable thing you ever saw."
+
+"Then why is he king?" asked Bevis.
+
+"Because he is," said the toad; "and as he is king, nobody else can be.
+It is true he is very wise--at least everybody says so--wiser than the
+crow or the rook, or the weasel (though the weasel is so cunning). And
+besides, he is so old, so very old, nobody knows when he was born, and
+they say that he will always live, and never die. Why, he put my
+grandfather in prison."
+
+"In prison?" said Bevis. "Where is the prison?"
+
+"In the elm-tree, at the top of the Home Field," said the toad. "My
+grandfather has been shut up there in a little dungeon so tight, he
+cannot turn round, or sit, or stand, or lie down, for so long a time
+that, really, Bevis dear, I cannot tell you; but it was before you were
+born. And all that time he has had nothing to eat or drink, and he has
+never seen the sun or felt the air, and I do not suppose he has ever
+heard anything unless when the thunderbolt fell on the oak close by.
+Perhaps he heard the thunder then."
+
+"Well, then, what has he been doing?" asked Bevis, "and why doesn't he
+get out?"
+
+"He cannot get out, because the tree has grown all round him quite hard,
+as Kapchack knew it would when he ordered him to be put there in the
+hole. He has not been doing anything but thinking."
+
+"I should get tired of thinking all that time," said Bevis; "but why was
+he put there?"
+
+"For reasons of state," said the toad. "He knows too much. Once upon a
+time he saw Kapchack do something, I do not know what it was, and
+Kapchack was very angry, and had him put in there in case he should tell
+other people. I went and asked him what it was before the tree quite
+shut him in, while there was just a little chink you could talk through;
+but he always told me to stop in my hole and mind my own business, else
+perhaps I should get punished, as he had been. But he did tell me that
+he could not help it, that he did not mean to see it, only just at the
+moment it happened he turned round in his bed, and he opened his eyes
+for a second, and you know the consequences, Bevis dear. So I advise you
+always to look the other way, unless you're wanted."
+
+"It was very cruel of Kapchack," said Bevis.
+
+"Kapchack is very cruel," said the toad, "and very greedy, more greedy
+even than the ants; and he has such a treasure in his palace as never
+was heard of. No one can tell how rich he is. And as for cruelty, why,
+he killed his uncle only a week since, just for not answering him the
+very instant he spoke; he pecked him in the forehead and killed him.
+Then he killed the poor little wren, whom he chanced to hear say that
+the king was not so beautiful as her husband. Next he pecked a thrush to
+death, because the thrush dared to come into his orchard without
+special permission.
+
+"But it is no use my trying to tell you all the shameful things he has
+done in all these years. There is never a year goes by without his doing
+something dreadful; and he has made everybody miserable at one time or
+other by killing their friends or relations, from the snail to the
+partridge. He is quite merciless, and spares no one; why, his own
+children are afraid of him, and it is believed that he has pecked
+several of them to death, though it is hushed up; but people talk about
+it all the same, sometimes. As for the way he has behaved to the ladies,
+if I were to tell you you would never believe it."
+
+"I hate him," said Bevis. "Why ever do they let him be king? How they
+must hate him."
+
+"Oh, no, they don't, dear," said the toad. "If you were to hear how they
+go on, you would think he was the nicest and kindest person that ever
+existed. They sing his praises all day long; that is, in the spring and
+summer, while the birds have their voices. You must have heard them,
+only you did not understand them. The finches and the thrushes, and the
+yellow-hammers and the wrens, and all the birds, every one of them,
+except Choo Hoo, the great rebel, sing Kapchack's praises all day long,
+and tell him that they love him more than they love their eggs, or their
+wives, or their nests, and that he is the very best and nicest of all,
+and that he never did anything wrong, but is always right and always
+just.
+
+"And they say his eye is brighter than the sun, and that he can see more
+with his one eye than all the other birds put together; and that his
+feathers are blacker and whiter and more beautiful than anything else in
+the world, and his voice sweeter than the nightingale's. Now, if you
+will stoop a little lower I will whisper to you the reason they do this
+(Bevis stooped down close); the truth is they are afraid lest he should
+come himself and peck their eggs, or their children, or their wives, or
+if not himself that he should send the hawk, or the weasel, or the
+stoat, or the rat, or the crow. Don't you ever listen to the crow,
+Bevis; he is a black scoundrel.
+
+"For Kapchack has got all the crows, and hawks, and weasels (especially
+that very cunning one, that old wretch that cheated you), and rats, to
+do just as he tells them. They are his soldiers, and they carry out his
+bidding quicker than you can wink your eye, or than I can shoot out my
+tongue, which I can do so quickly that you cannot see it. When the
+spring is over and the birds lose their voices (many of them have
+already), they each send one or two of their number every day to visit
+the orchard where Kapchack lives, and to say (as they can no longer
+sing) that they still think just the same, and they are all his very
+humble servants. Kapchack takes no notice of them whatever unless they
+happen to do what he does not like, and then they find out very soon
+that he has got plenty of spies about.
+
+"My opinion is that the snail is no better than a spy and a common
+informer. Do you just look round and turn over any leaves that are
+near, lest any should be here, and tell tales about me. I can tell you,
+it is a very dangerous thing to talk about Kapchack, somebody or other
+is sure to hear, and to go and tell him, so as to get into favour. Now,
+that is what I hate. All the rabbits and hares (and your friend the hare
+that lives at the top of the Home Field), and the squirrel and the
+mouse, all of them have to do just the same as the birds, and send
+messages to Kapchack, praising him and promising to do exactly as he
+tells them, all except Choo Hoo."
+
+"Who is Choo Hoo?" said Bevis.
+
+"Choo Hoo is the great wood-pigeon," said the toad. "He is a rebel; but
+I cannot tell you much about him, for it is only of late years that we
+have heard anything of him, and I do not know much about the present
+state of things. Most of the things I can tell you happened, or began, a
+long time ago. If you want to know what is going on now, the best person
+you can go to is the squirrel. He is a very good fellow; he can tell
+you. I will give you a recommendation to him, or perhaps he will be
+afraid to open his mouth too freely; for, as I said before, it is a very
+dangerous thing to talk about Kapchack, and everybody is most terribly
+afraid of him--he is so full of malice."
+
+"Why ever do they let him be king?" said Bevis; "I would not, if I were
+them. Why ever do they put up with him, and his cruelty and greediness?
+I will tell the thrush and the starling not to endure him any longer."
+
+"Pooh! pooh!" said the toad. "It is all very well for you to say so, but
+you must excuse me for saying, my dear Sir Bevis, that you really know
+very little about it. The thrush and the starling would not understand
+what you meant. The thrush's father always did as Kapchack told him, and
+sang his praises, as I told you, and so did his grandfather, and his
+great-grandfather, and all his friends and relations, these years and
+years past. So that now the thrushes have no idea of there being no
+Kapchack. They could not understand you, if you tried to explain to them
+how nice it would be without him. If you sat in your swing and talked to
+them all day long, for all the summer through, they would only think you
+very stupid even to suppose such a state of things as no Kapchack. Quite
+impossible, Bevis dear!--excuse me correcting you. Why, instead of
+liking it, they would say it would be very dreadful to have no
+Kapchack."
+
+"Well, they are silly!" said Bevis. "But _you_ do not like Kapchack!"
+
+"No, I do not," said the toad; "and if you will stoop down
+again----(Bevis stooped still nearer.) No; perhaps you had better lie
+down on the grass! There--now I can talk to you quite freely. The fact
+is, do you know, there are other people besides me who do not like
+Kapchack. The crow--I can't have anything to do with such an old
+rogue!--the crow, I am certain, hates Kapchack, but he dares not say so.
+Now I am so old, and they think me so stupid and deaf that people say a
+good deal before me, never imagining that I take any notice. And when I
+have been out of a dewy evening, I have distinctly heard the crow
+grumbling about Kapchack. The crow thinks he is quite as clever as
+Kapchack, and would make quite as good a king.
+
+"Nor is the rat satisfied, nor the weasel, nor the hawk. I am sure they
+are not, but they cannot do anything alone, and they are so suspicious
+of each other they cannot agree. So that, though they are dissatisfied,
+they can do nothing. I daresay Kapchack knows it very well indeed. He is
+so wise--so very, very wise--that he can see right into what they think,
+and he knows that they hate him, and he laughs in his sleeve. I will
+tell you what he does. He sets the hawk on against the rat, and the rat
+on against the crow, and the crow against the weasel. He tells them all
+sorts of things; so that the weasel thinks the crow tells tales about
+him, and the hawk thinks the rat has turned tail and betrayed his
+confidence. The result is, they hate one another as much as they hate
+him.
+
+"And he told the rook--it was very clever of him to do so, yes, it was
+very clever of him, I must admit that Kapchack is extremely clever--that
+if he was not king somebody else would be, perhaps the hawk, or the rat.
+Now the rook told his friends at the rookery, and they told everybody
+else, and when people came to talk about it, they said it was very true.
+If Kapchack was not king, perhaps the hawk would be, and he would be as
+bad, or worse; or the rat, and he would be very much worse; or perhaps
+the weasel, the very worst of all.
+
+"So they agreed that, rather than have these, they would have Kapchack
+as the least evil. When the hawk and the rat heard what the king had
+said, they hated each other ten times more than before, lest
+Kapchack--if ever he should give up the crown--should choose one or
+other of them as his successor, for that was how they understood the
+hint. Not that there is the least chance of his giving up the crown; not
+he, my dear, and he will never die, as everybody knows (here the toad
+winked slightly), and he will never grow any older; all he does is to
+grow wiser, and wiser, and wiser, and wiser. All the other birds die,
+but Kapchack lives for ever. Long live the mighty Kapchack!" said the
+toad very loud, that all might hear how loyal he was, and then went on
+speaking lower. "Yet the hawk, and the crow, and the rook, and the jay,
+and all of them, though they hate Kapchack in their hearts, all come
+round him bowing down, and they peck the ground where he has just
+walked, and kiss the earth he has stood on, in token of their humility
+and obedience to him. Each tries to outdo the rest in servility. They
+bring all the news to the palace, and if they find anything very nice in
+the fields, they send a message to say where it is, and leave it for
+him, so that he eats the very fat of the land."
+
+"And where is his palace?" asked Bevis. "I should like to go and see
+him."
+
+"His palace is up in an immense old apple-tree, dear. It is a long way
+from here, and it is in an orchard, where nobody is allowed to go. And
+this is the strangest part of it all, and I have often wondered and
+thought about it months together; once I thought about it for a whole
+year, but I cannot make out why it is that the owner of the orchard, who
+lives in the house close by it, is so fond of Kapchack. He will not let
+anybody go into the orchard unless with him. He keeps it locked (there
+is a high wall around), and carries the key in his pocket.
+
+"As the orchard is very big, and Kapchack's nest is in the middle, no
+one can see even it from the outside, nor can any boys fling a stone and
+hit it; nor, indeed, could any one shoot at it, because the boughs are
+all round it. Thus Kapchack's palace is protected with a high wall, by
+the boughs, by its distance from the outside, by lock and key, and by
+the owner of the orchard, who thinks more of him than of all the world
+besides. He will not let any other big birds go into the orchard at all,
+unless Kapchack seems to like it; he will bring out his gun and shoot
+them. He watches over Kapchack as carefully as if Kapchack were his son.
+As for the cats he has shot for getting into the orchard, there must
+have been a hundred of them.
+
+"So that Kapchack every year puts a few more sticks on his nest, and
+brings up his family in perfect safety, which is what no other bird can
+do, neither the rook, nor the hawk, nor the crow, nor could even the
+raven, when he lived in this country. This is a very great advantage to
+Kapchack, for he has thus a fortress to retreat to, into which no one
+can enter, and he can defy everybody; and this is a great help to him as
+king. It is also one reason why he lives so long, though perhaps there
+is another reason, which I cannot, really I dare not, even hint at; it
+is such a dreadful secret, I should have my head split open with a peck
+if I even so much as dared to think it. Besides which, perhaps it is not
+true.
+
+"If it were not so far, and if there was not a wall round the orchard, I
+would tell you which way to go to find the place. His palace is now so
+big he can hardly make it any bigger lest it should fall; yet it is so
+full of treasures that it can barely hold them all. There are many who
+would like to rob him, I know. The crow is one; but they dare not
+attempt it, not only for fear of Kapchack, but because they would
+certainly be shot.
+
+"Everybody talks about the enormous treasure he has up there, and
+everybody envies him. But there are very dark corners in his palace,
+dark and blood-stained, for, as I told you, his family history is full
+of direful deeds. Besides killing his uncle, and, as is whispered,
+several of his children, because he suspected them of designs upon his
+throne, he has made away with a great many of his wives, I should think
+at least twenty. So soon as they begin to get old and ugly they
+die--people pretend the palace is not healthy to live in, being so
+ancient, and that that is the reason. Though doubtless they are very
+aggravating, and very jealous. Did you hear who it was Kapchack was in
+love with?"
+
+"No," said Bevis. "The starling flew away before I could ask him, and as
+for the rest they are so busy telling one another they will not answer
+me."
+
+"One thing is very certain," said the toad, "if Kapchack is in love you
+may be sure there will be some terrible tragedy in the palace, for his
+wife will be jealous, and besides that his eldest son and heir will not
+like it. Prince Tchack-tchack is not a very good temper--Tchack-tchack
+is his son, I should tell you--and he is already very tired of waiting
+for the throne. But it is no use his being tired, for Kapchack does not
+mean to die. Now, Bevis dear, I have told you everything I can think of,
+and I am tired of sitting at the mouth of this hole, where the sunshine
+comes, and must go back to sleep.
+
+"But if you want to know anything about the present state of things (as
+I can only tell you what happened a long time since) you had better go
+and call on the squirrel, and say I sent you, and he will inform you. He
+is about the best fellow I know; it is true he will sometimes bite when
+he is very frisky, it is only his play, but you can look sharp and put
+your hands in your pockets. He is the best of them all, dear; better
+than the fox, or the weasel, or the rat, or the stoat, or the mouse, or
+any of them. He knows all that is going on, because the starlings, who
+are extremely talkative, come every night to sleep in the copse where he
+lives, and have a long gossip before they go to sleep; indeed, all the
+birds go to the copse to chat, the rooks, the wood-pigeons, the
+pheasant, and the thrush, besides the rabbits and the hares, so that
+the squirrel, to whom the copse belongs, hears everything."
+
+"But I do not know my way to the copse," said Bevis; "please tell me the
+way."
+
+"You must go up to the great oak-tree, dear," said the toad, "where you
+once went to sleep, and then go across to the wheat-field, and a little
+farther you will see a footpath, which will take you to another field,
+and you will see the copse on your right. Now the way into the copse is
+over a narrow bridge, it is only a tree put across the ditch, and you
+must be careful how you cross it, and hold tight to the hand-rail, and
+look where you put your feet. It is apt to be slippery, and the ditch
+beneath is very deep; there is not much water, but a great deal of mud.
+I recollect it very well, though I have not been there for some time: I
+slipped off the bridge one rainy night in the dark, and had rather a
+heavy fall. The bridge is now dry, and therefore you can pass it easily
+if you do not leave go of the hand-rail. Good-morning, dear, I feel so
+sleepy--come and tell me with whom Kapchack has fallen in love; and
+remember me to the squirrel." So saying the toad went back into his hole
+and went to sleep.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE SQUIRREL.
+
+
+All this talking had passed away the morning, but in the afternoon, when
+the sun got a little lower, and the heat was not quite so great, Bevis,
+who had not been allowed to go out at noon, came forth again, and at
+once started up the Home Field. He easily reached the great oak-tree,
+and from there he knew his way to the corner of the wheat-field, where
+he stopped and looked for the hare, but she was not there, nor did she
+answer when he called to her. At the sound of his voice a number of
+sparrows rose from the wheat, which was now ripening, and flew up to the
+hedge, where they began to chatter about Kapchack's love affair.
+
+Bevis walked on across the field, and presently found a footpath; he
+followed this, as the toad had instructed him, and after getting over
+two stiles there was the copse on the right, though he had to climb over
+a high gate to get into the meadow next to it. There was nothing in the
+meadow except a rabbit, who turned up his white tail and went into his
+hole, for having seen Bevis with the hare, whom he did not like, the
+rabbit did not care to speak to Bevis. When Bevis had crossed the meadow
+he found, just as the toad had said, that there was a very deep ditch
+round the copse, but scarcely any water in it, and that was almost
+hidden with weeds.
+
+After walking a little way along the ditch he saw the tree which had
+been cut down and thrown across for a bridge. It was covered with moss,
+and in the shadow underneath it the hart's-tongue fern was growing.
+Remembering what the toad had told him, Bevis put his hand on the
+rail--it was a willow pole--but found that it was not very safe, for at
+the end the wasps (a long time ago) had eaten it hollow, carrying away
+the wood for their nests, and what they had left had become rotten.
+Still it was enough to steady his footsteps, and taking care that he did
+not put his foot on a knot, Bevis got across safely. There was a rail to
+climb over on the other side, and then he was in the copse, and began to
+walk down a broad green path, a road which wound in among the ash-wood.
+
+Nobody said anything to him, it was quite silent, so silent, that he
+could hear the snap of the dragon-fly's wing as he stopped in his swift
+flight and returned again. Bevis pulled a handful of long green rushes,
+and then he picked some of the burrs from the tall burdocks; they stuck
+to his fingers when he tried to fling them away, and would not go. The
+great thistles were ever so far above his head, and the humble-bees on
+them glanced down at him as he passed. Bevis very carefully looked at
+the bramble-bushes to see how the blackberries were coming on; but the
+berries were red and green, and the flowers had not yet all gone. There
+was such a beautiful piece of woodbine hanging from one of the ash-poles
+that he was not satisfied till he had gathered some of it; the long
+brome-grass tickled his face while he was pulling at the honeysuckle.
+
+He clapped his hands when he found some young nuts; he knew they were
+not ripe, but he picked one and bit it with his teeth, just to feel how
+soft it was. There were several very nice sticks, some of which he had
+half a mind to stay and cut, and put his hand in his pocket for his
+knife, but there were so many things to look at, he thought he would go
+on a little farther, and come back and cut them presently. The ferns
+were so tall and thick in many places that he could not see in among the
+trees. When he looked back he had left the place where he came in so far
+behind that he could not see it, nor when he looked round could he see
+any daylight through the wood; there was only the sky overhead and the
+trees and ash-stoles, and bushes, and thistles, and long grass, and fern
+all about him.
+
+Bevis liked it very much, and he ran on and kicked over a bunch of tawny
+fungus as he went, till by-and-by he came to a piece of timber lying on
+the ground, and sat down upon it. Some finches went over just then; they
+were talking about Kapchack as they flew; they went so fast he could not
+hear much. But the squirrel was nowhere about; he called to him, but no
+one answered, and he began to think he should never find him, when
+presently, while he sat on the timber whistling very happily, something
+came round the corner, and Bevis saw it was the hare.
+
+She ran up to him quickly, and sat down at his feet, and he stroked her
+very softly. "I called for you at the wheat-field," he said, "but you
+were not there."
+
+"No, dear," said the hare, "the truth is, I have been waiting for ever
+so long to come into the copse on a visit to an old friend, but you must
+know that the weasel lives here."
+
+"Does the weasel live here?" said Bevis, starting up. "Tell me where,
+and I will kill him; I will cut off his head with my knife."
+
+"I cannot tell you exactly where he lives," said the hare, "but it is
+somewhere in the copse. It is of no use your looking about; it is in
+some hole or other, quite hidden, and you would never find it. I am
+afraid to come into the copse while he is here; but this afternoon the
+dragon-fly brought me word that the weasel had gone out. So I made haste
+to come while he was away, as I had not seen my old friend the squirrel
+for ever so long, and I wanted to know if the news was true."
+
+"Do you mean about Kapchack?" said Bevis. "I came to see the squirrel
+too, but I cannot find him."
+
+"Yes, I mean about Kapchack," said the hare. "Is it not silly of him to
+fall in love at his age? Why, he must be ten times as old as me! Really,
+I some times think that the older people get the sillier they are. But
+it is not much use your looking for the squirrel, dear. He may be up in
+the fir-tree, or he may be in the beech, or he may have gone along the
+hedge. If you were by yourself, the best thing you could do would be to
+sit still where you are, and he would be nearly sure to come by, sooner
+or later. He is so restless, he goes all over the copse, and is never
+very long in one place. Since, however, you and I have met, I will find
+him for you, and send him to you."
+
+"How long shall you be?" said Bevis. "I am tired of sitting here now,
+and I shall go on along the path."
+
+"Oh, then," said the hare, "I shall not know where to find you, and that
+will not do. Now, I know what I will do. I will take you to the
+raspberries, and there you can eat the fruit till I send the squirrel."
+
+The hare leapt into the fern, and Bevis went after her. She led him in
+and out, and round the ash-stoles and bushes, till he had not the least
+idea which way he was going. After a time, they came to an immense
+thicket of bramble and thorn, and fern growing up in it, and honeysuckle
+climbing over it.
+
+"It is inside this thicket," said the hare. "Let us go all round, and
+see if we can find a way in."
+
+There was a place under an ash-stole, where Bevis could just creep
+beneath the boughs (the boughs held up the brambles), and after going on
+his hands and knees after the hare a good way, he found himself inside
+the thicket, where there was an open space grown over with raspberry
+canes. Bevis shouted with delight as he saw the raspberries were ripe,
+and began to eat them at once.
+
+"How ever did they get here?" he asked.
+
+"I think it was the thrush," said the hare. "It was one of the birds, no
+doubt. They take the fruit out of the orchards and gardens, and that was
+how it came here, I daresay. Now, don't you go outside the thicket till
+the squirrel comes. And when you have quite done talking to the
+squirrel, ask him to show you the way back to the timber, and there I
+will meet you, and lead you to the wheat-field, where you can see the
+oak-tree, and know your way home. Mind you do not go outside the thicket
+without the squirrel, or you will lose your way, and wander about among
+the trees till it is night."
+
+Off went the hare to find the squirrel, and Bevis set to work to eat as
+many of the raspberries as he could.
+
+Among the raspberry canes he found three or four rabbit-holes, and
+hearing the rabbits talking to each other, he stooped down to listen.
+They were talking scandal about the hare, and saying that she was very
+naughty, and rambled about too much. At this Bevis was very angry, and
+stamped his foot above the hole, and told them they ought to be ashamed
+of themselves for saying such things. The rabbits, very much frightened,
+went down farther into their holes. After which Bevis ate a great many
+more raspberries, and presently, feeling very lazy, he lay down on some
+moss at the foot of an oak-tree, and kicked his heels on the ground, and
+looked up at the blue sky, as he always did when he wanted some one to
+speak to. He did not know how long he had been gazing at the sky, when
+he heard some one say: "Bevis dear!" and turning that way he saw the
+squirrel, who had come up very quietly, and was sitting on one of the
+lower branches of the oak close to him.
+
+"Well, squirrel," said Bevis, sitting up; "the toad said I was to
+remember him to you. And now be very quick, and tell me all you know
+about Kapchack, and who it is he is in love with, and all about the
+rebel, Choo Hoo, and everything else, in a minute."
+
+"Well, you are in a hurry," said the squirrel, laughing; "and so am I,
+generally; but this afternoon I have nothing to do, and I am very glad
+you have come, dear. Now, first----"
+
+"First," said Bevis, interrupting, "why did the starling say it was a
+great secret, when everybody knew it?"
+
+"It was a great secret," said the squirrel, "till Prince Tchack-tchack
+came down here (he is the heir, you know) in a dreadful fit of temper,
+and told the tomtit whom he met in the fir-tree, and the tomtit told the
+woodpecker, and the woodpecker told the starling, who told his lady-love
+on the chimney, and the fly heard him, and when you opened the window
+the fly went out and buzzed it to everybody while you were at breakfast.
+By this time it is all over the world; and I daresay even the sea-gulls,
+though they live such a long way off, have heard it. Kapchack is beside
+himself with rage that it should be known, and Tchack-tchack is afraid
+to go near him. He made a great peck at Tchack-tchack just now."
+
+"But why should there be so much trouble about it?" said Bevis.
+
+"Oh," said the squirrel, "it is a very serious business, let me tell
+you. It is not an ordinary falling in love, it is nothing less than a
+complete revolution of everything, and it will upset all the rules and
+laws that have been handed down ever since the world began."
+
+"Dear me!" said Bevis. "And who is it Kapchack is in love with? I have
+asked twenty people, but no one will tell me."
+
+"Why, I am telling you," said the squirrel. "Don't you see, if it had
+been an ordinary affair--only a young magpie--it would not have mattered
+much, though I daresay the queen would have been jealous, but this----"
+
+"Who is it?" said Bevis, in a rage. "Why don't you tell me who it is?"
+
+"I am telling you," said the squirrel, sharply.
+
+"No, you're not. You're telling me a lot of things, but not what I want
+to know."
+
+"Oh, well," said the squirrel, tossing his head and swishing his tail,
+"of course, if you know more about it than I do it is no use my
+staying." So off he went in a pet.
+
+Up jumped Bevis. "You're a stupid donkey," he shouted, and ran across to
+the other side, and threw a piece of stick up into an elm-tree after the
+squirrel. But the squirrel was so quick he could not see which way he
+had gone, and in half-a-minute he heard the squirrel say very softly:
+"Bevis dear," behind him, and looked back, and there he was sitting on
+the oak bough again.
+
+The squirrel, as the toad had said, was really a very good fellow; he
+was very quick to take offence, but his temper only lasted a minute.
+"Bevis dear," he said, "come back and sit down again on the moss, and I
+will tell you."
+
+"I sha'n't come back," said Bevis, rather sulkily. "I shall sit here."
+
+"No, no; don't stop there," said the squirrel, very anxiously. "Don't
+stop there, dear; can't you see that great bough above you; that
+elm-tree is very wicked, and full of malice, do not stop there, he may
+hurt you."
+
+"Pooh! what rubbish!" said Bevis; "I don't believe you. It is a very
+nice elm, I am sure. Besides, how can he hurt me? He has got no legs and
+he can't run after me, and he has no hands and he can't catch me. I'm
+not a bit afraid of him;" and he kicked the elm with all his might.
+Without waiting a second, the squirrel jumped down out of the oak and
+ran across and caught hold of Bevis by his stocking--he could not catch
+hold of his jacket--and tried to drag him away. Seeing the squirrel in
+such an excited state, Bevis went with him to please him, and sat down
+on the moss under the oak. The squirrel went up on the bough, and Bevis
+laughed at him for being so silly.
+
+"Ah, but my dear Sir Bevis," said the squirrel, "you do not know all, or
+you would not say what you did. You think because the elm has no legs
+and cannot run after you, and because he has no hands and cannot catch
+you, that therefore he cannot do you any harm. You are very much
+mistaken; that is a very malicious elm, and of a very wicked
+disposition. Elms, indeed, are very treacherous, and I recommend you to
+have nothing to do with them, dear."
+
+"But how could he hurt me?" said Bevis.
+
+"He can wait till you go under him," said the squirrel, "and then drop
+that big bough on you. He has had that bough waiting to drop on somebody
+for quite ten years. Just look up and see how thick it is, and heavy;
+why, it would smash a man out flat. Now, the reason the elms are so
+dangerous is because they will wait so long till somebody passes. Trees
+can do a great deal, I can tell you; why, I have known a tree, when it
+could not drop a bough, fall down altogether when there was not a breath
+of wind, nor any lightning, just to kill a cow or a sheep, out of sheer
+bad temper."
+
+"But oaks do not fall, do they?" asked Bevis, looking up in some alarm
+at the oak above him.
+
+"Oh, no," said the squirrel; "the oak is a very good tree, and so is the
+beech and the ash, and many more (though I am not quite certain of the
+horse-chestnut, I have heard of his playing tricks), but the elm is not;
+if he can he will do something spiteful. I never go up an elm if I can
+help it, not unless I am frightened by a dog or somebody coming along.
+The only fall I ever had was out of an elm.
+
+"I ran up one in a hurry, away from that wretch, the weasel (you know
+him), and put my foot on a dried branch, and the elm, like a treacherous
+thing as he is, let it go, and down I went crash, and should have hurt
+myself very much if my old friend the ivy had not put out a piece for me
+to catch hold of, and so just saved me. As for you, dear, don't you ever
+sit under an elm, for you are very likely to take cold there, there is
+always a draught under an elm on the warmest day.
+
+"If it should come on to rain while you are out for a walk, be sure and
+not go under an elm for shelter if the wind is blowing, for the elm, if
+he possibly can, will take advantage of the storm to smash you.
+
+"And elms are so patient, they will wait sixty or seventy years to do
+somebody an injury; if they cannot get a branch ready to fall they will
+let the rain in at a knot-hole, and so make it rotten inside, though it
+looks green without, or ask some fungus to come up and grow there, and
+so get the bough ready for them. That elm across there is quite rotten
+inside--there is a hole inside so big you could stand up, and yet if
+anybody went by they would say what a splendid tree.
+
+"But if you asked Kauhaha, the rook, he would shake his head, and
+decline to have anything to do with that tree. So, my dear Sir Bevis, do
+not you think any more that because a thing has no legs, nor arms, nor
+eyes, nor ears, that therefore it cannot hurt you. There is the earth,
+for instance; you may stamp on the earth with your feet and she will not
+say anything, she will put up with anything, but she is always lying in
+wait all the same, and if you could only find all the money she has
+buried you would be the richest man in the world; I could tell you
+something about that. The flints even----"
+
+"Now I do not believe what you are going to say," said Bevis, "I am sure
+the flints cannot do anything, for I have picked up hundreds of them and
+flung them splash into the brook."
+
+"But I assure you they can," said the squirrel. "I will tell you a story
+about a flint that happened only a short time since, and then you will
+believe. Once upon a time a waggon was sent up on the hills to fetch a
+load of flints; it was a very old waggon, and it wanted mending, for it
+belonged to a man who never would mend anything."
+
+"Who was that?" said Bevis. "What a curious man."
+
+"It was the same old gentleman (he is a farmer, only he is like your
+papa, Sir Bevis, and his land is his own), the same old gentleman who is
+so fond of Kapchack, whose palace is in his orchard. Well, the waggon
+went up on the hills, where the men had dug up some flints which had
+been lying quite motionless in the ground for so many thousand years
+that nobody could count them. There were at least five thousand flints,
+and the waggon went jolting down the hill and on to the road, and as it
+went the flints tried to get out, but they could not manage it, none but
+one flint, which was smaller than the rest.
+
+"This one flint, of all the five thousand, squeezed out of a hole in the
+bottom of the waggon, and fell on the dust in the road, and was left
+there. There was not much traffic on the road (it is the same, dear,
+that goes to Southampton, where the ships are), so that it remained
+where it fell. Only one waggon came by with a load of hay, and had the
+wheel gone over the flint of course it would have been crushed to
+pieces. But the waggoner, instead of walking by his horses, was on the
+grass at the side of the road talking to a labourer in the field, and
+his team did not pass on their right side of the road, but more in the
+middle, and so the flint was not crushed.
+
+"In the evening, when it was dark, a very old and very wealthy gentleman
+came along in his dog-cart, and his horse, which was a valuable one,
+chanced to slip on the flint, which, being sharp and jagged, hurt its
+hoof, and down the horse fell. The elderly gentleman and his groom, who
+was driving, were thrown out; the groom was not hurt, but his master
+broke his arm, and the horse broke his knees. The gentleman was so angry
+that no sooner did he get home than he dismissed the groom, though it
+was no fault of his, for how could he see the flint in the night? Nor
+would he give the man a character, and the consequence was he could not
+find another place. He soon began to starve, and then he was obliged to
+steal, and after a while he became a burglar.
+
+"One night he entered a house in London, and was getting on well, and
+stealing gold watches and such things, when somebody opened the door
+and tried to seize him. Pulling out his pistol, he shot his assailant
+dead on the spot, and at once escaped, and has not since been heard of,
+though you may be sure if he is caught he will be hung, and they are
+looking very sharp after him, because he stole a box with some papers in
+it which are said to be of great value. And the person he shot was the
+same gentleman who had discharged him because the horse fell down. Now
+all this happened through the flint, and as I told you, Bevis dear,
+about the elm, the danger with such things is that they will wait so
+long to do mischief.
+
+"This flint, you see, waited so many years that nobody could count them,
+till the waggon came to fetch it. They are never tired of waiting. Be
+very careful, Bevis dear, how you climb up a tree, or how you put your
+head out of window, for there is a thing that is always lying in wait,
+and will pull you down in a minute, if you do not take care. It has been
+waiting there to make something fall ever since the beginning of the
+world, long before your house was built, dear, or before any of the
+trees grew. You cannot see it, but it is there, as you may prove by
+putting your cap out of window, which in a second will begin to fall
+down, as you would if you were tilted out.
+
+"And I daresay you have seen people swimming, which is a very pleasant
+thing, I hear from the wild ducks; but all the time the water is lying
+in wait, and if they stop swimming a minute they will be drowned, and
+although a man very soon gets tired of swimming, the water never gets
+tired of waiting, but is always ready to drown him.
+
+"Also, it is the same with your candle, Bevis dear, and this the bat
+told me, for he once saw it happen, looking in at a window as he flew
+by, and he shrieked as loud as he could, but his voice is so very shrill
+that it is not everybody can hear him, and all his efforts were in vain.
+For a lady had gone to sleep in bed and left her candle burning on the
+dressing-table, just where she had left it fifty times before, and found
+it burnt down to the socket in the morning, and no harm done. But that
+night she had had a new pair of gloves, which were wrapped up in a piece
+of paper, and she undid these gloves and left the piece of paper
+underneath the candlestick, and yet it would not have hurt had the
+candle been put up properly, but instead of that a match had been stuck
+in at the side, like a wedge, to keep it up. When the flame came down to
+the match the match caught fire, and when it had burnt a little way
+down, that piece fell off, and dropped on the paper in which the gloves
+had been wrapped. The paper being very thin was alight in an instant,
+and from the paper the flame travelled to some gauze things hung on the
+looking-glass, and from that to the window curtains, and from the window
+curtains to the bed curtains, till the room was in a blaze, and though
+the bat shrieked his loudest the lady did not wake till she was very
+much burnt.
+
+"Also with the sea; for the cod-fish told the seagull, who told the
+heron, who related the fact to the kingfisher, who informed me. The
+cod-fish was swimming about in the sea and saw a ship at anchor, and
+coming by the chain-cable the fish saw that one of the links of the
+chain was nearly eaten through with rust; but as the wind was calm it
+did not matter. Next time the ship came there to anchor the cod-fish
+looked again; and the rust had gone still further into the link. A third
+time the ship came back to anchor there, and the sailors went to sleep
+thinking it was all right, but the cod-fish swam by and saw that the
+link only just held. In the night there came a storm, and the sailors
+woke up to find the vessel drifting on the rocks, where she was broken
+to pieces, and hardly any of them escaped.
+
+"Also, with living things, Bevis dear; for there was once a little
+creeping thing (the sun-beetle told me he heard it from his grandfather)
+which bored a hole into a beam under the floor of a room--the hole was
+so tiny you could scarcely see it, and the beam was so big twenty men
+could not lift it. After the creeping thing had bored this little hole
+it died, but it left ten children, and they bored ten more little holes,
+and when they died they left ten each, and they bored a hundred holes,
+and left a thousand, and they bored a thousand holes, and they left a
+thousand tens, who bored ten thousand holes, and left ten thousand tens,
+and they bored one hundred thousand holes, and left one hundred thousand
+tens, and they bored a million holes; and when a great number of people
+met in the room to hear a man speak, down the beam fell crash, and they
+were all dreadfully injured.
+
+"Now, therefore, Bevis, my dear little Sir Bevis, do you take great care
+and never think any more that a thing cannot hurt you, because it has
+not got any legs, and cannot run after you, or because it has no hands,
+and cannot catch you, or because it is very tiny, and you cannot see it,
+but could kill a thousand with the heel of your boot. For as I told you
+about the malice-minded elm, all these things are so terribly dangerous,
+because they can wait so long, and because they never forget.
+
+"Therefore, if you climb up a tree, be sure and remember to hold tight,
+and not forget, for the earth will not forget, but will pull you down to
+it thump, and hurt you very much. And remember if you walk by the water
+that it is water, and do not forget, for the water will not forget, and
+if you should fall in, will let you sink and drown you. And if you take
+a candle be careful what you are doing, and do not forget that fire will
+burn, for the fire will not forget, but will always be on the look-out
+and ready, and will burn you without mercy. And be sure to see that no
+little unseen creeping thing is at work, for they are everywhere boring
+holes into the beam of life till it cracks unexpectedly; but you must
+stay till you are older, and have eaten the peck of salt your papa tells
+you about, before you can understand all that. Now----"
+
+"But," said Bevis, who had been listening to the story very carefully,
+"you have not told me about the wind. You have told me about the earth,
+and the water, and the fire, but you have not said anything about the
+wind."
+
+"No more I have," said the squirrel. "You see I forget, though the earth
+does not, neither does the water, nor the fire. Well, the wind is the
+nicest of all of them, and you need never be afraid of the wind, for he
+blows so sweetly, and brings the odour of flowers, and fills you with
+life, and joy, and happiness. And oh, Bevis dear, you should listen to
+the delicious songs he sings, and the stories he tells as he goes
+through the fir-tree and the oak. Of course if you are on the ground, so
+far below, you can only hear a sound of whispering, unless your ears are
+very sharp; but if you were up in the boughs with me, you would be
+enchanted with the beauty of his voice.
+
+"No, dear, never be afraid of the wind, but put your doors open and let
+him come in, and throw your window open and let him wander round the
+room, and take your cap off sometimes, and let him stroke your hair. The
+wind is a darling--I love the wind, and so do you, dear, for I have seen
+you racing about when the wind was rough, chasing the leaves and
+shouting with delight. Now with the wind it is just the reverse to what
+it is with all the others. If you fall on the earth it thumps you; into
+the water, it drowns you; into the fire, it burns you; but you cannot do
+without wind.
+
+"Always remember that you must have wind, dear, and do not get into a
+drawer, as I have heard of boys doing, from the mouse, who goes about a
+good deal indoors, and being suffocated for want of wind; or into a
+box, or a hole, or anywhere where there is no wind. It is true he
+sometimes comes along with a most tremendous push, and the trees go
+cracking over. That is only because they are malice-minded, and are
+rotten at the heart; and the boughs break off, that is only because they
+have invited the fungus to grow on them; and the thatch on your papa's
+ricks is lifted up at the corner just as if the wind had chucked them
+under the chin.
+
+"But that is nothing. Everybody loses his temper now and then, and why
+not the wind? You should see the nuts he knocks down for me where I
+could not very well reach them, and the showers of acorns, and the
+apples! I take an apple out of your orchard, dear, sometimes, but I do
+not mean any harm--it is only one or two. I love the wind! But do not go
+near an elm, dear, when the wind blows, for the elm, as I told you, is a
+malicious tree, and will seize any pretence, or a mere puff, to do
+mischief."
+
+"I love the wind too!" said Bevis. "He sings to me down the chimney, and
+hums to me through the door, and whistles up in the attic, and shouts at
+me from the trees. Oh, yes, I will do as you say; I will always have
+plenty of the wind. You are a very nice squirrel. I like you very much;
+and you have a lovely silky tail. But you have not told me yet who it is
+Kapchack is in love with."
+
+"I have been telling you all the time," said the squirrel; "but you are
+in such a hurry; and, as I was saying, if it was only a young magpie,
+now--only an ordinary affair--very likely the queen would be jealous,
+indeed, and there would be a fight in the palace, which would be nothing
+at all new, but this is much more serious, a very serious matter, and
+none can tell how it will end. As Kauc, the crow, was saying to Cloctaw,
+the jackdaw, this morning----"
+
+"But who is it?" asked Bevis, jumping up again in a rage.
+
+"Why, everybody knows who it is," said the squirrel; "from the ladybird
+to the heron; from the horse to the mouse; and everybody is talking of
+it, and as since the raven went away, there is no judge to settle any
+dispute----"
+
+"I hate you!" said Bevis, "you do talk so much; but you do not tell me
+what I want to know. You are a regular donkey, and I will pull your
+tail."
+
+He snatched at the squirrel's tail, but the squirrel was too quick; he
+jumped up the boughs and showed his white teeth, and ran away in a
+temper.
+
+Bevis looked all round, but could not see him, and as he was looking a
+dragon-fly came and said that the squirrel had sent him to say that he
+was very much hurt, and thought Bevis was extremely rude to him, but he
+had told the dragon-fly to show him the way to the piece of timber, and
+if he would come back to-morrow, and not be so rude, he should hear all
+about it. So the dragon-fly led Bevis to the piece of timber, where the
+hare was waiting, and the hare led him to the wheat-field, and showed
+him the top of the great oak-tree, and from there he easily found his
+way home to tea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE COURTIERS.
+
+
+The next morning passed quickly, Bevis having so much to do. Hur-hur,
+the pig, asked him to dig up some earth-nuts for him with his knife, for
+the ground was hard from the heat of the sun, and he could not thrust
+his snout in. Then Pan, the spaniel, had to be whipped very severely
+because he would not climb a tree; and so the morning was taken up.
+After the noontide heat had decreased, Bevis again started, and found
+his way by the aid of the oak to the corner of the wheat-field. The
+dragon-fly was waiting for him with a message from the hare, saying that
+she had been invited to a party on the hills, so the dragon-fly would
+guide him into the copse.
+
+Flying before him, the dragon-fly led the way, often going a long
+distance ahead, and coming back in a minute, for he moved so rapidly it
+was not possible for Bevis to keep pace with him, and he was too
+restless to stand still. Bevis walked carefully over the bridge, holding
+to the rail, as the toad had told him; and passing the thistles, and the
+grass, and the ferns, came to the piece of timber. There he sat down to
+rest, while the dragon-fly played to and fro, now rising to the top of
+the trees, and now darting down again, to show off his dexterity. While
+he was sitting there a crow came along and looked at him hard, but said
+nothing; and immediately afterwards a jackdaw went over, remarking what
+a lovely day it was.
+
+"Now take me to the raspberries," said Bevis; and the dragon-fly,
+winding in and out the trees, brought him to the thicket, showed him the
+place to creep in, and left, promising to return by-and-by and fetch him
+when it was time to go home. Bevis, warm with walking in the sunshine,
+after he had crept in to the raspberries, went across and sat down on
+the moss under the oak; and he had hardly leant his back against the
+tree than the squirrel came along the ground and sat beside him.
+
+"You are just in time, my dear," he said, speaking low and rapidly, and
+glancing round to see that no one was near; "for there is going to be a
+secret council of the courtiers this afternoon, while Kapchack takes his
+nap; and in order that none of the little birds may play the spy and
+carry information to the police, Kauc, the crow, has been flying round
+and driving them away, so that there is not so much as a robin left in
+the copse. This is an employment that suits him very well, for he loves
+to play the tyrant. Perhaps you saw him coming in. And this council is
+about Kapchack's love affair, and to decide what is to be done, and
+whether it can be put up with, or whether they must refuse to receive
+her."
+
+"And who is she?" said Bevis; "you keep on talking, but you do not tell
+me." The squirrel pricked up his ears and looked cross, but he heard
+the people coming to the council, and knew there was no time to be lost
+in quarrelling, so he did not go off in a pet this time. "The lady is
+the youngest jay, dear, in the wood; La Schach is her name; she is
+sweetly pretty, and dresses charmingly in blue and brown. She is sweetly
+pretty, though they say rather a flirt, and flighty in her ways. She has
+captivated a great many with her bright colour, and now this toothless
+old Kapchack--but hush! It is a terrible scandal. I hear them coming;
+slip this way, Bevis dear."
+
+Bevis went after him under the brambles and the ferns till he found a
+place in a hollow ash-stole, where it was hung all round with
+honeysuckle, and then, doing as the squirrel told him, he sat down, and
+was quite concealed from sight; while the squirrel stopped on a bough
+just over his head, where he could whisper and explain things. Though
+Bevis was himself hidden, he could see very well; and he had not been
+there a minute before he heard a rustling, and saw the fox come
+stealthily out from the fern, and sit under an ancient hollow pollard
+close by.
+
+The stoat came close behind him; he was something like the weasel, and
+they say a near relation; he is much bolder than the weasel, but not one
+quarter so cunning. He is very jealous, too, of the power the weasel has
+got on account of his cunning, and if he could he would strangle his
+kinsman. The rat could not attend, having very important business at the
+brook that day, but he had sent the mouse to listen and tell him all
+that was said. The fox looked at the mouse askance from the corner of
+his eye; and the stoat could not refrain from licking his lips, though
+it was well understood that at these assemblies all private feelings
+were to be rigidly suppressed. So that the mouse was quite safe; still,
+seeing the fox's glance, and the stoat's teeth glistening, he kept very
+near a little hole under a stole, where he could rush in if alarmed.
+
+"I understood Prince Tchack-tchack was coming," said the fox, "but I
+don't see him."
+
+"I heard the same thing," said the stoat. "He's very much upset about
+this business."
+
+"Ah," said the fox, "perhaps he had an eye himself to this beautiful
+young creature. Depend upon it there's more under the surface than we
+have heard of yet." Just then a message came from the weasel regretting
+very much that he could not be present, owing to indisposition, but
+saying that he quite agreed with all that was going to be said, and that
+he would act as the others decided, and follow them in all things. This
+message was delivered by a humble-bee, who having repeated all the
+weasel had told him to, went buzzing on among the thistles.
+
+"I do not quite like this," said a deep hollow voice; and looking up,
+Bevis saw the face of the owl at the mouth of a hole in the
+pollard-tree. He was winking in the light, and could not persuade
+himself to come out, which was the reason the council was held at the
+foot of his house, as it was necessary he should take part in it. "I do
+not quite like this," said the owl, very solemnly, "Is the weasel
+sincere in all he says? Is he really unwell, or does he keep away in
+order that if Kapchack hears of this meeting he may say: 'I was not
+there. I did not take any part in it'?"
+
+"That is very likely," said the stoat. "He is capable of anything--I say
+it with sorrow, as he is so near a relation, but the fact is, gentlemen,
+the weasel is not what he ought to be, and has, I am afraid, much
+disgraced our family."
+
+"Let us send for the weasel," said the hawk, who just then came and
+alighted on the tree above the owl. "Perhaps the squirrel, who knows the
+copse so well, will go and fetch him."
+
+"I really do not know where he lives," said the squirrel. "I have not
+seen him lately, and I am afraid he is keeping his bed." Then the
+squirrel whispered down to Bevis: "That is not all true, but you see I
+am obliged not to know too much, else I should offend somebody and do
+myself no good".
+
+"Well, then," said the rook, who had just arrived, "send the mouse; he
+looks as if he wanted something to do."
+
+"I cannot agree to that," said the owl; "the mouse is very clever, and
+his opinion worthy of attention; we cannot spare him." The truth was,
+the owl, squinting down, had seen what a plump mouse it was, and he
+reflected that if the weasel saw him he would never rest till he had
+tasted him, whereas he thought he should like to meet the mouse by
+moonlight shortly. "Upon the whole, I really don't know that we need
+send for the weasel," he went on, thinking that if the weasel came he
+would fasten his affections upon the mouse.
+
+"But I do," said the stoat.
+
+"And so do I," said the fox.
+
+"And I," said Kauc, the crow, settling down on a branch of the pollard.
+
+"For my part," said Cloctaw, the old jackdaw, taking his seat on a
+branch of horse-chestnut, "I think it is very disrespectful of the
+weasel."
+
+"True," said the wood-pigeon. "True-whoo," as he settled on the ash.
+
+"Quite true-oo," repeated the dove, perching in the hawthorn.
+
+"Send for the weasel, then," said a missel-thrush, also perching in the
+hawthorn. "Why all this delay? I am for action. Send for the weasel
+immediately."
+
+"Really, gentlemen," said the mouse, not at all liking the prospect of a
+private interview with the weasel, "you must remember that I have had a
+long journey here, and I am not quite sure where the weasel lives at
+present."
+
+"The council is not complete without the weasel," screamed a jay, coming
+up; he was in a terrible temper, for the lady jay whom Kapchack was in
+love with had promised him her hand, till the opportunity of so much
+grandeur turned her head, and she jilted him like a true daughter of the
+family, as she was. For the jays are famous for jilting their lovers.
+"If the mouse is afraid," said the jay, "I'll fetch the humble-bee
+back, and if he won't come I'll speak a word to my friend the shrike,
+and have him spitted on a thorn in a minute." Off he flew, and the
+humble-bee, dreadfully frightened, came buzzing back directly.
+
+"It falls upon you, as the oldest of the party, to give him his
+commands," said Tchink, the chaffinch, addressing the owl. The owl
+looked at the crow, and the crow scowled at the chaffinch, who turned
+his back on him, being very saucy. He had watched his opportunity while
+the crow went round the copse to drive away the small birds, and slipped
+in to appear at the council. He was determined to assert his presence,
+and take as much part as the others in these important events. If the
+goldfinches, and the thrushes, and blackbirds, and robins, and
+greenfinches, and sparrows, and so on, were so meek as to submit to be
+excluded, and were content to have no voice in the matter till they were
+called upon to obey orders, that was their affair. They were a bevy of
+poor-spirited, mean things. He was not going to be put down like that.
+Tchink was, indeed, a very impudent fellow: Bevis liked him directly,
+and determined to have a chat with him by-and-by.
+
+"If I am the oldest of the party, it is scarcely competent for you to
+say so," said the owl with great dignity, opening his eyes to their full
+extent, and glaring at Tchink.
+
+"All right, old Spectacles," said Tchink; "you're not a bad sort of
+fellow by daylight, though I have heard tales of your not behaving quite
+so properly at night." Then catching sight of Bevis (for Tchink was
+very quick) he flew over and settled near the squirrel, intending, if
+any violence was offered to him, to ask Bevis for protection.
+
+The owl, seeing the fox tittering, and the crow secretly pleased at this
+remark, thought it best to take no notice, but ordered the humble-bee,
+in the name of the council, to at once proceed to the weasel, and inform
+him that the council was unable to accept his excuses, but was waiting
+his arrival.
+
+"Is Tchack-tchack coming?" asked the mouse, recovering his spirits now.
+
+"I too-whoo should like to know if Tchack-tchack is coming," said the
+wood-pigeon.
+
+"And I so, too-oo," added the dove. "It seems to me a most important
+matter."
+
+"In my opinion," said Cloctaw, speaking rather huskily, for he was very
+old, "Tchack-tchack will not come. I know him well--I can see through
+him--he is a double-faced rascal like--like (he was going to say the
+fox, but recollected himself in time) his--well, never matter; like all
+his race then. My opinion is, he started the rumour that he was coming
+just to get us together, and encourage us to conspire against his
+father, in the belief that the heir was with us and approved of our
+proceedings. But he never really meant to come."
+
+"The jackdaw is very old," said the crow, with a sneer. "He is not what
+he used to be, gentlemen, you must make allowance for his
+infirmities."
+
+"It seems to me," said the missel-thrush, interrupting, "that we are
+wasting a great deal of time. I propose that we at once begin the
+discussion, and then if the weasel and Tchack-tchack come they can join
+in. I regret to say that my kinsman, the missel-thrush who frequents the
+orchard (by special permission of Kapchack, as you know), is not here.
+The pampered fawning wretch!--I hate such favourites--they disgrace a
+court. Why, all the rest of our family are driven forth like rogues, and
+are not permitted to come near! If the tyrant kills his children in his
+wanton freaks even then this minion remains loyal: despicable being! But
+now without further delay let us ask the owl to state the case plainly,
+so that we can all understand what we are talking about."
+
+"Hear, hear," said Tchink.
+
+"I agree too," said the wood-pigeon.
+
+"I too," said the dove.
+
+"It is no use waiting for Tchack-tchack," said the hawk.
+
+"Hum! haw! caw!" said the rook, "I do not know about that."
+
+"Let us go on to business," said the stoat, "the weasel knows no more
+than we do. His reputation is much greater than he deserves."
+
+"I have heard the same thing," said the fox. "Indeed I think so myself."
+
+"I am sure the owl will put the case quite fairly," said the mouse, much
+pleased that the owl had saved him from carrying the message to the
+weasel.
+
+"_We_ are all waiting, Owl," said Tchink.
+
+"_We_, indeed," said the hawk, very sharply.
+
+"Hush! hush!" said the squirrel. "This is a privileged place, gentlemen;
+no personal remarks, if you please."
+
+"I think, think, the owl is very stupid not to begin," said the
+chaffinch.
+
+"If you please," said the fox, bowing most politely to the owl, "we are
+listening."
+
+"Well then, gentlemen, since you all wish it," said the owl, ruffling
+out his frills and swelling up his feathers, "since you all wish it, I
+will endeavour to put the case as plainly as possible, and in as few
+words as I can. You must understand, gentlemen, indeed you all
+understand already, that from time immemorial, ever since the oak bore
+acorns, and the bramble blackberries, it has been the established custom
+for each particular bird and each particular animal to fall in love
+with, and to marry some other bird or animal of the same kind.
+
+"To explain more fully, so that there cannot by any possibility be the
+least chance of any one mistaking my meaning, I should illustrate the
+position in this way, that it has always been the invariable custom for
+owls to marry owls; for crows to marry crows; for rooks to fall in love
+with rooks; for wood-pigeons to woo wood-pigeons; doves to love doves;
+missel-thrushes to court lady missel-thrushes; jackdaws, jackdaws;
+hawks, hawks; rats, rats; foxes, foxes; stoats, stoats; weasels,
+weasels; squirrels, squirrels; for jays to marry jays ('Just so,'
+screamed the jay); and magpies to marry magpies."
+
+"And chaffinches to kiss chaffinches," added Tchink, determined not to
+be left out.
+
+"This custom," continued the owl, "has now existed so long, that upon
+looking into the archives of my house, and turning over the dusty
+records, not without inconvenience to myself, I can't discover one
+single instance of a departure from it since history began. There is no
+record, gentlemen, of any such event having taken place. I may say,
+without fear of contradiction, that no precedent exists. We may,
+therefore, regard it as a fixed principle of common law, from which no
+departure can be legal, without the special and express sanction of all
+the nation, or of its representatives assembled. We may even go further,
+and hazard the opinion, not without some authority, that even with such
+sanction, such departure from constitutional usage could not be
+sustained were an appeal to be lodged.
+
+"Even the high court of representatives of all the nation, assembled in
+the fulness of their power, could not legalise what is in itself and of
+its own nature illegal. Customs of this kind, which are founded upon the
+innate sense and feeling of every individual, cannot, in short, be
+abolished by Act of Parliament. Upon this all the authorities I have
+consulted are perfectly agreed. What has grown up during the process of
+so many generations, cannot be now put on one side. This, gentlemen, is
+rather an abstruse part of the question, being one which recommends
+itself for consideration to the purely legal intellect. It is a matter,
+too, of high state policy which rises above the knowledge of the common
+herd. We may take it for granted, and pass on from the general to the
+special aspect of this most remarkable case.
+
+"What do we see? We see a proposed alliance between an august magpie and
+a beautiful jay. Now we know by experience that what the palace does one
+day, the world at large will do to-morrow. It is the instinct of nature
+to follow the example of those set so high above us. We may therefore
+conclude, without fear of contradiction, that this alliance will be
+followed by others equally opposed to tradition. We shall have hundreds
+of other equally ill-assorted unions. If it could be confined to this
+one instance, a dispensation might doubtless be arranged. I, for one,
+should not oppose it. ('I hate you!' shouted the jay.) But no one can
+for a moment shut his eye to what must happen. We shall have, as I
+before remarked, hundreds of these ill-assorted unions.
+
+"Now I need not enlarge upon the unhappy state of affairs which would
+thus be caused: the family jars, the shock to your feelings, the pain
+that must be inflicted upon loving hearts. With that I have nothing to
+do. It may safely be left to your imagination. But what I, as a
+statesman and a lawyer, have to deal with, is the legal, that is the
+common-sense view of the situation, and my first question is this: I ask
+myself, and I beg you, each of you, to ask yourselves--I ask myself,
+What effect would these ill-assorted unions produce upon the inheritance
+of property?"
+
+"True-whoo!" said the wood-pigeon.
+
+"Hum! Haw!" said the rook.
+
+"Law-daw!" said Cloctaw.
+
+"Very important, very!" said the fox. "The sacred laws of property
+cannot with safety be interfered with."
+
+"No intrusion can be thought of for a moment," said the stoat.
+
+"Most absurd!" said the jay.
+
+"The very point!" said the missel-thrush.
+
+"Very clear, indeed!" said the mouse; "I am sure the rat will echo the
+sentiment."
+
+"Every one will agree with you," said Ki Ki, the hawk.
+
+"I think the same," said the chaffinch.
+
+"The question is undoubtedly very important," continued the owl, when
+the buzz had subsided, and much pleased at the sensation he had caused.
+"You all agree that the question is not one to be lightly decided or
+passed over. In order to fully estimate the threatened alteration in our
+present system, let us for a moment survey the existing condition of
+affairs. I, myself, to begin with, I and my ancestors, for many
+generations, have held undisputed possession of this pollard. Not the
+slightest flaw has ever been discovered in our title-deeds; and no
+claimant has ever arisen. The rook has had, I believe, once or twice
+some little difficulty respecting his own particular tenancy, which is
+not a freehold; but his townsmen, as a body, possess their trees in
+peace. The crow holds an oak; the wood-pigeon has an ash; the
+missel-thrush a birch; our respected friend the fox here, has a burrow
+which he inherited from a deceased rabbit, and he has also contingent
+claims on the witheybed, and other property in the country; the stoat
+has a charter of free warren."
+
+"And I have an elm," said Tchink; "let anybody come near it, that's
+all."
+
+"The squirrel," continued the owl, "has an acknowledged authority over
+this copse; and the jay has three or four firs of his own."
+
+"And St. Paul belongs to me," said Cloctaw, the jackdaw.
+
+"Well, now," said the owl, raising his voice and overpowering the husky
+Cloctaw, "about these various properties little or no dispute can take
+place; the son succeeds to the father, and the nephew to the uncle.
+Occasional litigation, of course, occurs, which I have often had the
+pleasure of conducting to an amicable and satisfactory termination. But,
+upon the whole, there is very little difficulty; and the principle of
+inheritance is accepted by all. Your approval, indeed, has just been
+signified in the most unanimous manner. But what shall we see if the
+example set by the palace spreads among society? The ash at the present
+moment is owned by the wood-pigeon; were the wood-pigeon's heir to marry
+the missel-thrush's heiress, just imagine the conflicting claims which
+would arise.
+
+"The family would be divided amongst itself; all the relations upon the
+paternal side, and the relations upon the maternal side would join the
+contest, and peace would be utterly at an end. And so in all other
+instances. The crow would no longer have a fee-simple of the oak, the
+jackdaw of the steeple, the rook of the elm, the fox of the burrow, or I
+of my pollard. We might even see the rook claiming the----But I will not
+follow the illustration further, lest I be charged with descending to
+personalities. I will only add, in conclusion, that if this ill-fated
+union takes place, we must look forward to seeing every home broken up,
+our private settlements, our laws of hereditary succession set upon one
+side, our property divided among a miscellaneous horde of people, who
+will not know their own grandfathers, and our most cherished sentiments
+cast to the winds of heaven." With which words the owl concluded, and
+was greeted with marks of approval from all parts of the circle.
+
+"We are all very much indebted to the owl," said the fox, "for putting
+the true aspect of the case so clearly before us. His learned
+discourse--not more learned than lucid--has convinced us all of the
+extreme inexpediency of this alliance."
+
+"If this course is persisted in," said the crow, "it can only end, in my
+opinion, in a way disastrous to the state. The king cannot decline to
+listen to our representations, if we are united."
+
+"Haw!" said the rook; "I'm not so sure of that. Kapchack likes his own
+way."
+
+"Kapchack is very self-willed," said the hawk. "It is almost our turn to
+have our way once now."
+
+"So I should say," screamed the jay, who could never open his beak
+without getting into a temper. "So I should say; Kapchack is a wicked
+old----"
+
+"Hush, hush," said the squirrel; "you can't tell who may be listening."
+
+"I don't care," said the jay, ruffling up his feathers; "Kapchack is a
+wicked old fellow, and Tchack-tchack is as bad."
+
+"Capital!" said Tchink, the chaffinch; "I like outspoken people. But I
+have heard that you (to the jay) are very fond of flirting." At this
+there would have been a disturbance, had not the fox interfered.
+
+"We shall never do anything, unless we agree amongst ourselves," he
+said. "Now, the question is, are we going to do anything?"
+
+"Yes, that is it," said the missel-thrush, who hated talking, and liked
+to be doing; "what is it we are going to do?"
+
+"Something must be done," said the owl, very solemnly.
+
+"Yes; something must be done," said Cloctaw.
+
+"Something must be done," said Ki Ki.
+
+"I think, think so," said Tchink.
+
+"I, too," said the dove.
+
+"Quite true," said the wood-pigeon.
+
+"Something must be done," said the stoat.
+
+"Let us tell Kapchack what we think," said the mouse, getting bold, as
+he was not eaten.
+
+"A good idea," said the crow; "a very good idea. We will send the mouse
+with a message."
+
+"Dear me! No, no," cried the mouse, terribly frightened; "Kapchack is
+awful in a rage--my life would not be worth a minute's purchase. Let the
+stoat go."
+
+"Not I," said the stoat; "I have had to suffer enough already, on
+account of my relation to that rascal the weasel, whom Kapchack suspects
+of designs upon his throne. I will not go."
+
+"Nor I," said the fox; "Kapchack has looked angrily at me for a long
+time--he cannot forget my royal descent. Let the hawk go."
+
+"I! I!" said Ki Ki. "Nonsense; Kapchack does not much like me now; he
+gave me a hint the other day not to soar too high. I suppose he did not
+like to think of my overlooking him kissing pretty La Schach."
+
+"Wretch! horrid wretch!" screamed the jay, at the mention of the
+kissing, in a paroxysm of jealousy. "Pecking is too good for him!"
+
+"Send the jackdaw or the crow," said Ki Ki.
+
+"No, no," said Kauc and Cloctaw together. "Try the wood-pigeon."
+
+"I go?--whoo," said the pigeon. "Impossible. Kapchack told me to my face
+the other day that he more than half suspected me of plotting to go over
+to Choo Hoo. I dare not say such a thing to him."
+
+"Nor I," said the dove. "Why not the owl?"
+
+"The fact is," said the owl, "my relations with Kapchack are of a
+peculiar and delicate nature. Although I occupy the position of a
+trusted counsellor, and have the honour to be chief secretary of state,
+that very position forbids my taking liberties, and it is clear if I
+did, and were in consequence banished from the court, that I could not
+plead your cause. Now, the rat----"
+
+"I am sure the rat will not go," said the mouse. "My friend the rat is
+very particularly engaged, and could not possibly stir from home at this
+juncture. There is the missel-thrush."
+
+"Ridiculous," said the missel-thrush. "Everybody knows I had to leave my
+hawthorn-tree because Prince Tchack-tchack took a fancy to it. He would
+very likely accuse me to his father of high treason, for he hates me
+more than poison ever since he did me that injury, and would lose no
+chance of compassing my destruction. Besides which my relative--the
+favourite--would effectually prevent me from obtaining an audience. Now,
+there's the squirrel."
+
+"My dear sir," said the squirrel, "it is well known I never meddle with
+politics. I am most happy to see you all here, and you can have the use
+of my copse at any time, and I may say further that I sympathise with
+your views in a general way. But on no account could I depart from my
+principles."
+
+"His principles," muttered the crow, always a cynical fellow. "His
+principles are his own beech-trees. If anybody touched them he would not
+object to politics then."
+
+"This is rather awkward," said the owl. "There seems an embarrassment on
+the part of all of us, and we must own that to venture into the presence
+of a despotic monarch with such unpleasant advice requires no slight
+courage. Now, I propose that since the weasel has attained so high a
+reputation for address, that he be called upon to deliver our message."
+
+"Hear, hear," said the fox.
+
+"Hear, hear," said the stoat.
+
+"Capital," said the chaffinch. "Old Spectacles can always see a way out
+of a difficulty."
+
+"Haw!" said the rook. "I'm doubtful. Perhaps the weasel will not see it
+in this light."
+
+"Buzz," said the humble-bee, just then returning. "Gentlemen, I have
+seen the weasel. His lordship was lying on a bank in the sun--he is very
+ill indeed. His limbs are almost powerless; he has taken a chill from
+sleeping in a damp hole. He sends his humble apology, and regrets he
+cannot move. I left him licking his helpless paw. Buzz, buzz."
+
+"Hark! hark!" said the woodpecker, bursting into the circle with such a
+shout and clatter that the dove flew a little way in alarm. "Kapchack is
+waking up. I have been watching all the time to let you know. And there
+is no chance of Prince Tchack-tchack coming, for he told me that
+Kapchack ordered him not to leave the orchard while he was asleep."
+
+"I do not believe it," said the jay. "He is a false scoundrel, and I
+daresay Kapchack never gave any such order, and never thought about it.
+However, there is no help for it, we must break up this meeting, or we
+shall be missed. But it is clear that something must be done."
+
+"Something must be done," said the wood-pigeon, as he flew off.
+
+"Something must be done," repeated the dove.
+
+"Something must be done," said the owl, as he went down into the pollard
+to sleep the rest of the day. Off went the mouse as fast as he could go,
+anxious to get away from the neighbourhood of the weasel. The
+missel-thrush had started directly he heard what the woodpecker said,
+disgusted that there was no action, and nothing but talk. The jay went
+off with the hawk, remarking as he went that he had expected better
+things of the fox, whose royal ancestors had so great a reputation, and
+could contrive a scheme to achieve anything, while their ignoble
+descendant was so quiet, and scarce spoke a word. It seemed as if the
+weasel would soon outdo him altogether. The rook flew straight away to
+the flock to which he belonged, to tell them all that had been said. The
+chaffinch left at the same time; the fox and the stoat went away
+together; the crow and the jackdaw accompanied each other a little way.
+When they had gone a short distance the crow said he wanted to say
+something very particular, so they perched together on a lonely branch.
+
+"What is it?" said Cloctaw.
+
+"The fact is," said the crow, "my belief is--come a little nearer--my
+belief is that Kapchack's reign is coming to an end. People won't put
+up with this."
+
+"Ah," said the jackdaw, "if that is the case who is to be king?"
+
+"Well," said the crow, "let me whisper to you; come a little nearer." He
+hopped towards Cloctaw. Cloctaw hopped the other way. The crow hopped
+towards him again, till Cloctaw came to the end of the branch, and could
+go no farther without flying, which would look odd under the
+circumstances. So he kept a very sharp eye on Kauc, for the fact was
+they had had many a quarrel when they were younger, and Cloctaw was not
+at all sure that he should not have a beak suddenly driven through his
+head.
+
+"The truth is," said the crow, in a hoarse whisper, "there's a chance
+for you and me. Can't you see the fox is very stupid, quite abject, and
+without the least spirit; the stoat is very fierce, but has no mind;
+everybody suspects the weasel, and will not trust him; as for the rat,
+he is no favourite; the hawk is--well, the hawk is dangerous, but might
+be disposed of ('You black assassin,' thought Cloctaw to himself); the
+rook has not a chance, for his friends would be too jealous to let one
+of their number become a king; and for the rest, they are too weak.
+There's only you and me left."
+
+"I see," said Cloctaw; "but we could not both be king."
+
+"Why not?" said the crow; "you wear the crown and live in the palace;
+you are old, and it would be nice and comfortable; you have all the
+state and dignity, and I will do the work."
+
+"It is very kind of you to propose it," said Cloctaw, as if considering.
+In his heart he thought: "Oh, yes, very convenient indeed; I am to wear
+the crown, and be pecked at by everybody, and _you_ to do all the
+work--that is, to go about and collect the revenue, and be rich, and
+have all the power, while I have all the danger".
+
+"It is quite feasible, I am sure," said the crow; "especially if Prince
+Tchack-tchack continues his undutiful course, and if Choo Hoo should
+come up with his army."
+
+"I must think about it," said Cloctaw; "we must not be too hasty."
+
+"Oh, dear no," said the crow, delighted to have won over one important
+politician to his cause so easily; "we must wait and watch events. Of
+course this little conversation is quite private?"
+
+"Perfectly private," said Cloctaw; and they parted.
+
+The crow had an appointment, and Cloctaw flew direct to the steeple. His
+nest was in the highest niche, just behind the image of St. Paul; and it
+was not only the highest, but the safest from intrusion, for there was
+no window near, and, on account of some projections below, even a ladder
+could not be put up, so that it was quite inaccessible without
+scaffolding. This niche he discovered in his hot youth, when he won
+renown by his strength and courage: he chose it for his home, and
+defended it against all comers. He was now old and feeble, but his
+reputation as a leading politician, and his influence at the court of
+King Kapchack, were too great for any to think of ousting him by force.
+
+But the members of his family, in their extreme solicitude for his
+personal safety, frequently represented to him the danger he incurred in
+ascending so high. Should a wing fail him, how terrible the
+consequences! more especially for the race of which he was so
+distinguished an ornament. Nor was there the least reason for his
+labouring to that elevation; with his reputation and influence, none
+would dare to meddle with him. There were many pleasant places not so
+exposed, as the gurgoyle, the leads, the angle of the roof, where he
+could rest without such an effort; and upon their part they would
+willingly assist him by collecting twigs for a new nest.
+
+But Cloctaw turned a deaf ear to these kindly proposals, and could not
+be made to see the advantages so benevolently suggested. He would in no
+degree abate his dignity, his right, power, or position. He adhered to
+St. Paul. There he had built all his days, and there he meant to stay to
+the last, for having seen so much of the world, well he knew that
+possession is ten points of the law, and well he understood the envy and
+jealousy which dictated these friendly counsels.
+
+At the same time, as the fox and the stoat were going through the fern,
+the stoat said: "It appears to me that this is a very favourable
+opportunity for ruining the weasel. Could we not make up some tale, and
+tell Kapchack how the weasel asked us to a secret meeting, or
+something?"
+
+Now the fox had his own ideas, and he wanted to get rid of the stoat.
+"Another time," he said, "another time, we will consider of it; but why
+waste such a capital chance as you have to-day?"
+
+"Capital chance to-day?" said the stoat; "what is it you mean?"
+
+"Did you not see the mouse?" said the fox. "Did you not see how fat he
+was? And just think, he has a long and lonely road home; and it would be
+very easy to make a short cut (for he will not leave the hedges which
+are round about) and get in front of, and so intercept him. I should go
+myself, but I was out last night, and feel tired this afternoon."
+
+"Oh, thank you," said the stoat; "I'll run that way directly." And off
+he started, thinking to himself: "How silly the fox has got, and how
+much he has fallen off from the ancient wisdom for which his ancestors
+were famous. Why ever did he not hold his tongue, and I should never
+have thought of the mouse, and the fox could have had him another day?"
+
+But the fact was the fox recollected that the mouse had had a long
+start, and it was very doubtful if the stoat could overtake him, and if
+he did, most likely the rat would come to meet his friend, and the stoat
+would get the worst of the encounter.
+
+However ill the rat served the mouse, however much he abused his
+superior strength, wreaking his temper on his weaker companion, still
+the mouse clung to him all the more. On the other hand the rat, ready
+enough to injure the mouse himself, would allow no one else (unless with
+his permission) to touch his follower, wishing to reserve to himself a
+monopoly of tyranny.
+
+So soon as the stoat was out of sight, the fox looked round to see that
+no one was near, and he said to a fly: "Fly, will you carry a message
+for me?"
+
+"I am very busy," said the fly, "very busy indeed."
+
+So the fox went a little farther, and said to a humble-bee: "Humble-bee,
+will you carry a message for me?"
+
+"I am just going home," said the humble-bee, and buzzed along.
+
+So the fox went a little farther, and said to a butterfly: "Beautiful
+butterfly, will you carry a message for me?" But the disdainful
+butterfly did not even answer.
+
+The fox went a little farther, and met a tomtit. "Te-te," said he,
+addressing the tomtit by name, "will you carry a message for me?"
+
+"What impudence!" said Te-te. "Mind your own business, and do not speak
+to gentlemen."
+
+"I see how it is," said the fox to himself, "the fortunes of my family
+are fallen, and I am disregarded. When we were rich, and had a great
+reputation, and were the first of all the people in the wood, then we
+had messengers enough, and they flew to do our bidding. But now, they
+turn aside. This is very bitter. When I get home, I must curl round and
+think about it; I cannot endure this state of things. How dreadful it
+is to be poor! I wish we had not dissipated our wealth so freely.
+However, there is a little left still in a secret corner. As I said, I
+must see about it. Here is a gnat. Gnat, will you carry a message for
+me?"
+
+"Well, I don't know," said the gnat; "I must think about it. Will
+to-morrow do?"
+
+"No," said the fox quickly, before the gnat flew off. "Go for me to
+Kapchack, and say there has been a secret----"
+
+"A secret?" said the gnat; "that's another matter." And he went down
+closer to the fox.
+
+"Yes," said the fox, "you fly as fast as you can, and whisper to
+Kapchack--you have free admittance, I know, to the palace--that there
+has been a secret meeting in the copse about his love affair, and that
+the courtiers are all against it, and are bent on his destruction,
+especially the owl, the hawk, the crow, the rook, the weasel (the weasel
+worst of all, for they would have chosen him as their deputy), the
+stoat, and the jackdaw, and that he has only one true friend, the fox,
+who sends the message."
+
+"All right!" said the gnat; "all right, I'll go!" And off he flew,
+delighted to be entrusted with so great a secret.
+
+While the courtiers were thus intriguing, not only against Kapchack, but
+against each other, Bevis and the squirrel went back into the
+raspberries, and Bevis helped himself to the fruit that had ripened
+since yesterday.
+
+"It seems to me," said Bevis, after he had eaten as much as he could,
+"that they are all very wicked."
+
+"So they are," said the squirrel. "I am sorry to say they are rather
+treacherous, and I warned you not to believe all they said to you. I
+would not let them use my copse, but the fact is, if they are wicked,
+Kapchack is a hundred times more so. Besides, it is very hard on the
+jay, who is an old acquaintance of mine--we often have a chat in the
+fir-trees--to have his dear, sweet, pretty lady stolen away from him by
+such a horrid old wretch, whose riches and crown have quite turned her
+head!"
+
+"What a business it all is," said Bevis. "Everybody seems mixed up in
+it. And so it is true that Prince Tchack-tchack is also in love with the
+pretty jay?"
+
+"Yes, that it is," said the squirrel; "and, between you and me, I have
+seen her flirt with him desperately, in that very hawthorn bush he
+forced the missel-thrush to give up to him. And that is the reason he
+will not let Kapchack peck his eye out, as he is so vain, and likes to
+look nice."
+
+"Let Kapchack peck his eye out! But Kapchack is his father. Surely his
+papa would not peck his eye out?"
+
+"Oh, dear me!" said the squirrel, "I almost let the secret out.
+Goodness! I hope nobody heard me. And pray, Bevis dear, don't repeat
+it--oh, pray don't!--or it will be sure to be traced to me. I wish I had
+never heard it. If I had not listened to that vile old crow; if I had
+not been so curious, and overheard him muttering to himself, and
+suggesting doubts at night! Bevis dear, don't you ever be curious, and
+don't you say a word."
+
+The squirrel was in a terrible fright, till Bevis promised not to repeat
+anything.
+
+"But," said he, "you have not told me the secret."
+
+"No," said the squirrel, "but I very nearly did, and only just stopped
+in time. Why, if the trees heard it, they would pass it from one to the
+other in a moment. Dear, dear!" He sat down, he was so frightened he
+could not frisk about. But Bevis stroked him down, and soothed him, and
+said he had the most lovely silky tail in the world, and this brought
+him to himself again.
+
+"All this comes," said the squirrel, "of my having run up the wrong side
+of the tree first this morning. Take care, Bevis dear, that you too do
+not make a mistake, and put the wrong foot first out of bed when you get
+up." Bevis laughed at this, and asked which was his wrong foot. "Well,"
+said the squirrel, "the fact is, it depends: sometimes it is one, and
+sometimes it is the other, and that is the difficulty, to know which it
+is, and makes all the difference in life. The very best woman I ever
+knew (and she was a farmer's wife) always, when she was out walking, put
+one foot before the other, and so was always right."
+
+"Nonsense," said Bevis, "how could she walk without putting one foot
+before the other?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said the squirrel, "many people, though they think they put
+one foot before the other, really keep the wrong foot foremost all the
+time. But do you remember to-morrow morning when you get up."
+
+"I do not see what difference it can make," said Bevis.
+
+"If you put one foot out first," said the squirrel, "it will very likely
+lead you to the looking-glass, where you will see yourself and forget
+all the rest, and you will do one sort of thing that day; and if you put
+the other out first it will lead you to the window, and then you will
+see something, and you will think about that, and do another sort of
+thing; and if you put both feet out of bed together they will take you
+to the door, and there you will meet somebody, who will say something,
+and you will do another kind of thing. So you see it is a very important
+matter, and this woman, as I said, was the best that ever lived."
+
+"No she wasn't," said Bevis, "she was not half so good as my mother is."
+
+"That is true, dear," said the squirrel. "Your mother is the very best
+of all. But don't forget about your feet to-morrow morning, dear."
+
+"Look up," said Bevis, "and tell me what bird that is."
+
+The squirrel looked up, and saw a bird going over at a great height.
+"That is a peewit," he said. "He is a messenger; you can see how fast
+and straight he is flying. He is bringing some news, I feel sure, about
+Choo Hoo. Kapchack sent an out-post of peewits over the hills to watch
+Choo Hoo's movements, and to let him know directly if he began to
+gather his army together. Depend upon it, dear, there is some very
+important news. I must tell the woodpecker, and he will find out; he is
+very clever at that." The squirrel began to get restless, though he did
+not like to tell Bevis to go.
+
+"You promised to tell me about Choo Hoo," said Bevis.
+
+"So I did," said the squirrel, "and if you will come to-morrow I will do
+so; I am rather in a hurry just now."
+
+"Very well," said Bevis, "I will come to-morrow. Now show me the way to
+the felled tree." As they were going Bevis recollected the weasel, and
+asked if he was really so ill he could not move, but was obliged to lick
+his paw to cure the pain.
+
+The squirrel laughed. "No," he whispered; "don't you say I said so: the
+truth is, the weasel is as well as you or I, and now the council is
+broken up I daresay he is running about as quickly as he likes. And,
+Bevis dear, stoop down and I'll tell you (Bevis stooped), the fact is,
+he was at the council all the time."
+
+"But I never saw him," said Bevis, "and he never said anything."
+
+"No," whispered the squirrel very quietly, "he wanted to hear what they
+said without being present; he was in the elm all the time; you know,
+dear, that malice-minded elm on the other side of the raspberries, which
+I told you was rotten inside. He lives there in that hole; there is a
+way into it level with the ground; that is his secret hiding-place."
+
+"I will bring my cannon-stick to-morrow," said Bevis, delighted to have
+discovered where the weasel lived at last, "and I will shoot into the
+hole and kill him."
+
+"I could not let you do that," said the squirrel. "I do not allow any
+fighting, or killing, in my copse, and that is the reason all the birds
+and animals come here to hold their meetings, because they know it is a
+sanctuary. If you shoot off your cannon the birds are sure to hear it,
+and you will not be present at any more of their meetings, and you will
+not hear any more of the story. Therefore it would be very foolish of
+you to shoot off your cannon; you must wait, Bevis dear, till you can
+catch the weasel outside my copse, and then you may shoot him as much as
+you like."
+
+"Very well," said Bevis, rather sulkily, "I will not shoot him in the
+hole if you do not want me to. But how could the weasel have been in the
+elm all the time, when the humble-bee said he found him lying in the
+sunshine on a bank licking his paw?"
+
+"Why, of course he told the humble-bee to say that."
+
+"What a cheater he is, isn't he?" said Bevis. "And how did you find out
+where he lived? I looked everywhere for him, and so did Pan--Pan sniffed
+and sniffed, but could not find him."
+
+"Nor could I," said the squirrel. "After you shot the--I mean after the
+unfortunate business with the thrush, he kept out of the way, knowing
+that you had vowed vengeance against him, and although I go about a
+good deal, and peep into so many odd corners, I could not discover his
+whereabouts, till the little tree-climber told me. You know the
+tree-climber, dear, you have seen him in your orchard at home; he goes
+all round and round the trees, and listens at every chink, and so he
+learns almost all the secrets. He heard the weasel in the elm, and came
+at once and told me. Here is the timber, and there is the dragon-fly.
+Good-afternoon, Bevis dear; come to-morrow, and you shall hear the
+peewit's news, and be sure and not forget to put the right foot out of
+bed first in the morning." Bevis kissed his hand to the squirrel, and
+went home with the dragon-fly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE EMPEROR CHOO HOO.
+
+
+When he woke next morning, Bevis quite forgot what the squirrel had told
+him; he jumped out of bed without thinking, and his right foot touched
+the floor first, and led him to the window. From the window he saw the
+brook, and recollected that the brook had promised to tell him what he
+was singing, so as soon as ever he could get out of doors away he went
+through the gateway the grasshopper had shown him, and down to the
+hatch. Instead of coming quietly on tip-toe, as the brook had told him,
+he danced up, and the kingfisher heard him, and went off as before,
+whistling: "Weep, weep". Bevis stood on the brink and said: "Brook,
+Brook, what are you singing? You promised to tell me what you were
+saying."
+
+The brook did not answer, but went on singing. Bevis listened a minute,
+and then he picked a willow leaf and threw it into the bubbles, and
+watched it go whirling round and round in the eddies, and back up under
+the fall, where it dived down, and presently came up again, and the
+stream took it and carried it away past the flags. "Brook, Brook," said
+Bevis, stamping his foot, "tell me what you are singing."
+
+And the brook, having now finished that part of his song, said: "Bevis
+dear, sit down in the shadow of the willow, for it is very hot to-day,
+and the reapers are at work; sit down under the willow, and I will tell
+you as much as I can remember."
+
+"But the reed said you could not remember anything," said Bevis, leaning
+back against the willow.
+
+"The reed did not tell you the truth, dear; indeed, he does not know
+all; the fact is, the reeds are so fond of talking that I scarcely ever
+answer them now, or they would keep on all day long, and I should never
+hear the sound of my own voice, which I like best. So I do not encourage
+them, and that is why the reeds think I do not recollect."
+
+"And what is that you sing about?" said Bevis, impatiently.
+
+"My darling," said the brook, "I do not know myself always what I am
+singing about. I am so happy I sing, sing, and never think about what it
+means; it does not matter what you mean as long as you sing. Sometimes I
+sing about the sun, who loves me dearly, and tries all day to get at me
+through the leaves and the green flags that hide me; he sparkles on me
+everywhere he can, and does not like me to be in the shadow. Sometimes I
+sing to the wind, who loves me next most dearly, and will come to me
+everywhere, in places where the sun cannot get. He plays with me
+whenever he can, and strokes me softly, and tells me the things he has
+heard in the woods and on the hills, and sends down the leaves to float
+along, for he knows I like something to carry. Fling me in some leaves,
+Bevis dear.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the earth and the grass; they are fond of me too,
+and listen the best of all. I sing loudest at night, to the stars, for
+they are so far away they would not otherwise hear me."
+
+"But what do you say?" said Bevis; but the brook was too occupied now to
+heed him, and went on.
+
+"Sometimes I sing to the trees; they, too, are fond of me, and come as
+near as they can; they would all come down close to me if they could.
+They love me like the rest, because I am so happy, and never cease my
+chanting. If I am broken to pieces against a stone, I do not mind in the
+least; I laugh just the same, and even louder. When I come over the
+hatch, I dash myself to fragments; and sometimes a rainbow comes and
+stays a little while with me. The trees drink me, and the grass drinks
+me, the birds come down and drink me; they splash me, and are happy. The
+fishes swim about, and some of them hide in deep corners. Round the bend
+I go, and the osiers say they never have enough of me. The long grass
+waves and welcomes me; the moor-hens float with me; the kingfisher is
+always with me somewhere, and sits on the bough to see his ruddy breast
+in the water. And you come too, Bevis, now and then to listen to me; and
+it is all because I am so happy."
+
+"Why are you so happy?" said Bevis.
+
+"I do not know," said the brook. "Perhaps it is because all I think of
+is this minute; I do not know anything about the minute just gone by,
+and I do not care one bit about the minute that is just coming; all I
+care about is this minute, this very minute now. Fling me in some more
+leaves, Bevis. Why do you go about asking questions, dear? Why don't you
+sing, and do nothing else?"
+
+"Oh, but I want to know all about everything," said Bevis. "Where did
+you come from, and where are you going, and why don't you go on and let
+the ground be dry--why don't you run on, and run all away? Why are you
+always here?"
+
+The brook laughed, and said: "My dear, I do not know where I came from,
+and I do not care at all where I am going. What does it matter, my love?
+All I know is I shall come back again; yes, I shall come back again."
+The brook sang very low, and rather sadly now: "I shall go into the sea,
+and shall be lost; and even you would not know me--ask your father,
+love, he has sailed over the sea in the ships that come to Southampton,
+and I was close to him, but he did not know me. But by-and-by, when I am
+in the sea, the sun will lift me up, and the clouds will float
+along--look towards the hills, Bevis dear, every morning, and you will
+see the clouds coming and bringing me with them; and the rain and the
+dew, and sometimes the thunder and the lightning, will put me down
+again, and I shall run along here and sing to you, my sweet, if you will
+come and listen. Fling in some little twigs, my dear, and some bits of
+bark from the tree."
+
+Then the brook sang very low and very sad, and said: "I shall come back
+again, Bevis; I always come back, and I am always happy; and yet I do
+not know either if I am really happy when I am singing so joyously.
+Bevis dear, try and think and tell me. Am I really happy, Bevis? Tell
+me, dear; you can see the sun sparkling on me, and the wind stroking me,
+just as he strokes your hair (he told me he was very fond of you, and
+meant to tell you a story some day), and the reeds whispering, and the
+willows drooping over me, and the bright kingfisher; you can hear me
+singing, Bevis, now am I happy?"
+
+"I do not know," said Bevis; "sometimes you sound very happy, but just
+now you sound very sad. Stop a little while and think about it."
+
+"Oh, no, Bevis; I cannot stop, I must keep running. Nothing can stop,
+dear: the trees cannot stop growing, they must keep on growing till they
+die; and then they cannot stop decaying, till they are all quite gone;
+but they come back again. Nor can you stop, Bevis dear."
+
+"I will stop," said Bevis.
+
+"You cannot," said the brook.
+
+"But I will."
+
+"You cannot. You are a very clever boy, Bevis, but you cannot stop; nor
+can your papa, nor anybody, you must keep on. Let me see, let me think.
+I remember, I have seen you before; it was so many, many thousand years
+ago, but I am almost sure it was you. Now I begin to think about it, I
+believe I have seen you two or three times, Bevis; but it was before the
+hippopotamus used to come and splash about in me. I cannot be quite
+certain, for it is a long time to remember your face, dear."
+
+"I do not believe it," said Bevis; "you are babbling, Brook. My mamma
+says you babble--it is because you are so old. I am sure I was not born
+then."
+
+"Yes, you were, dear; and I daresay you will come back again, when all
+the hills are changed and the roads are covered with woods, and the
+houses gone. I daresay you will come back again and splash in me, like
+the blackbirds."
+
+"Now you are talking nonsense, you silly Brook," said Bevis; "the hills
+will never change, and the roads will always be here, and the houses
+will not be gone: but why are you sighing, you dear old Brook?"
+
+"I am sighing, my love, because I remember."
+
+"What do you remember?"
+
+"I remember before the hills were like they are now; I remember when I
+was a broad deep river; I remember the stars that used to shine in me,
+and they are all gone, you cannot see them now, Bevis ('Pooh,' said
+Bevis); I remember the stories the lions used to tell me when they came
+down to drink; I remember the people dancing on the grass by me, and
+sing, singing; they used to sing like me, Bevis, without knowing what it
+was they sung, and without any words (not stupid songs, Bevis, like your
+people sing now), but I understood them very well. I cannot understand
+the songs the folk sing now, the folk that live now have gone away so
+far from me."
+
+"What nonsense you say, old Brook; why, we live quite close, and the
+waggons go over your bridge every day."
+
+"I remember (the brook took no notice, but went on), I remember them
+very well, and they loved me dearly too; they had boats, Bevis, made out
+of trees, and they floated about on me."
+
+"I will have a boat," said Bevis, "and float about on you."
+
+"And they played music, which was just like my singing, and they were
+very happy, because, as I told you about myself, they did not think
+about the minute that was coming, or the minute that had gone by, they
+only thought about this minute."
+
+"How long was that ago?" said Bevis.
+
+"Oh," said the brook, "I daresay your papa would tell you it was
+thousands upon thousands of years, but that is not true, dear; it was
+only a second or two since."
+
+"I shall not stay to listen much longer, silly Brook, if you talk like
+that; why, it must be longer than that, or I should have seen it."
+
+"My dear," said the brook, "that which has gone by, whether it happened
+a second since, or a thousand thousand years since, is just the same;
+there is no real division betwixt you and the past. You people who live
+now have made up all sorts of stupid, very stupid stories, dear; I hope
+you will not believe them; they tell you about time and all that. Now
+there is no such thing as time, Bevis my love; there never was any time,
+and there never will be; the sun laughs at it, even when he marks it on
+the sun-dial. Yesterday was just a second ago, and so was ten thousand
+years since, and there is nothing between you and then; there is no wall
+between you and then--nothing at all, dear,"--and the brook sang so low
+and thoughtfully that Bevis could not catch what he said, but the tune
+was so sweet, and soft, and sad that it made him keep quite still. While
+he was listening the kingfisher came back and perched on the hatch, and
+Bevis saw his ruddy neck and his blue wings.
+
+"There is nothing between you and then," the brook began again, "nothing
+at all, dear; only some stories which are not true; if you will not
+believe me, look at the sun, but you cannot look at the sun, darling; it
+shines so bright. It shines just the same, as bright and beautiful; and
+the wind blows as sweet as ever, and I sparkle and sing just the same,
+and you may drink me if you like; and the grass is just as green; and
+the stars shine at night. Oh, yes, Bevis dear, _we_ are all here just
+the same, my love, and all things are as bright and beautiful as ten
+thousand times ten thousand years ago, which is no longer since than a
+second.
+
+"But your people have gone away from us--that is their own fault. I
+cannot think why they should do so; they have gone away from us, and
+they are no longer happy, Bevis; they cannot understand our songs--they
+sing stupid songs they have made up themselves, and which they did not
+learn of us, and then because they are not happy, they say: 'The world
+is growing old'. But it is not true, Bevis, the world is not old, it is
+as young as ever it was. Fling me a leaf--and now another. Do not you
+forget me, Bevis; come and see me now and then, and throw twigs to me
+and splash me."
+
+"That I will," said Bevis; and he picked up a stone and flung it into
+the water with such a splash that the kingfisher flew away, but the
+brook only laughed, and told him to throw another, and to make haste and
+eat the peck of salt, and grow bigger and jump over him. "That I will,"
+said Bevis, "I am very hungry now--good-morning, I am going home to
+dinner."
+
+"Good-morning, dear," said the brook, "you will always find me here when
+you want to hear a song." Bevis went home to dinner humming the tune the
+brook had taught him, and by-and-by, when the hot sun had begun to sink
+a little, he started again for the copse, and as before the dragon-fly
+met him, and led him to the timber, and from there to the raspberries.
+
+The squirrel was waiting for him on a bough of the oak, and while Bevis
+picked the fruit that had ripened since yesterday, told him the news the
+peewits had brought about the great rebel Choo Hoo. A party of the
+peewits, who had been watching ever so far away, thought they saw a stir
+and a movement in the woods; and presently out came one of the captains
+of the wood-pigeons with two hundred of his soldiers, and they flew over
+the border into King Kapchack's country and began to forage in one of
+his wheat-fields, where the corn was ripe. When they saw this, the
+peewits held a council on the hill, and they sent a messenger to
+Kapchack with the news. While they were waiting for him to return, some
+of the wood-pigeons, having foraged enough, went home to the woods, so
+that there was not much more than half of them left.
+
+Seeing this--for his soldiers who were wheeling about in the air came
+and told him--the captain of the peewits thought: "Now is my time! This
+is a most lucky and fortunate circumstance, and I can now win the high
+approval of King Kapchack, and obtain promotion. The captain of the
+wood-pigeons has no idea how many of us are watching his proceedings,
+for I have kept my peewits behind the cover of the hill so that he could
+not count them, and he has allowed half of the wood-pigeons to go home.
+We will rush down upon the rest, and so win an easy victory."
+
+So saying he flew up, and all the peewits followed him in the
+expectation of an easy conquest. But, just as they were descending upon
+the wheat-field, up flew the wood-pigeons with such a terrible clangour
+of their strong wings, and facing towards them, showed such a
+determination to fight to the last breath, that the peewits, who were
+never very celebrated for their courage, turned tail, and began to
+retreat.
+
+They would still have reached the hills in good order, and would have
+suffered no great disgrace (for they were but a small party, and not so
+numerous as the wood-pigeons), but in the midst of these manoeuvres,
+the lieutenant of the pigeons, who had gone home with those who had done
+foraging, flew out from the wood with his men, and tried by a flank
+movement to cut off the peewits' retreat. At this they were so alarmed
+they separated and broke up their ranks, each flying to save himself as
+best he might. Nor did they stop till long after the wood-pigeons, being
+cautious and under complete control, had ceased to pursue; not till they
+had flown back two or three miles into the fastnesses of Kapchack's
+hills. Then some of them, collecting again, held a hurried council, and
+sent off messengers with the news of this affray.
+
+About the same time, it happened that a missel-thrush arrived at the
+court, a son of the favourite missel-thrush, the only bird whom Kapchack
+(and the farmer) allowed to build in the orchard. The missel-thrush had
+just travelled through part of the country which once belonged to
+Kapchack, but which Choo Hoo had over-run the year before, and he
+brought Kapchack such a terrible account of the mighty armies that he
+saw assembling, that the king was beside himself with terror. Next came
+a crow, one of Kauc's warriors, who had been that way, and he said that
+two captains of the wood-pigeons, hearing of the peewits' defeat, had
+already, and without staying for instructions from Choo Hoo, entered the
+country and taken possession of a copse on the slope of the hill from
+which the peewits had descended.
+
+"And," said the squirrel, as Bevis, having eaten all the raspberries,
+came and sat down on the moss under the oak, "the upshot of it is that
+King Kapchack has called a general council of war, which is to be held
+almost directly at the owl's castle, in the pollard hard by. For you
+must understand that the farmer who lives near Kapchack's palace is so
+fierce, he will not let any of the large birds (except the favourite
+missel-thrush) enter the orchard, and therefore Kapchack has to hold
+these great councils in the copse. What will be the result I cannot
+think, and I am not without serious apprehensions myself, for I have
+hitherto held undisputed possession of this domain. But Choo Hoo is so
+despotic, and has such an immense army at his back, that I am not at all
+certain he will respect my neutrality. As for Kapchack, he shivers in
+his claws at the very name of the mighty rebel."
+
+"Why does Choo Hoo want King Kapchack's country?" said Bevis. "Why
+cannot he stop where he is?"
+
+"There is no reason, dear; but you know that all the birds and animals
+would like to be king if they could, and when Choo Hoo found that the
+wood-pigeons (for he was nothing but an adventurer at first, without any
+title or property except the ancestral ash) were growing so numerous
+that the woods would hardly hold them, and were continually being
+increased both by their own populousness and by the arrival of fresh
+bands, it occurred to him that this enormous horde of people, if they
+could only be persuaded to follow him, could easily over-run the entire
+country. Hitherto, it was true, they had been easily kept in subjection,
+notwithstanding their immense numbers, first, because they had no
+leaders among them, nor even any nobles or rich people to govern their
+movements and tell them what to do; and next, because they were
+barbarians, and totally destitute of art or refinement, knowledge, or
+science, neither had they any skill in diplomacy or politics, but were
+utterly outside the civilised nations.
+
+"Even their language, as you yourself have heard, is very contracted and
+poor, without inflection or expression, being nothing but the repetition
+of the same sounds, by which means--that is simply by the number and the
+depth of hollowness of the same monosyllables--they convey their wishes
+to each other. It is, indeed, wonderful how they can do so, and our
+learned men, from this circumstance, have held that the language of the
+wood-pigeon is the most difficult to acquire, so much so that it is
+scarce possible for one who has not been born among the barbarians to
+attain to any facility in the use of these gutturals. This is the reason
+why little or no intercourse has ever taken place between us who are
+civilised and these hordes; that which has gone on has been entirely
+conducted by the aid of interpreters, being those few wood-pigeons who
+have come away from the main body, and dwell peaceably in our midst.
+
+"Now, Choo Hoo, as I said, being an adventurer, with no more property
+than the ancestral ash, but a pigeon of very extraordinary genius,
+considered within himself that if any one could but persuade these
+mighty and incredible myriads to follow him he could over-run the entire
+country. The very absence of any nobles or rich pigeons among them would
+make his sway the more absolute if he once got power, for there would
+be none to dispute it, or to put any check upon him. Ignorant and
+barbarous as they were, the common pigeons would worship such a captain
+as a hero and a demi-god, and would fly to certain destruction in
+obedience to his orders.
+
+"He was the more encouraged to the enterprise because it was on record
+that in olden times great bodies of pigeons had passed across the
+country sweeping everything before them. Nothing could resist their
+onward march, and it is owing to these barbarian invasions that so many
+of our most precious chronicles have been destroyed, and our early
+history, Bevis dear, involved in obscurity. Their dominion--destructive
+as it was--had, however, always passed away as rapidly as it arose, on
+account of the lack of cohesion in their countless armies. They marched
+without a leader, and without order, obeying for a time a common
+impulse; when that impulse ceased they retired tumultuously, suffering
+grievous losses from the armies which gathered behind and hung upon
+their rear. Their bones whitened the fields, and the sun, it is said,
+was darkened at noonday by their hastening crowds fleeing in dense
+columns, and struck down as they fled by hawks and crows.
+
+"Had they possessed a leader in whom they felt confidence the result
+might have been very different; indeed, our wisest historians express no
+doubt that civilisation must have been entirely extinguished, and these
+lovely fields and delicious woods have been wholly occupied by the
+barbarians. Fortunately it was not so. But, as I said, Choo Hoo,
+retiring to the top of a lofty fir-tree, and filled with these ideas,
+surveyed from thence the masses of his countrymen returning to the woods
+to roost as the sun declined, and resolved to lose no time in
+endeavouring to win them to his will, and to persuade them to embark
+upon the extraordinary enterprise which he had conceived.
+
+"Without delay he proceeded to promulgate his plans, flying from tribe
+to tribe, and from flock to flock, ceaselessly proclaiming that the
+kingdom was the wood-pigeons' by right, by reason of their numbers, and
+because of the wickedness of Kapchack and his court, which wickedness
+was notorious, and must end in disaster. As you may imagine, he met with
+little or no response--for the most part the pigeons, being of a stolid
+nature, went on with their feeding and talking, and took no notice
+whatever of his orations. After a while the elder ones, indeed, began to
+say to each other that this agitator had better be put down and debarred
+from freedom of speech, for such seditious language must ultimately be
+reported to Kapchack, who would send his body-guards of hawks among them
+and exact a sanguinary vengeance.
+
+"Finding himself in danger, Choo Hoo, not one whit abashed, instead of
+fleeing, came before the elders and openly reproached them with
+misgovernment, cowardice, and the concealment or loss of certain ancient
+prophecies, which foretold the future power of the wood-pigeons, and
+which he accused them of holding back out of jealousy, lest they should
+lose the miserable petty authority they enjoyed on account of their age.
+Now, whether there were really any such prophecies, I cannot tell you,
+or whether it was one of Choo Hoo's clever artifices, it is a moot point
+among our most learned antiquaries; the owl, who has the best means of
+information, told me once that he believed there was some ground for the
+assertion.
+
+"At any rate it suited Choo Hoo's purpose very well; for although the
+elders and the heads of the tribes forthwith proceeded to subject him to
+every species of persecution, and attacked him so violently that he lost
+nearly all his feathers, the common pigeons sympathised with him, and
+hid him from their pursuit. They were the more led to sympathise with
+him because, on account of their ever-increasing numbers, the territory
+allotted to them by Kapchack was daily becoming less and less suited to
+their wants, and, in short, there were some signs of a famine. They,
+therefore, looked with longing eyes at the fertile country, teeming with
+wheat and acorns around them, and listened with greedy ears to the
+tempting prospect so graphically described by Choo Hoo.
+
+"Above all, the young pigeons attached themselves to his fortunes and
+followed him everywhere in continually increasing bands, for he promised
+them wives in plenty and trees for their nests without number; for all
+the trees in their woods were already occupied by the older families,
+who would not, moreover, part with their daughters to young pigeons who
+had not a branch to roost on. Some say that the fox, who had long been
+deeply discontented at the loss of his ancestors' kingdom and of his own
+wealth, which he dissipated so carelessly, did not scruple to advise
+Choo Hoo how to proceed. Be that as it may, I should be the last to
+accuse any one of disloyalty without evident proof; be that as it may,
+the stir and commotion grew so great among the wood-pigeons, that
+presently the news of it reached King Kapchack.
+
+"His spies, of whom he has so many (the chief of them is Te-te, the
+tomtit, of whom I bid you beware), brought him full intelligence of what
+was going on. Kapchack lost no time in calling his principal advisers
+around him; they met close by here (where the council is to take place
+this afternoon), for he well knew the importance of the news. It was not
+only, you see, the immense numbers of the wood-pigeons and the
+impossibility of resisting their march, were they once set in motion,
+but he had to consider that there was a considerable population of
+pigeons in our midst who might turn traitors, and he was by no means
+sure of the allegiance of various other tribes, who were only held down
+by terror.
+
+"The council fully acknowledged the gravity of the situation, and upon
+the advice of the hawk it was resolved that Choo Hoo, as the prime mover
+of the trouble, and as the only one capable of bringing matters to a
+crisis, should be forthwith despatched. But when the executioners
+proceeded to seize him he eluded their clutches with the greatest ease;
+for his followers (such was their infatuation) devoted their lives to
+his, and threw themselves in the way of Kapchack's emissaries, the
+hawks, submitting to be torn in pieces rather than see their beloved
+hero lose a feather. Thus baffled, the enraged Kapchack next tried to
+get him assassinated, but, as before, his friends watched about him with
+such solicitude that no one could enter the wood where he slept at night
+without their raising such a disturbance that their evil purpose was
+defeated.
+
+"In his rage Kapchack ordered a decimation of the wood-pigeons, which I
+myself think was a great mistake; but, as I have told you before, I do
+not meddle with politics. Still I cannot help thinking that if he had,
+instead, of his royal bounty and benevolence, given the wood-pigeons an
+increase of territory, seeing how near they sometimes came to a famine,
+that they would have been disarmed and their discontent turned to
+gratitude; but he ordered in his rage and terror that they should be
+decimated, and let loose the whole army of his hawks upon them, so that
+the slaughter was awful to behold, and the ground was strewn with their
+torn and mangled bodies. Yet they remained faithful to Choo Hoo, and not
+one traitor was found among these loyal barbarians.
+
+"But Choo Hoo, deeply distressed in mind, said that he would relieve
+them from the burden of his presence rather than thus be the cause of
+their sorrow. He therefore left those provinces and flew out of the
+country, leaving word behind him that he would never return till he had
+seen the raven, and recovered from him those ancient prophecies that had
+so long been lost. He flew away, and disappeared in the distance; the
+days and weeks passed, but he did not return, and at last Kapchack,
+relieved of his apprehensions, recalled his murderous troops, and the
+pigeons were left in peace to lament their Choo Hoo.
+
+"A twelvemonth passed, and still Choo Hoo did not come; the people said
+he had been called to the happy Forest of the Heroes, and averred that
+sometimes they heard his voice calling to them when no one was near.
+There was no doubt that he had gone with the raven. The raven, you must
+know, my dear Sir Bevis, was once the principal judge and arbiter of
+justice amongst us, so much so that he was above kings, and it is
+certain that had he been here we should not have had to submit to the
+sanguinary tyranny of Kapchack, nor condemned to witness the scandalous
+behaviour of his court, or the still greater scandal of his own private
+life. But for some reason the raven mysteriously left this country about
+a hundred years ago, leaving behind him certain prophecies, some of
+which no doubt you have heard, especially that upon his return there
+will be no more famine, nor frost, nor slaughter, nor conflict, but we
+shall all live together in peace.
+
+"However that may be, the raven has never come back; the learned hold
+that he must have died long since, for he was so aged when he went away
+no one knew his years, hinting in their disbelief that he went away to
+die, and so surround his death with a halo of mystery; but the common
+people are quite of a different opinion, and strenuously uphold the
+belief that he will some day return. Well, as I told you, a twelvemonth
+went by, and Choo Hoo did not come, when suddenly in the spring (when
+Kapchack himself was much occupied in his palace, and most of his spies
+were busy with their nests, and the matter had almost been forgotten)
+Choo Hoo reappeared, bringing with him the most beautiful young bride
+that was ever beheld, as he himself was, on the other hand, the
+strongest and swiftest of the wood-pigeons.
+
+"When this was known (and the news spread in a minute) the enthusiasm of
+the barbarians knew no bounds. Notwithstanding it was nesting-time, they
+collected in such vast numbers that the boughs cracked with their
+weight; they unanimously proclaimed Choo Hoo emperor (for they disdained
+the title of king as not sufficiently exalted), and declared their
+intention, as soon as the nesting-time was over, and the proper
+season--the autumn--for campaigning arrived, of following him, and
+invading the kingdom of Kapchack.
+
+"Choo Hoo told them that, after many months of wandering, he had at last
+succeeded in finding the raven; at least he had not seen the raven
+himself, but the raven had sent a special messenger, the hawfinch, to
+tell him to be of good cheer, and to return to the wood-pigeons, and to
+lead them forth against Kapchack, who tottered upon his throne; and that
+he (the raven) would send the night-jar, or goat-sucker, with crooked
+and evil counsels to confound Kapchack's wisdom. And indeed, Bevis, my
+dear, I have myself seen several night-jars about here, and I am rather
+inclined to think that there is some truth in this part at least of what
+Choo Hoo says; for it is an old proverb, which I daresay you have heard,
+that when the gods design the destruction of a monarch they first make
+him mad, and what can be more mad than Kapchack's proposed marriage with
+the jay, to which he was doubtless instigated by the night-jars, who,
+like genii of the air, have been floating in the dusky summer twilight
+round about his palace?
+
+"And they have, I really believe, confounded his council and turned his
+wisdom to folly; for Kapchack has been so cunning for so many, many
+years, and all his family have been so cunning, and all his councillors,
+that now I do believe (only I do not meddle with politics) that this
+extreme cunning is too clever, and that they will overreach themselves.
+However, we shall see what is said at the council by-and-by.
+
+"Choo Hoo, having told the pigeons this, added that he had further been
+instructed by the raven to give them a sacred and mystic pass-word and
+rallying cry; he did not himself know what it meant; it was, however,
+something very powerful, and by it they would be led to victory. So
+saying, he called 'Koos-takke!' and at once the vast assembly seized the
+signal and responded 'Koos-takke!' which mystic syllables are now their
+war-cry, their call of defiance, and their welcome to their friends. You
+may often hear them shouting these words in the depths of the woods;
+Choo Hoo learnt them in the enchanted Forest of Savernake, where, as
+every one knows, there are many mighty magicians, and where, perhaps,
+the raven is still living in its deep recesses. Now this war-cry
+supplied, as doubtless the raven had foreseen, the very link that was
+wanting to bind the immense crowd of wood-pigeons together.
+Thenceforward they had a common sign and pass-word, and were no longer
+scattered.
+
+"In the autumn Choo Hoo crossed the border with a vast horde, and
+although Kapchack sent his generals, who inflicted enormous losses, such
+as no other nation but the barbarians could have sustained, nothing
+could stay the advance of such incredible numbers. After a whole autumn
+and winter of severe and continued fighting, Choo Hoo, early in the next
+year, found that he had advanced some ten (and in places fifteen) miles,
+giving his people room to feed and move. He had really pushed much
+farther than that, but he could not hold all the ground he had taken for
+the following reason. In the spring, as the soft warm weather came, and
+the sun began to shine, and the rain to fall, and the brook to sing more
+sweetly, and the wind to breathe gently with delicious perfume, and the
+green leaves to come forth, the barbarians began to feel the influence
+of love.
+
+"They could no longer endure to fly in the dense column, they no longer
+obeyed the voice of their captain. They fell in love, and each marrying
+set about to build a nest, free and unmolested in those trees that Choo
+Hoo had promised them. Choo Hoo himself retired with his lovely bride to
+the ancestral ash, and passed the summer in happy dalliance. With the
+autumn the campaign recommenced, and with exactly the same result. After
+a second autumn and winter of fighting, Choo Hoo had pushed his frontier
+another fifteen miles farther into Kapchack's kingdom. Another summer of
+love followed, and so it went on year after year, Choo Hoo's forces
+meantime continually increasing in numbers, since there were now no
+restrictions as to nest trees, but one and all could marry.
+
+"Till at last he has under his sway a horde of trained warriors, whose
+numbers defy calculation, and he has year by year pushed into Kapchack's
+territory till now it seems as if he must utterly overwhelm and destroy
+that monarch. This he would doubtless have achieved ere now, but there
+is one difficulty which has considerably impeded his advance, as he came
+farther and farther from his native province. This difficulty is water.
+
+"For in the winter, when the Long Pond is frozen, and the brook nearly
+covered with ice, and all the ponds and ditches likewise, so vast a
+horde cannot find enough to satisfy their thirst, and must consequently
+disperse. Were it not for this Choo Hoo must ere now have overwhelmed
+us. As it is, Kapchack shivers in his claws, and we all dread the
+approaching autumn, for Choo Hoo has now approached so near as to be at
+our very doors. If he only knew one thing he would have no difficulty
+in remaining here and utterly destroying us."
+
+"What is that?" said Bevis.
+
+"Will you promise faithfully not to tell any one?" said the squirrel,
+"for my own existence depends upon this horde of barbarians being kept
+at bay; for, you see, should they pass over they will devour everything
+in the land, and there will certainly be a famine--the most dreadful
+that has ever been seen."
+
+"I will promise," said Bevis. "I promise you faithfully."
+
+"Then I will tell you," went on the squirrel. "In this copse of mine
+there is a spring of the clearest and sweetest water (you shall see it,
+I will take you to it some day) which is a great secret, for it is so
+hidden by ferns and fir-trees overhanging it, that no one knows anything
+about it, except Kapchack, myself, the weasel, and the fox; I wish the
+weasel did not know, for he is so gluttonous for blood, which makes him
+thirsty, that he is continually dipping his murderous snout into the
+delicious water.
+
+"Now this spring, being so warm in the fern, and coming out of ground
+which is, in a manner, warm too, of all the springs in this province
+does not freeze, but always runs clear all the winter. If Choo Hoo only
+knew it, don't you see, he could stay in Kapchack's country, no matter
+how hard the frost, and his enormous army, whose main object is plunder,
+would soon starve us altogether. But he does not know of it.
+
+"He has sent several of his spies, the wood-cocks, to search the
+country for such a spring, but although they are the most cunning of
+birds at that trick, they have not yet succeeded in finding my spring
+and thrusting their long bills into it. They dare not come openly, but
+fly by night, for Kapchack's hawks are always hovering about; well
+enough he knows the importance of this secret, and they would pay for
+their temerity with their lives if they were seen. All I am afraid of is
+lest the weasel or the fox, in their eagerness for empire, should betray
+the secret to Choo Hoo.
+
+"The fox, though full of duplicity, and not to be depended upon, is at
+least brave and bold, and so far as I can judge his character would not,
+for his own sake (hoping some day to regain the kingdom), let out this
+secret. But of the weasel I am not so sure; he is so very wicked, and so
+cunning, no one can tell what he may do. Thus it is that in the highest
+of my beech trees I do not feel secure, but am in continual fear lest a
+wood-cock should steal in, or the weasel play the traitor, for if so a
+famine is imminent, and that is why I support, so far as I can without
+meddling with politics, the throne of Kapchack, as the last barrier
+against this terrible fate.
+
+"Even now could he but be brought to reform his present life something
+might be hoped for, for he has a powerful army; but, as you have seen,
+this affair with the jay has caused ambitious ideas to spring up in the
+minds of his chief courtiers, some of whom (especially, I think, the
+crow and the weasel) are capable of destroying a country for their
+private and personal advantage. Therefore it is that I look forward to
+this council, now about to be held, with intense anxiety, for upon it
+will depend our future, the throne of Kapchack, our existence or
+destruction. And here comes the rook; the first as usual."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE COUNCIL.
+
+
+Before Bevis could ask any questions, the squirrel went off to speak to
+the rook, and to show him a good bough to perch on near the owl's
+castle. He then came back and conducted Bevis to the seat in the
+ash-stole, where he was hidden by the honeysuckle, but could see well
+about him. Hardly had Bevis comfortably seated himself than the
+councillors began to arrive. They were all there; even the rat did not
+dare stay away, lest his loyalty should be suspected, but took up his
+station at the foot of the pollard-tree, and the mouse sat beside him.
+The rook sat on the oak, no great way from the squirrel; Kauc, the crow,
+chose a branch of ash which projected close to the pollard. So envious
+was he of the crown that he could not stay far from it.
+
+Cloctaw, the jackdaw, who had flown to the council with him, upon
+arrival, left his side, and perched rather in the rear. Reynard, the
+fox, and Sec, the stoat, his friend, waited the approach of the king by
+some fern near the foot of the pollard. The owl every now and then
+appeared at the window of his castle, sometimes to see who had arrived,
+and sometimes to look for the king, who was not yet in sight. Having
+glanced round, the owl retreated to his study, doubtless to prepare his
+speech for this important occasion. The heaving up of the leaves and
+earth, as if an underground plough was at work, showed that the mole had
+not forgotten his duty; he had come to show his loyalty, and he brought
+a message from the badger, who had long since been left outside the
+concert of the animals and birds, humbly begging King Kapchack to accept
+his homage.
+
+It is true that neither the hare nor the rabbit were present, but that
+signified nothing, for they had no influence whatever. But the pheasant,
+who often stood aloof from the court, in his pride of lineage despising
+Kapchack though he was king, came on this occasion, for he too, like the
+squirrel, was alarmed at the progress of Choo Hoo, and dreaded a
+scarcity of the berries of the earth. Tchink, the chaffinch, one of the
+first to come, could not perch still, but restlessly passed round the
+circle, now talking to one and now to another, and sometimes peering in
+at the owl's window. But merry as he was, he turned his back upon Te-te,
+the tomtit, and chief of the spies, disdaining the acquaintance of a
+common informer. Te-te, not one whit abashed, sat on a willow, and
+lifted his voice from time to time.
+
+The jay came presently, and for some reason or other he was in high good
+spirits, and dressed in his gayest feathers. He chaffed the owl, and
+joked with Tchink; then he laughed to himself, and tried to upset the
+grave old Cloctaw from his seat, and, in short, played all sorts of
+pranks to the astonishment of everybody, who had hitherto seen him in
+such distress for the loss of his lady-love. Everybody thought he had
+lost his senses. Eric, the favourite missel-thrush (not the
+conspirator), took his station very high up on the ash above Kauc, whom
+he hated and suspected of treason, not hesitating even to say so aloud.
+Kauc, indeed, was not now quite comfortable in his position, but kept
+slyly glancing up at the missel-thrush, and would have gone elsewhere
+had it not been that everybody was looking.
+
+The wood-pigeon came to the hawthorn, some little way from the castle;
+he represented, and was the chief of those pigeons who dwelt peacefully
+in Kapchack's kingdom, although aliens by race. His position was
+difficult in the extreme, for upon the one hand he knew full well that
+Kapchack was suspicious of him lest he should go over to Choo Hoo, and
+might at any moment order his destruction, and upon the other hand he
+had several messages from Choo Hoo calling upon him to join his
+brethren, the invaders, on pain of severe punishment. Uncertain as to
+his fate, the wood-pigeon perched on the hawthorn at the skirt of the
+council place, hoping from thence to get some start if obliged to flee
+for his life. The dove, his friend, constant in misfortune, sat near him
+to keep him in countenance.
+
+The humble-bee, the bee, the butterfly, the cricket, the grasshopper,
+the beetle, and many others arrived as the hour drew on. Last of all
+came Ki Ki, lord of all the hawks, attended with his retinue, and
+heralding the approach of the king. Ki Ki perched on a tree at the side
+of the pollard, and his warriors ranged themselves around him: a
+terrible show, at which the mouse verily shrank into the ground.
+Immediately afterwards a noise of wings and talking announced the
+arrival of Kapchack, who came in full state, with eight of his finest
+guards. The king perched on the top of the pollard, just over the owl's
+window, and the eight magpies sat above and around, but always behind
+him.
+
+"What an ugly old fellow he is!" whispered Bevis, who had never before
+seen him. "Look at his ragged tail!"
+
+"Hush!" said the squirrel, "Te-te is too near."
+
+"Are they all here?" asked the king, after he had looked round and
+received the bows and lowly obeisance of his subjects.
+
+"They are all here," said the owl, sitting in his porch. "They are all
+here--at least, I think; no, they are not, your majesty."
+
+"Who is absent?" said Kapchack, frowning, and all the assembly cowered.
+
+"It is the weasel," said the owl. "The weasel is not here."
+
+Kapchack frowned and looked as black as thunder, and a dead silence fell
+upon the council.
+
+"If it please your majesty," said the humble-bee, presently coming to
+the front. "If it please your majesty, the weasel----"
+
+"It does _not_ please me," said Kapchack.
+
+But the humble-bee began again: "If it please your majesty----"
+
+"His majesty is _not_ pleased," repeated the owl, severely.
+
+But the humble-bee, who could sing but one tune, began again: "If it
+please your majesty, the weasel asked me to say----"
+
+"What?" said the king, in a terrible rage. "What did he say?"
+
+"If it please your majesty," said the humble-bee, who must begin over
+again every time he was interrupted, "the weasel asked me to say that he
+sent his humble, his most humble, loyal, and devoted obedience, and
+begged that you would forgive his absence from the council, as he has
+just met with a severe accident in the hunting-field, and cannot put one
+paw before the other."
+
+"I do not believe it," said King Kapchack. "Where is he?"
+
+"If it please your majesty," said the humble-bee, "he is lying on a bank
+beyond the copse, stretched out in the sunshine, licking his paw, and
+hoping that rest and sunshine will cure him."
+
+"Oh, what a story!" said Bevis.
+
+"Hush," said the squirrel.
+
+"Somebody said it was a story," said the owl.
+
+"So it is," said Te-te. "I have made it my business to search out the
+goings-on of the weasel, who has kept himself in the background of late,
+suspecting that he was up to no good, and with the aid of my lieutenant,
+the tree-climber, I have succeeded in discovering his retreat, which he
+has concealed even from your majesty."
+
+"Where is it?" said Kapchack.
+
+"It is in the elm, just there," said Te-te, "just by those raspberries."
+
+"The rascal," said the owl, in a great fright. "Then he has been close
+by all the time listening."
+
+"Yes, he has been listening," said Te-te, meaningly.
+
+The owl became pale, remembering the secret meeting of the birds, and
+what was said there, all of which the treacherous weasel must have
+overheard. He passed it off by exclaiming: "This is really intolerable".
+
+"It _is_ intolerable," said Kapchack; "and you," addressing the
+humble-bee, "wretch that you are to bring me a false message----"
+
+"If it please your majesty," began the humble-bee, but he was seized
+upon by the bee (who was always jealous of him), and the butterfly, and
+the beetle, and hustled away from the precinct of the council.
+
+"Bring the weasel here, this instant," shouted Kapchack. "Drag him here
+by the ears."
+
+Everybody stood up, but everybody hesitated, for though they all hated
+the weasel they all feared him. Ki Ki, the hawk, bold as he was, could
+not do much in the bushes, nor enter a hole; Kauc, the crow, was in the
+like fix, and he intended if he was called upon to take refuge in the
+pretence of his age; the stoat, fierce as he was, shrank from facing the
+weasel, being afraid of his relation's tricks and stratagems. Even the
+fox, though he was the biggest of all, hesitated, for he recollected
+once when Pan, the spaniel, snapped at the weasel, the weasel made his
+teeth meet in Pan's nostrils.
+
+Thus they all hesitated, when the rat suddenly stood out and said: "I
+will fetch the weasel, your majesty; I will bring that hateful traitor
+to your feet".
+
+"Do so, good and loyal rat," said the king, well pleased. And the rat
+ran off to compel the weasel to come.
+
+As the elm was so close, they all looked that way, expecting to hear
+sounds of fighting; but in less than half-a-minute the rat appeared,
+with the weasel limping on three legs in his rear. For when the weasel
+heard what the rat said, he knew it was of no use to stay away any
+longer; but in his heart he vowed that he would, sooner or later, make
+the rat smart for his officious interference.
+
+When he came near, the weasel fell down and bowed himself before the
+king, who said nothing, but eyed him scornfully.
+
+"I am guilty," said the weasel, in a very humble voice; "I am guilty of
+disobedience to your majesty's commands, and I am guilty of sending you
+a deceitful message, for which my poor friend the humble-bee has been
+cruelly hustled from your presence; but I am not guilty of the treason
+of which I am accused. I hid in the elm, your majesty, because I went in
+terror of my life, and I feigned to be ill, in order to stay away from
+the council, because there is not one of all these (he pointed to the
+circle of councillors) who has not sworn to destroy me, and I feared to
+venture forth. They have all banded together to compass my destruction,
+because I alone of all of them have remained faithful to your throne,
+and have not secretly conspired."
+
+At these words, there was such an outcry on the part of all the birds
+and animals, that the wood echoed with their cries; for the stoat
+snapped his teeth, and the fox snarled, and the jay screamed, and the
+hawk napped his wings, and the crow said "Caw!" and the rook "Haw!" and
+all so eagerly denied the imputation, that it was some minutes before
+even King Kapchack could make himself heard.
+
+When the noise in some degree subsided, however, he said: "Weasel, you
+are so false of tongue, and you have so many shifts and contrivances
+('That he has!' said Bevis, who was delighted at the downfall of the
+weasel), that it is no longer possible for any of us to believe anything
+you say. We have now such important business before us, that we cannot
+stop to proceed to your trial and execution, and we therefore order that
+in the meantime you remain where you are, and that you maintain complete
+silence--for you are degraded from your rank--until such time as we can
+attend to your contemptible body, which will shortly dangle from a tree,
+as a warning to traitors for all time to come. My lords, we will now
+proceed with our business, and, first of all, the secretary will read
+the roll-call of our forces."
+
+The owl then read the list of the army, and said: "First, your majesty's
+devoted body-guard, with--with Prince Tchack-tchack (the king frowned,
+and the jay laughed outright) at their head; Ki Ki, lord of hawks, one
+thousand beaks; the rooks, five thousand beaks; Kauc, the crow, two
+hundred beaks;" and so on, enumerating the numbers which all the tribes
+could bring to battle.
+
+In the buzz of conversation that arose while the owl was reading (as it
+usually does), the squirrel told Bevis that he believed the crow had not
+returned the number of his warriors correctly, but that there were
+really many more, whom he purposely kept in the background. As for
+Prince Tchack-tchack, his absence from the council evidently disturbed
+his majesty, though he was too proud to show how he felt the defection
+of his eldest son and heir.
+
+The number of the rooks, too, was not accurate, and did not give a true
+idea of their power, for it was the original estimate furnished many
+years ago, when Kapchack first organised his army, and although the
+rooks had greatly increased since then, the same return was always made.
+But it was well understood that the nation of the rooks could send, and
+doubtless would send, quite ten thousand beaks into the field.
+
+"It is not a little curious," said the squirrel, "that the rooks, who,
+as you know, belong to a limited monarchy--so limited that they have no
+real king--should form the main support of so despotic a monarch as
+Kapchack, who obtains even more decisive assistance from them than from
+the ferocious and wily Ki Ki. It is an illustration of the singular
+complexity and paradoxical positions of politics that those who are
+naturally so opposed, should thus form the closest friends and allies.
+I do not understand why it is so myself, for as you know, dear, I do not
+attempt to meddle with politics, but the owl has several times very
+learnedly discoursed to me upon this subject, and I gather from him that
+one principal reason why the rooks support the tyrant Kapchack, is
+because they well know if he is not king some one else will be. Now
+Kapchack, in return for their valuable services, has, for one thing,
+ordered Ki Ki on no account to interfere with them (which is the reason
+they have become so populous), and under the nominal rule of Kapchack
+they really enjoy greater liberty than they otherwise could.
+
+"But the beginning of the alliance, it seems, was in this way. Many
+years ago, when Kapchack was a young monarch, and by no means firmly
+established upon his throne, he sought about for some means of gaining
+the assistance of the rooks. He observed that in the spring, when the
+rooks repaired their dwellings, they did so in a very inferior manner,
+doing indeed just as their forefathers had done before them, and
+repeating the traditional architecture handed down through innumerable
+generations. So ill-constructed were their buildings, that if, as often
+chanced, the March winds blew with fury, it was a common thing to see
+the grass strewn with the wreck of their houses. Now Kapchack and all
+his race are excellent architects, and it occurred to him to do the
+rooks a service, by instructing them how to bind their lower courses, so
+that they should withstand the wind.
+
+"With some difficulty, for the older rooks, though they would loudly
+deny it, are eminently conservative (a thing I do not profess to
+understand), he succeeded in persuading the younger builders to adopt
+his design; and the result was that in the end they all took to it, and
+now it is quite the exception to hear of an accident. Besides the
+preservation of life, Kapchack's invention also saved them an immense
+amount in timber for rebuilding. The consequence has been that the
+rooks have flourished above all other birds. They at once concluded an
+alliance with Kapchack, and as they increased in numbers, so they became
+more firmly attached to his throne.
+
+"It is not that they feel any gratitude--far from it, they are a selfish
+race--but they are very keen after their own interest, which is,
+perhaps, the strongest tie. For, as I observed, the rooks live under a
+limited monarchy; they had real kings of their own centuries since, but
+now their own king is only a name, a state fiction. Every single rook
+has a voice in the affairs of the nation (hence the tremendous clamour
+you may hear in their woods towards sunset when their assemblies are
+held), but the practical direction of their policy is entrusted to a
+circle or council of about ten of the older rooks, distinguished for
+their oratorical powers. These depute, again, one of their own number to
+Kapchack's court; you see him yonder, his name is Kauhaha. The council
+considers, I have no doubt, that by supporting Kapchack they retain
+their supremacy, for very likely if they did not have a foreigner to
+reign over them, some clever genius of their own race would arise and
+overturn these mighty talkers.
+
+"On the other hand Kapchack fully appreciates their services, and if he
+dared he would give the chief command of his forces to the generalissimo
+of the rooks--not the one who sits yonder--the commander's name is Ah
+Kurroo. But he dreads the jealousy of Ki Ki, who is extremely off-handed
+and high in his ways, and might go off with his contingent. I am curious
+to see who will have the command. As for the starlings, I daresay you
+will notice their absence; they are under the jurisdiction of the rooks,
+and loyal as their masters; the reason they are not here is because they
+are already mobilised and have taken the field; they were despatched in
+all haste very early this morning, before you were awake, Bevis dear, to
+occupy the slope from whence the peewits fled. Now they are discussing
+the doubtful allies."
+
+"The larks," the owl was saying as the squirrel finished, "have sent a
+message which I consider extremely impertinent. They have dared to say
+that they have nothing whatever to do with the approaching contest, and
+decline to join either party. They say that from time immemorial they
+have been free mountaineers, owing allegiance to no one, and if they
+have attended your court it has been from courtesy, and not from any
+necessity that they were under."
+
+"They are despicable creatures," said the king, who was secretly
+annoyed, but would not show it. "Ki Ki, I deliver them over to you; let
+your men plunder them as they like."
+
+"The finches," went on the owl. "I hardly know----"
+
+"We are loyal to the last feather," said Tchink, the chaffinch, bold as
+brass, and coming to the front, to save his friends from the fate of the
+larks. "Your majesty, we are perfectly loyal--why, our troops, whom you
+know are only lightly armed, have already gone forward, and have
+occupied the furze on the summits of the hills."
+
+"I am much pleased," said the king, who had been a little doubtful.
+"Tell your friends to continue in that spirit."
+
+"With all my heart," said Tchink, laughing in Ki Ki's face; he actually
+flew close by the terrible hawk, and made a face at him, for he knew
+that he was disappointed, having hoped for permission to tear and rend
+the finches as the larks.
+
+"The thrushes," began the owl again.
+
+"Pooh," said the king, "they are feeble things; we can easily keep the
+whole nation of them in subjection by knocking out some of their brains
+now and then, can't we, Ki Ki?"
+
+"It is a capital way," said Ki Ki. "There is no better."
+
+"They are fit for nothing but ambassadors and couriers," said Kapchack.
+"We will not waste any more time over such folk whose opinions are
+nothing to us. Now I call upon you all to express your views as to the
+best means of conducting the campaign, and what measures had better be
+taken for the defence of our dominions. Ki Ki, speak first."
+
+"I am for immediate action," said Ki Ki. "Let us advance and attack at
+once, for every day swells the ranks of Choo Hoo's army, and should
+there be early frosts it would be so largely increased that the mere
+numbers must push us back. Besides which in a short time he will receive
+large reinforcements, for his allies, the fieldfares and redwings, are
+preparing to set sail across the sea hither. But now, before his host
+becomes irresistible, is our opportunity; I counsel instant attack. War
+to the beak is my motto!"
+
+"War to the beak," said the crow.
+
+"War to the beak," said the jay, carefully adjusting his brightest
+feathers, "and our ladies will view our deeds."
+
+"I agree," said the rook, "with what Ki Ki says." The rook was not so
+noisy and impetuous as the hawk, but he was even more warlike, and by
+far the better statesman. "I think," Kauhaha went on, "that we should
+not delay one hour, but advance and occupy the plain where Choo Hoo is
+already diminishing our supplies of food. If our supplies are consumed
+or cut off our condition will become critical."
+
+"Hear, hear," said everybody except the crow, who hated the rook. "Hear!
+hear! the rook speaks well."
+
+"All are then for immediately advancing?" said Kapchack, much pleased.
+
+"May it please your majesty," said the fox, thus humbling himself, he
+who was the descendant of kings, "may it please your majesty, I am not
+certain that the proposed course is the wisest. For, if I may be
+permitted to say so, it appears to me that the facts are exactly
+opposite to what Ki Ki and the rook have put forward as the reason for
+battle. My experience convinces me that the very vastness of Choo Hoo's
+host is really its weakness. The larger his numbers the less he can
+effect. It is clear that they must soon, if they continue to draw
+together in these enormous bodies, destroy all the forage of the
+country, and unless they are prepared to die of starvation they must
+perforce retire.
+
+"If, therefore, your majesty could be prevailed upon to listen to my
+counsels, I would the rather suggest, most humbly suggest, that the
+defensive is your best course. Here in the copse you have an enclosure
+capable with a little trouble of being converted into an impregnable
+fortress. Already the ditches are deep, the curtain wall of hawthorn
+high and impenetrable, the approaches narrow. By retiring hither with
+your forces, occupying every twig, and opposing a beak in every
+direction, you would be absolutely safe, and it is easy to foresee what
+would happen.
+
+"Choo Hoo, boastful and vainglorious, would approach with his enormous
+horde; he would taunt us, no doubt, with his absurd 'Koos-takke,' which
+I verily believe has no meaning at all, and of which we need take no
+heed. In a few days, having exhausted the supplies, he would have to
+retire, and then sallying forth we could fall upon his rear and utterly
+destroy his unwieldy army."
+
+This advice made some impression upon Kapchack, notwithstanding that he
+was much prejudiced against the fox, for it was evidently founded upon
+facts, and the fox was known to have had great experience. Kapchack
+appeared thoughtful, and leaning his head upon one side was silent, when
+Kauc, the crow (who had his own reasons for wishing Kapchack to run as
+much risk as possible), cried out that the fox was a coward, and wanted
+to sneak into a hole. Ki Ki shouted applaudingly; the rook said he for
+one could not shut himself up while the country was ravaged; and the jay
+said the ladies would despise them. Kapchack remembered that the fox had
+always had a character for duplicity, and perhaps had some secret motive
+for his advice, and just then, in the midst of the uproar, a starling
+flew into the circle with part of his tail gone and his feathers greatly
+ruffled.
+
+It was evident that he had brought news from the seat of war, and they
+all crowded about him. So soon as he had recovered breath the starling
+told them that half-an-hour since Choo Hoo had himself crossed the
+border, and driving in the outposts of the starlings, despite the most
+desperate resistance, had passed the front line of the hills. At this
+news the uproar was tremendous, and for some time not a word could be
+heard. By-and-by the owl obtained something like order, when the rook
+said he for one could not stay in council any longer, he must proceed to
+assemble the forces of his nation, as while they were talking his city
+might be seized. Ki Ki, too, flapping his wings, announced his intention
+of attacking; the jay uttered a sneer about one-eyed people not being
+able to see what was straight before them, and thus goaded on against
+his better judgment, Kapchack declared his intention of sending his army
+to the front.
+
+He then proceeded to distribute the commands. Ki Ki was proclaimed
+commander-in-chief (the rook did not like this, but he said nothing, as
+he knew Kapchack could not help himself), and the rooks had the right
+wing, the crow the left wing (the crow was surprised at this, for his
+usual post was to guard the rear, but he guessed at once that Kapchack
+suspected him, and would not leave him near the palace), and the owl had
+the reserve. As they received their orders, each flew off; even the owl,
+though it was daylight, started forth to summon his men, and though he
+blundered against the branches, did not stay a second on that account.
+The squirrel had charge of the stores, and jumped down to see after
+them. Not one was forgotten, but each had an office assigned, and went
+to execute it, all except the fox and the weasel. The weasel, obedient
+to orders, lay still at the foot of the pollard, humbly hiding his head.
+
+The fox, presently finding that he had been overlooked, crept under
+Kapchack, and, bowing to the earth, asked if there was no command and no
+employment for him.
+
+"Begone," said Kapchack, who was not going to entrust power to one of
+royal descent. "Begone, sir; you have not shown any ability lately."
+
+"But did not the gnat tell you?" began the fox, humbly.
+
+"The gnat told me a great deal," said Kapchack.
+
+"But did he not say I sent him?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Kapchack, for the gnat, not to be outdone, had indeed
+delivered the fox's message, but had taken the credit of it for himself.
+"Begone, sir (the fox slunk away); and do you (to his guards) go to the
+firs and wait for me there." The eight magpies immediately departed, and
+there was no one left but the weasel.
+
+The king looked down at the guilty traitor; the traitor hung his head.
+Presently the king said: "Weasel, false and double-tongued weasel, did I
+not choose you to be my chiefest and most secret counsellor? Did you not
+know everything? Did I not consult you on every occasion, and were you
+not promoted to high honour and dignity? And you have repaid me by
+plotting against my throne, and against my life; the gnat has told me
+everything, and it is of no avail for you to deny it. You double
+traitor, false to me and false to those other traitors who met in this
+very place to conspire against me. It is true you were not among them in
+person, but why were you not among them? Do you suppose that I am to be
+deceived for a moment? Wretch that you are. You set them on to plot
+against me while you kept out of it with clean paws, that you might
+seize the throne so soon as I was slain. Wretch that you are."
+
+Here the weasel could not endure it any longer, but crawling to the foot
+of the tree, besought the king with tears in his eyes to do what he
+would--to order him to instant execution, but not to reproach him with
+these enormities, which cut him to the very soul. But the more he
+pleaded, the more angry Kapchack became, and heaped such epithets upon
+the crouching wretch, and so bitterly upbraided him that at last the
+weasel could bear it no more, but driven as it were into a corner,
+turned to bay, and faced the enraged monarch.
+
+He sat up, and looking Kapchack straight in the face, as none but so
+hardened a reprobate could have done, he said, in a low but very
+distinct voice: "You have no right to say these things to me, any more
+than you have to wear the crown! I do not believe you are Kapchack at
+all--you are an impostor!"
+
+At these words Kapchack became as pale as death, and could not keep his
+perch upon the pollard, but fluttered down to the ground beside the
+weasel. He was so overcome that for a moment or two he could not speak.
+When he found breath, he turned to the weasel and asked him what he
+meant. The weasel, who had now regained his spirits, said boldly enough
+that he meant what he said; he did not believe that the king was really
+Kapchack.
+
+"But I am Kapchack," said the king, trembling, and not knowing how much
+the weasel knew.
+
+In truth the weasel knew very little, but had only shot a bolt at random
+from the bow of his suspicions, but he had still a sharper shaft to
+shoot, and he said: "You are an impostor, for you told La Schach, who
+has jilted you, that you were not so old as you looked."
+
+"The false creature!" said Kapchack, quite beside himself with rage. In
+his jealousy of Prince Tchack-tchack, who was so much younger, and had
+two eyes, he had said this, and now he bitterly repented his vanity.
+"The false creature!" he screamed, "where is she? I will have her torn
+to pieces! She shall be pecked limb from limb! Where is she?" he
+shrieked. "She left the palace yesterday evening, and I have not seen
+her since."
+
+"She went to the firs with the jay," said the weasel. "He is her old
+lover, you know. Did you not see how merry he was just now, at the
+council?"
+
+Then Kapchack pecked up the ground with his beak, and tore at it with
+his claws, and gave way to his impotent anger.
+
+"There shall not be a feather of her left!" he said. "I will have her
+utterly destroyed! She shall be nailed to a tree!"
+
+"Nothing of the kind," said the weasel, with a sneer. "She is too
+beautiful. As soon as you see her, you will kiss her and forgive her."
+
+"It is true," said Kapchack, becoming calmer. "She is so beautiful, she
+must be forgiven. Weasel, in consideration of important services
+rendered to the state in former days, upon this one occasion you shall
+be pardoned. Of course the condition is that what has passed between us
+this day is kept strictly private, and that you do not breathe a word of
+it."
+
+"Not a word of it," said the weasel.
+
+"And you must disabuse your mind of that extraordinary illusion as to my
+identity of which you spoke just now. You must dismiss so absurd an idea
+from your mind."
+
+"Certainly," said the weasel, "it is dismissed entirely. But, your
+majesty, with your permission, I would go further. I would endeavour to
+explain to you, that although my conduct was indiscreet, and so far open
+to misconstruction, there was really nothing more in it than an
+ill-directed zeal in your service. It is really true, your majesty, that
+all the birds and animals are leagued against me, and that is why I have
+been afraid to stir abroad. I was invited to the secret council, of
+which you have heard from the gnat, and because I did not attend it,
+they have one and all agreed to vilify me to your majesty.
+
+"But in fact I, for once, with the service of your majesty in view,
+descended (repugnant as it was to my feelings) to play the eavesdropper,
+and I overheard all that was said, and I can convince your majesty that
+there are far greater traitors in your dominions than you ever supposed
+me to be. The gnat does not know half that took place at the council,
+for he only had it second-hand from that villain, the fox, who is, I
+believe, secretly bent on your destruction. But I can tell you not only
+all that went on--I can also relate to you the designs of Kauc, the
+crow, who conferred with Cloctaw in private, after the meeting was over.
+And I can also give you good reasons for suspecting Ki Ki, the hawk,
+whom you have just nominated to the command of your forces, of the
+intention of making a bargain with Choo Hoo, and of handing you over to
+him a prisoner."
+
+Now this last was a pure invention of the weasel's out of envy, since Ki
+Ki had obtained such distinction. Kapchack, much alarmed at these words,
+ordered him to relate everything in order, and the weasel told him all
+that had been said at the council, all that Kauc, the crow, had said to
+Cloctaw, and a hundred other matters which he made up himself. When
+Kapchack heard these things he was quite confounded, and exclaimed that
+he was surrounded with traitors, and that he did not see which way to
+turn. He hopped a little way off, in order the better to consider by
+himself, and leant his head upon one side.
+
+First he thought to himself: "I must take the command from Ki Ki, but I
+cannot do that suddenly, lest he should go over to Choo Hoo. I will
+therefore do it gradually. I will countermand the order for an immediate
+attack; that will give me time to arrange. Who is to take Ki Ki's place?
+Clearly the weasel, for though he is an archtraitor, yet he is in the
+same boat with me; for I know it to be perfectly true that all of them
+are bitter against him."
+
+So he went back to the weasel, and told him that he should give him the
+chief command of the forces, on the third day following, and meantime
+told him to come early in the evening to the drain which passed under
+the orchard, where his palace was, so that he could concert the details
+of this great state business in secret with him.
+
+The weasel, beyond measure delighted at the turn things had taken, and
+rejoicing extremely at the impending fall of Ki Ki, whom he hated,
+thanked Kapchack with all his might, till Kapchack, enjoining on him the
+necessity of secrecy, said "Good-afternoon"; and flew away towards the
+firs, where his guard was waiting for him. Then the weasel, puffed up
+and treading the ground proudly, went back to his cave in the elm, and
+Bevis, seeing that there was nothing more going on that day, stole back
+to the raspberry canes.
+
+None of them had noticed, not even the cunning weasel, that the mole,
+when the council broke up, had not left with the rest: indeed, being
+under the surface of the earth, they easily overlooked him. Now the
+mole, who hated the weasel beyond all, had waited to have the pleasure
+of hearing King Kapchack upbraid the traitor, and presently consign him
+to execution. Fancy then his feelings when, after all, the weasel was
+received into the highest favour, and promised the supreme command of
+the army, while he himself was not even noticed, though he was a clever
+engineer, and could mine and countermine, and carry on siege operations
+better than any of them.
+
+He listened to all that was said attentively, and then, so soon as
+Kapchack had flown away, and the weasel had gone to his hole, and Bevis
+to the raspberries, he drove a tunnel to the edge of the copse, and
+there calling a fly, sent him with a message to the hawk, asking Ki Ki
+to meet him beside the leaning stone in the field (which Bevis had once
+passed), because he had a secret to communicate which would brook no
+delay. At the same time, as Kapchack was flying to the firs where his
+guards were waiting, it occurred to him that, although he had no
+alternative, it was dangerous in the extreme to trust the army to the
+weasel, who, perhaps, just as there was an opportunity of victory, would
+retire, and leave him to be destroyed. Thinking about this, he perched
+on a low hawthorn bush, and asked himself whether it was worth while to
+attempt to defend a kingdom held under such precarious tenure. Would it
+not be better to make terms with Choo Hoo, who was not unreasonable, and
+to divide the territory, and thus reign in peace and safety over half at
+least,--making it, of course, a condition of the compact that Choo Hoo
+should help him to put down all domestic traitors?
+
+The idea seemed so good that, first glancing round to see that he was
+not observed, he called a thrush, who had been coming to the hawthorn,
+but dared not enter it while the king was there. The thrush, much
+frightened, came as he was bid, and Kapchack carefully instructed him in
+what he was to do. Having learnt his message by heart, the thrush,
+delighted beyond expression at so high a negotiation being entrusted to
+him, flew straight away towards Choo Hoo's camp. But not unobserved; for
+just then Ki Ki, wheeling in the air at an immense height, whither he
+had gone to survey the scene of war, chanced to look down and saw him
+quit the king, and marked the course he took. Kapchack, unaware that Ki
+Ki had detected this manoeuvre, now returned to his guards, and flew
+to his palace.
+
+Meantime the weasel, curled up on his divan in the elm, was thinking
+over the extraordinary good fortune that had befallen him. Yet such was
+his sagacity that even when thus about to attain almost the topmost
+pinnacle of his ambition, he did not forget the instability of affairs,
+but sought to confirm his position, or even to advance it. He reflected
+that Kapchack was not only cunning beyond everything ever known, but he
+was just now a prey to anxieties, and consumed with jealousy, which
+upset the tenor of his mind, so that his course could not be depended
+upon, but might be changed in a moment. The favour of a despotic monarch
+was never a firm staff to lean upon; when that monarch was on the brink
+of a crisis which threatened both his throne and his life, his smile
+might become a frown before any one was aware that a change was
+impending.
+
+Impressed with these ideas, the weasel asked himself how he could at
+once secure his position and advance himself to further dignity. He
+considered that up to the present the forces of Kapchack had always been
+compelled to retreat before the overwhelming masses thrown against them
+by Choo Hoo. He could scarcely hope under the most favourable
+circumstances to do more than defend the frontier, and should Choo Hoo
+win the battle, Kapchack would either be taken prisoner, or, what was
+not at all unlikely, fall a victim during the confusion, and be
+assassinated, perhaps, by the villainous crow. Where, then, would be his
+own high command? But by making terms with Choo Hoo he might himself
+obtain the throne, and reign perfectly secure as Choo Hoo's regent.
+
+On coming to this conclusion, he called to his old friend the
+humble-bee, and said he desired to send a message to Choo Hoo, the
+purport of which must not be divulged to any flower upon the route. The
+humble-bee instantly guessed that this message must be something to the
+injury of Kapchack, and resenting the manner in which he had been
+hustled from the council, declared that he would carry it without a
+moment's delay.
+
+"Go then, my friend," said the weasel. "Go straight to Choo Hoo, and
+say: 'The weasel is appointed to the command of King Kapchack's army,
+and will supersede Ki Ki, the hawk, upon the third day. On that day he
+will lead forth the army to the south, professing to go upon a flank
+march, and to take you in the rear. Be not deceived by this movement,
+but so soon as you see that the guards are withdrawn from the frontier,
+cross the border in force, and proceed straight towards the palace. When
+Kapchack's army finds you between it and its base of supplies it will
+disperse, and you will obtain an easy victory.
+
+"'And in proof of his good-will towards you, the weasel, furthermore,
+bade me inform you of the great secret which has hitherto been preserved
+with such care, and which will enable your army to remain in this place
+all the winter. In the squirrel's copse there is a spring, which is
+never frozen, but always affords excellent drinking water, and moistens
+a considerable extent of ground.'" This was the weasel's message, and
+without a moment's delay the humble-bee buzzed away direct to Choo Hoo's
+camp.
+
+At the same time the fly with the mole's message reached Ki Ki, the
+hawk, as he was soaring among the clouds. Ki Ki, having finished his
+observations, and full of suspicions as to the object with which the
+king had despatched the thrush to Choo Hoo, decided to keep the mole's
+appointment at once, so down he flew direct to the leaning stone in the
+meadow, where Bevis had gathered the cowslips, and found the mole
+already waiting for him.
+
+Now, the mole hated Ki Ki exceedingly, because, as previously related,
+he had killed his wife, but he hated the weasel, who had persecuted him
+all his life, even more, and by thus betraying the weasel to the hawk he
+hoped to set the two traitors by the ears, and to gratify his own
+vengeance by seeing them tear each other to pieces. Accordingly he now
+informed Ki Ki of everything--how the weasel had disclosed the names of
+all those who attended the secret meeting (except one, _i.e._, the owl,
+which, for reasons of his own, the weasel had suppressed), particularly
+stating that Ki Ki had taken a foremost part, that Kapchack was enraged
+against the hawk, and had already promised the weasel the chief command,
+so that in three days Ki Ki would be superseded.
+
+Ki Ki, suppressing his agitation, thanked the mole very cordially for
+his trouble, and soared towards the sky, but he had scarce gone a
+hundred yards before one of Kapchack's body-guard met him with a message
+from the king countermanding the advance of the army which had been
+decided upon. Ki Ki replied that his majesty's orders should be
+implicitly obeyed and continued his upward flight. He had now no doubt
+that what the mole had told him was correct in every particular, since
+it had been so immediately confirmed; and as for the thrush, it seemed
+clear that Kapchack had some design of saving himself by the sacrifice
+of his friends. That must be his reasons for countermanding the
+advance--to give time for negotiation. Angry beyond measure, Ki Ki flew
+to his own clump of trees, and calling to him a keen young hawk--one of
+his guard, and who was only too delighted to be selected for
+confidential employment--sent him with a flag of truce to Choo Hoo.
+
+He was to say that Ki Ki, being disgusted with the treachery of King
+Kapchack, had determined to abandon his cause, and that on the day of
+battle, in the midst of the confusion, if Choo Hoo would push forward
+rapidly, Ki Ki would draw off his contingent and expose the centre, when
+Kapchack must inevitably be destroyed. Away flew the hawk, and thus in
+one hour Choo Hoo received three messengers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+TRAITORS.
+
+
+The first that arrived was the thrush, hearing the message from the
+king. Choo Hoo, delighted beyond expression at so pleasant a solution of
+the business, which he knew must, if it came to battle, entail great
+slaughter of his friends, received the thrush with the highest honours,
+called his principal counsellors around him, and acceded to everything
+King Kapchack had proposed. The territory should be equally divided:
+Choo Hoo to have the plains, and Kapchack the woods and hills, and peace
+should be proclaimed, Choo Hoo engaging to support Kapchack against all
+domestic enemies and traitors. This treaty having been completed, the
+thrush made as if about to depart, but Choo Hoo would in no wise permit
+this. "Remain with us," he said, "my dear Thrush, till the evening;
+feast and make merry."
+
+So the thrush was surrounded with a guard of honour, and conducted to
+the choicest feeding places, and regaled upon the fat of the land. Thus
+enjoying himself, he thought it was the happiest day of his life, and
+was not at all desirous of seeing the shadows lengthen.
+
+Hardly had the thrush gone with his guard to the banquet, than the
+humble-bee was announced, bearing the message from the weasel. To this
+the assembled counsellors listened attentively, but Choo Hoo, being only
+a barbarian, could on no account break faith, but was resolved to carry
+out his compact with King Kapchack. Nevertheless, he reflected that the
+king was extremely cunning, and not altogether to be relied upon (the
+humble-bee, for aught he knew, might have been in reality sent by
+Kapchack to try him), and therefore he would go so far as this, he would
+encourage the weasel without committing himself. "Return," he said to
+the humble-bee, "return to him who sent you, and say: 'Do you do your
+part, and Choo Hoo will certainly do his part'." With which ambiguous
+sentence (which of course the weasel read in his own sense) he dismissed
+the humble-bee, who had scarce departed from the camp, than the flag of
+truce arrived from Ki Ki, and the young hawk, bright and defiant in his
+bearing, was admitted to the great Emperor Choo Hoo.
+
+When the council heard his message they all cried with one accord:
+"Koos-takke! koos-takke! the enemy are confounded; they are divided
+against each other. They are delivered over to us. Koos-takke!"
+
+So soon as there was silence, Choo Hoo said:--
+
+"Young sir, tell your master that we do not need his assistance," and he
+waved the messenger to depart.
+
+But the hawk said: "Mighty emperor, consider that I am young, and that
+if I go to my master with so curt a message, you know that he is fierce
+beyond reason, and I shall infallibly be torn to pieces".
+
+"Very well," said Choo Hoo, speaking in a harsh tone of voice, for he
+hated the whole race of hawks, and could scarce respect the flag of
+truce, "very well, tell your master the reason I do not want his
+assistance is, first, because Kapchack and I have concluded a treaty;
+secondly, because the weasel has been before him, and has told me where
+the secret spring is in the squirrel's copse--the spring that does not
+freeze in winter."
+
+The hawk, not daring to parley further with the emperor, bowed his way
+out, and went direct to Ki Ki with this reply.
+
+All the council of Choo Hoo rejoiced exceedingly, both at the treaty
+which assured so peaceful and pleasant a conclusion to their arduous
+labours, and to a sanguinary war which had lasted so many years, and in
+which they had lost so many of their bravest, and also at the treachery
+which prevailed in Kapchack's palace and confounded his efforts. They
+cried "Koos-takke!" and the shout was caught up throughout the camp with
+such vehemence that the woods echoed to the mysterious sound.
+
+Now the young hawk, winging his way swiftly through the air, soon
+arrived at the trees where Ki Ki was waiting for him, and delivered the
+answer in fear and trembling, expecting every moment to be dashed to the
+ground and despatched. Ki Ki, however, said nothing, but listened in
+silence, and then sat a long time thinking.
+
+Presently he said: "You have done ill, and have not given much promise
+of your future success; you should not have taken Choo Hoo's answer so
+quickly. You should have argued with him, and used your persuasive
+powers. Moreover, being thus admitted to the very presence of our
+greatest enemy, and standing face to face with him, and within a few
+inches of his breast, you should have known what it was your business to
+do. I could not tell you beforehand, because it would have been against
+my dignity to seem to participate before the deed in things of that
+kind. To you the opportunity was afforded, but you had not the ready wit
+either to see or to seize it.
+
+"While Choo Hoo was deliberating you should have flown at his breast,
+and despatched the archrebel with one blow of your beak. In the
+confusion you could have escaped with ease. Upon such a catastrophe
+becoming known, the whole of Choo Hoo's army would have retreated, and
+hanging upon their rear we could have wreaked our wills upon them. As
+for you, you would have obtained fame and power; as for me, I should
+have retained the chief command; as for Kapchack, he would have rewarded
+you with untold wealth. But you missed--you did not even see--this
+golden opportunity, and you will never have another such a chance."
+
+At this the young hawk hung his head, and could have beaten himself to
+death against the tree, in shame and sorrow at his folly.
+
+"But," continued Ki Hi, "as I see you are unfeignedly sorry, I will even
+yet entrust you with one more commission (the hawk began to brighten up
+a little). You know that at the end of the Long Pond there is a very
+large wood which grows upon a slope; at the foot of the slope there is
+an open space or glade, which is a very convenient spot for an ambush.
+Now when the thrush comes home in the evening, bringing the treaty to
+Kapchack, he is certain to pass that way, because it is the nearest, and
+the most pleasant. Go there and stay in ambush till you hear him coming,
+then swoop down and kill him, and tear his heart from his breast. Do not
+fail, or never return to my presence.
+
+"And stay--you may be sure of the place I mean, because there is an old
+oak in the midst of the glade, it is old and dead, and the route of the
+thrush will be under it. Strike him there."
+
+Without waiting a moment, the hawk, knowing that his master liked
+instant obedience, flew off swift as the wind, determined this time to
+succeed. He found the glade without trouble, and noted the old oak with
+its dead gaunt boughs, and then took up his station on an ash, where he
+watched eagerly for the shadows to lengthen. Ki Ki, after sitting a
+little longer, soared up into the sky to reflect upon further measures.
+By destroying the thrush he knew that the war must continue, for Choo
+Hoo would never believe but that it had been done by Kapchack's order,
+and could not forgive so brutal an affront to an ambassador charged with
+a solemn treaty. Choo Hoo must then accept his (Ki Ki's) offer; the
+weasel, it was true, had been before him, but he should be able to
+destroy the weasel's influence by revealing his treachery to Kapchack,
+and how he had told Choo Hoo the secret of the spring which was never
+frozen. He felt certain that he should be able to make his own terms,
+both with Kapchack and Choo Hoo.
+
+Thus soaring up he saw his messenger, the young hawk, swiftly speeding
+to the ambush, and smiled grimly as he noted the eager haste with which
+the youthful warrior went to fulfil his orders. Still soaring, with
+outstretched wings, he sought the upper sky.
+
+Meantime Bevis had grown tired of waiting for the squirrel, who had gone
+off to see about the stores, and flung himself at full length on the
+moss under the oak. He hardly stopped there a minute before he got up
+again and called and shouted for the squirrel, but no one answered him;
+nor did the dragon-fly appear. Bevis, weary of waiting, determined to
+try and find his way home by himself, but when he came to look round he
+could not discover the passage through the thicket. As he was searching
+for it he passed the elm, which was hollow inside, where the weasel lay
+curled up on his divan, and the weasel, hearing Bevis go by, was so
+puffed up with pride that he actually called to him, having conceived a
+design of using Bevis for his own purposes.
+
+"Sir Bevis! Sir Bevis!" he said, coming to the mouth of his hole, "Sir
+Bevis, I want to speak to you!"
+
+"You are the weasel," said Bevis, "I know your hateful voice--I hate
+you, and if ever I find you outside the copse I will smash you into
+twenty pieces. If it was not for the squirrel, whom I love (and I have
+promised not to hurt anything in his copse), I would bring my papa's
+hatchet, and chop your tree down and cut your head off; so there."
+
+"If you did that," said the weasel, "then you would not know what the
+rat is going to do in your house to-night."
+
+"Why should I not know?" said Bevis.
+
+"Because if you cut my head off I could not tell you."
+
+"Well, tell me what it is," said Bevis, who was always very curious,
+"and make haste about it, for I want to go home."
+
+"I will," said the weasel, "and first of all, you know the fine large
+cake that your mamma is making for you?"
+
+"No," said Bevis, excitedly. "Is she making me a cake? I did not know
+it."
+
+"Yes, that she is, but she did not tell you, because she wished it to be
+a surprise to you to-morrow morning at lunch, and it is no use for you
+to ask her about it, for she would not tell you. But if you are not very
+sharp it is certain that you will never touch a mouthful of it."
+
+"Why not?" said Bevis.
+
+"Because," said the weasel, "the mouse has found out where your mamma
+has put it in the cupboard, and there is a little chink through which
+he can smell it, but he cannot quite get through, nor is he strong
+enough to gnaw such very hard wood, else you may depend he would have
+kept the secret to himself. But as he could not creep through he has
+gone and told Raoul, the rat, who has such strong teeth he can bite a
+way through anything, and to-night, when you are all in bed and firm
+asleep, and everything is quiet, Yish, the mouse, is going to show the
+rat where the chink is, the rat is going to gnaw a hole, and in the
+morning there will be very little left of your cake."
+
+"I will tell the bailiff," said Bevis, in a rage, "and the bailiff shall
+set a trap for the rat."
+
+"Well, that was what I was going to suggest," said the weasel; "but upon
+consideration I am not so sure that it is much use telling the bailiff,
+because, as I daresay you recollect, the bailiff has often tried his
+hand setting up a trap for the rat, but has never yet caught him, from
+which I conclude that the rat knows all the places where the bailiff
+sets the trap, and takes good care not to go that way without previous
+examination."
+
+"I'll set up the trap," said Bevis, "I'll set it up myself in a new
+place. Let me see, where can I put it?"
+
+"I think it would be a very good plan if you did put it up yourself,"
+said the weasel, "because there is no doubt you understand more about
+these things than the bailiff, who is getting old."
+
+"Yes," said Bevis, "I know all about it--I can do it very well indeed."
+
+"Just what I thought," said the weasel; "I thought to myself, Bevis
+knows all about it--Bevis can do it. Now, as the bailiff has set up the
+trap by the drain or grating beside the cart-house, and under the
+wood-pile, and by the pump, and has never caught the rat, it is clear
+that the rat knows these places as well as the bailiff, and if you
+remember there is a good deal of grass grows there, so that the rat no
+doubt says to himself: 'Aha! They are sure to put the trap here, because
+they think I shall not see it in the grass--as if I was so silly.' So
+that, depend upon it, he is always very careful how he goes through the
+grass there.
+
+"Therefore I think the best place you could select to set up the trap
+would be somewhere where there is no kind of cover, no grass, nor
+anything, where it is quite bare and open, and where the rat would run
+along quickly and never think of any danger. And he would be sure to run
+much faster and not stay to look under his feet in crossing such places,
+lest Pan should see him and give chase, or your papa should come round
+the corner with a gun. Now I know there is one such place the rat passes
+every evening; it is a favourite path of his, because it is a short cut
+to the stable--it is under the wall of the pig-sty. I know this, because
+I once lived with the rat a little while, and saw all his habits.
+
+"Well, under this wall it is quite open, and he always runs by extremely
+fast, and that is the best place to put the trap. Now when you have set
+the trap, in order to hide it from view do you get your little spade
+with which you dig in your garden, and take a spadeful of the dust that
+lies about there (as it is so dry there is plenty of dust) and throw it
+over the trap. The dust will hide the trap, and will also prevent the
+rat (for he has a wonderful sharp nose of his own) from scenting where
+your fingers touched it. In the morning you are sure to find him caught.
+
+"By-the-by, you had better not say anything to your mamma that you know
+of the cake, else perhaps she will move it from the cupboard, and then
+the rat may go on some other moonlit ramble instead. As I said, in the
+morning you are sure to find him in the trap, and then do not listen to
+anything he has to say, for he has a lying tongue, but let Pan loose,
+who will instantly worry him to death."
+
+"I will do as you say," said Bevis, "for I see that it is a very clever
+way to catch the rat, but, Sir Weasel, you have told me so many false
+stories that I can scarce believe you now it is plain you are telling me
+the truth; nor shall I feel certain that you are this time (for once in
+your wicked life) saying the truth, unless I know why you are so anxious
+for the rat to be caught."
+
+"Why," said the weasel, "I will tell you the reason; this afternoon the
+rat played me a very mean and scurvy trick; he disgraced me before the
+king, and made me a common laughing-stock to all the council, for which
+I swore to have his life. Besides, upon one occasion he bit his teeth
+right through my ear--the marks of it are there still. See for
+yourself." So the weasel thrust his head out of his hole, and Bevis saw
+the marks left by the rat's teeth, and was convinced that the weasel,
+out of malice, had at last been able for once to tell the truth.
+
+"You are a horrid wretch," said Bevis, "still you know how to catch the
+rat, and I will go home and do it; but I cannot find my way out of this
+thicket--the squirrel ought to come."
+
+"The way is under the ash bough there," said the weasel, "and when you
+are outside the thicket turn to your left and go downhill, and you will
+come to the timber--and meantime I will send for the dragon-fly, who
+will overtake you."
+
+"All right, horrid wretch," said Bevis, and away he went. Now all this
+that the weasel had said really was true, except about the cake; it was
+true that the rat was very careful going through the grass, and that he
+knew where the bailiff set the gin, and that he used to run very quickly
+across the exposed place under the wall of the pig-sty. But the story
+about the cake he had made up out of his cunning head just to set Bevis
+at work to put up the trap; and he hoped too, that while Bevis was
+setting up the gin, the spring would slip and pinch his fingers.
+
+By thus catching the rat, the weasel meant in the first place to gratify
+his own personal malice, and next to get rid of a very formidable
+competitor. For the rat was very large and very strong, and brave and
+bold beyond all the others; so much so that the weasel would even have
+preferred to have a struggle with the fox (though he was so much
+bigger), whose nostril he could bite, than to meet the rat in fair and
+equal combat. Besides, he hated the rat beyond measure, because the rat
+had helped him out of the drain, which was when his ear was bitten
+through. He intended to go down to the farmyard very early next morning
+when the rat was caught, and to go as near as he dared and taunt the
+rat, and tell him how Pan would presently come and crunch up his ribs.
+To see the rat twist, and hear him groan, would be rare sport; it made
+his eyes glisten to think of it. He was very desirous that Bevis should
+find his way home all right, so he at once sent a wasp for the
+dragon-fly, and the dragon-fly at once started after Bevis.
+
+Just after the weasel had sent the wasp, the humble-bee returned from
+Choo Hoo, and delivered the emperor's message, which the weasel saw at
+once was intended to encourage him in his proposed treachery. He thanked
+the humble-bee for the care and speed with which his errand had been
+accomplished, and then curled himself up on his divan to go to sleep, so
+as to be ready to go down early in the morning and torment the rat. As
+he was very happy since his schemes were prospering, he went to sleep in
+a minute as comfortable as could be.
+
+Bevis crept through the thicket, and turned to the left, and went down
+the hill, and found the timber, and then went along the green track till
+he came to the stile. He got over the bridge and followed the footpath,
+when the dragon-fly overtook him and apologised most sincerely for his
+neglect. "For," said he, "we are so busy making ready for the army, and
+I have had so much to do going to and fro with messages, that, my dear
+Sir Bevis, you must forgive me for forgetting you. Next time I will send
+a moth to stay close by you, so that the moment you want me the moth can
+go and fetch me."
+
+"I will forgive you just this once," said Bevis; and the dragon-fly took
+him all the way home. After tea Bevis went and found the gin, and tried
+to set it up under the pig-sty wall, just as the weasel had told him;
+but at first he could not quite manage it, being as usual in such a
+hurry.
+
+Now there was a snail on the wall, and the snail looked out of his shell
+and said: "Sir Bevis, do not be too quick. Believe me, if you are too
+quick to-day you are sure to be sorry to-morrow."
+
+"You are a stupid snail," said Bevis. Just then, as the weasel had
+hoped, he pinched his fingers with the spring so hard that tears almost
+came into his eyes.
+
+"That was your fault," he said to the snail; and snatching the poor
+thing off the wall, he flung him ever so far; fortunately the snail fell
+on the grass, and was not hurt, but he said to himself that in future,
+no matter what he saw going on, he would never interfere, but let people
+hurt themselves as much as they liked. But Bevis, though he was so
+hasty, was also very persevering, and presently he succeeded in setting
+up the trap, and then taking his spade he spread the dust over it and so
+hid it as the weasel had told him to. He then went and put his spade
+back in the summer-house, and having told Pan that in the morning there
+would be a fine big rat for him to worry, went indoors.
+
+Now it is most probable that what the weasel had arranged so well would
+all have happened just as he foresaw, and that the trap so cleverly set
+up would have caught the rat, had not the bailiff, when he came home
+from the fields, chanced to see Bevis doing it. He had to attend to
+something else then, but by-and-by, when he had finished, he went and
+looked at the place where Bevis had set the gin, and said to himself:
+"Well, it is a very good plan to set up the gin, for the rat is always
+taking the pigs' food, and even had a gnaw at my luncheon, which was
+tied up in my handkerchief, and which I--like a stupid--left on the
+ground in my hurry instead of hanging up. But it is a pity Sir Bevis
+should have set it here, for there is no grass or cover, and the rat is
+certain to see it, and Bevis will be disappointed in the morning, and
+will not find the rat. Now I will just move the gin to a place where the
+rat always comes, and where it will be hidden by the grass, that is,
+just at the mouth of the drain by the cart-house; it will catch the rat
+there, and Sir Bevis will be pleased."
+
+So the bailiff, having thought this to himself, as he leant against the
+wall, and listened to the pigs snoring, carefully took up the gin and
+moved it down to the mouth of the drain by the cart-house, and there set
+it up in the grass.
+
+The rat was in the drain, and when he heard the bailiff's heavy
+footsteps, and the noise he made fumbling about with the trap, he
+laughed, and said to himself: "Fumble away, you old stupid--I know what
+you are doing. You are setting up a gin in the same place you have set
+it twenty times before. Twenty times you have set the gin up there and
+never caught anything, and yet you cannot see, and you cannot
+understand, and you never learn anything, and you are the biggest dolt
+and idiot that ever walked, or rather, you would be, only I thank heaven
+everybody else is just like you! As if I could not hear what you are
+doing; as if I did not look very carefully before I come out of my hole,
+and before I put my foot down on grass or leaves, and as if I could not
+smell your great clumsy fingers: really I feel insulted that you should
+treat me as if I was so foolish. However, upon the whole, this is rather
+nice and considerate of you. Ha! Ha!" and the rat laughed so loud that
+if the bailiff had been sharp he must have heard this unusual chuckling
+in the drain. But he heard nothing, but went off down the road very
+contented with himself, whistling a bar from "Madame Angot" which he had
+learnt from Bevis.
+
+When Bevis went to bed he just peeped out of the window to look at the
+moon, but the sky was now overcast, and the clouds were hurrying by, and
+the wind rising--which the snail had expected, or he would not have
+ventured out along the wall. While Bevis was peeping out he saw the owl
+go by over the orchard and up beside the hedge.
+
+The very same evening the young hawk, as has been previously related,
+had gone to the glade in the wood, and sat there in ambush waiting for
+the thrush. Like Sir Bevis, the hawk was extremely impatient, and the
+time as he sat on the ash passed very slowly till at last he observed
+with much delight that the sun was declining, and that the shadow of the
+dead oak-tree would soon reach across towards him.
+
+The thrush, having sat at the banquet the whole of the afternoon, and
+tasted every dainty that the camp of Choo Hoo afforded, surrounded all
+the time by crowds of pleasant companions, on the other hand, saw the
+shadows lengthening with regret. He knew that it was time for him to
+depart and convey the intelligence to King Kapchack that Choo Hoo had
+fully agreed to his proposal. Still loth to leave he lingered, and it
+was not until dusk that he quitted the camp, accompanied a little way
+over the frontier by some of Choo Hoo's chief counsellors, who sought in
+every way to do him honour. Then wishing him good-night, with many
+invitations to return shortly, they left him to pursue his journey.
+
+Knowing that he ought to have returned to the king before this, the
+thrush put forth his best speed, and thought to himself as he flew what
+a long account he should have to give his wife and his children (who
+were now grown up) of the high and important negotiation with which he
+had been entrusted, and of the attentions that had been paid to him by
+the emperor. Happy in these anticipations, he passed rapidly over the
+fields and the woods, when just as he flew beneath the old dead oak in
+the glade down swooped the hawk and bore him to the ground. In an
+instant a sharp beak was driven into his head, and then, while yet his
+body quivered, the feathers were plucked from his breast and his heart
+laid bare. Hungry from his fast, for he had touched nothing that day,
+being so occupied with his master's business, the hawk picked the bones,
+and then, after the manner of his kind, wishing to clean his beak, flew
+up and perched on a large dead bough of the oak just overhead.
+
+The moment he perched, a steel trap which had been set there by the
+keeper flew up and caught him, with such force that his limbs were
+broken. With a shriek the hawk flapped his wings to fly, but this only
+pulled his torn and bleeding legs, and overcome with the agony, he
+fainted, and hung head downwards from the bough, suspended by his
+sinews. Now this was exactly what Ki Ki had foreseen would happen. There
+were a hundred places along the thrush's route where an ambush might
+have been placed, as well as in the glade, but Ki Ki had observed that a
+trap was set upon the old dead oak, and ordered his servant to strike
+the thrush there, so that he might step into it afterwards, thus killing
+two birds with one stone.
+
+He desired the death of his servant lest he should tell tales, and let
+out the secret mission upon which he had been employed, or lest he
+should boast, in the vain glory of youth, of having slain the
+ambassador. Cruel as he was, Ki Ki, too, thought of the torture the
+young hawk would endure with delight, and said to himself that it was
+hardly an adequate punishment for having neglected so golden an
+opportunity for assassinating Choo Hoo. From the fate of the thrush and
+the youthful hawk, it would indeed appear that it is not always safe to
+be employed upon secret business of state. Yet Ki Ki, with all his cruel
+cunning, was not wholly successful.
+
+For the owl, as he went his evening rounds, after he had flown over the
+orchard where Bevis saw him, went on up the hedge by the meadow, and
+skirting the shore of the Long Pond, presently entered the wood and
+glided across the glade towards the dead oak-tree, which was one of his
+favourite haunts. As he came near he was horrified to hear miserable
+groans and moans, and incoherent talking, and directly afterwards saw
+the poor hawk hanging head downwards. He had recovered his consciousness
+only to feel again the pressure of the steel, and the sharp pain of his
+broken limbs, which presently sent him into a delirium.
+
+The owl circling round the tree was so overcome by the spectacle that he
+too nearly fainted, and said to himself: "It is clear that my lucky star
+rose to-night, for without a doubt the trap was intended for me. I have
+perched on that very bough every evening for weeks, and I should have
+alighted there to-night had not the hawk been before me. I have escaped
+from the most terrible fate which ever befell any one, to which indeed
+crucifixion, with an iron nail through the brain, is mercy itself, for
+that is over in a minute, but this miserable creature will linger till
+the morning."
+
+So saying, he felt so faint that (first looking very carefully to see
+that there were no more traps) he perched on a bough a little way above
+the hawk. The hawk, in his delirium, was talking of all that he had done
+and heard that day, reviling Ki Ki and Choo Hoo, imploring destruction
+upon his master's head, and then flapping his wings and so tearing his
+sinews and grinding his broken bones together, he shrieked with pain.
+Then again he went on talking about the treaty, and the weasel's
+treason, and the assassination of the ambassador. The owl, sitting close
+by, heard all these things, and after a time came to understand what the
+hawk meant; at first he could not believe that his master, the king,
+would conclude a treaty without first consulting him, but looking
+underneath him he saw the feathers of the thrush scattered on the grass,
+and could no longer doubt that what the hawk said was true.
+
+But when he heard the story of Ki Ki's promised treason on the day of
+battle, when he heard that the weasel had betrayed the secret of the
+spring, which did not freeze in winter, he lifted up his claw and opened
+his eyes still wider in amazement and terror. "Wretched creature!" he
+said, "what is this you have been saying." But the hawk, quite mad with
+agony, did not know him, but mistook him for Ki Ki, and poured out such
+terrible denunciations that the owl, shocked beyond measure, flew away.
+
+As he went, after he had gone some distance under the trees, and could
+no longer hear the ravings of the tortured hawk, he began to ask himself
+what he had better do. At first he thought that he would say nothing,
+but take measures to defeat these traitors. But presently it occurred to
+him that it was dangerous even to know such things, and he wished that
+he had never heard what the hawk had said. He reflected, too, that the
+bats had been flying about some time, and might have heard the hawk's
+confessions, and although they were not admitted at court, as they
+belonged to the lower orders, still under such circumstances they might
+obtain an audience. They had always borne him ill-will, they must have
+seen him, and it was not unlikely they might say that the owl knew all
+about it, and kept it from the king. On the other hand, he thought that
+Kapchack's rage would be terrible to face.
+
+Upon the whole, however, the owl came to the conclusion that his safest,
+as well as his most honourable course, was to go straight to the king,
+late as it was, and communicate all that had thus come to his knowledge.
+He set out at once, and upon his way again passed the glade, taking care
+not to go too near the dead oak, nor to look towards the suspended hawk.
+He saw a night-jar like a ghost wheeling to and fro not far from the
+scaffold, and anxious to get from the ill-omened spot, flew yet more
+swiftly. Round the wood he went, and along the hedges, so occupied with
+his thoughts that he did not notice how the sky was covered with
+clouds, and once or twice narrowly escaping a branch blown off by the
+wind which had risen to a gale. Nor did he see the fox with his brush
+touching the ground, creeping unhappily along the mound, but never
+looked to the right nor left, hastening as fast as he could glide to
+King Kapchack.
+
+Now the king had waited up that night as long as ever he could,
+wondering why the thrush did not return, and growing more and more
+anxious about the ambassador every moment. Yet he was unable to imagine
+what could delay him, nor could he see how any ill could befall him,
+protected as he was by the privileges of his office. As the night came
+on, and the ambassador did not come, Kapchack, worn out with anxieties,
+snapped at his attendants, who retired to a little distance, for they
+feared the monarch in these fits of temper.
+
+Kapchack had just fallen asleep when the owl arrived, and the attendants
+objected to letting him see the king. But the owl insisted, saying that
+it was his particular privilege as chief secretary of state to be
+admitted to audience at any moment. With some difficulty, therefore, he
+at last got to the king, who woke up in a rage, and stormed at his
+faithful counsellor with such fury that the attendants again retired in
+affright. But the owl stood his ground and told his tale.
+
+When King Kapchack heard that his ambassador had been foully
+assassinated, and that, therefore, the treaty was at an end--for Choo
+Hoo would never brook such an affront; when he heard that Ki Ki, his
+trusted Ki Ki, who had the command, had offered to retreat in the hour
+of battle, and expose him to be taken prisoner; when he heard that the
+weasel, the weasel whom that very afternoon he had restored to his
+highest favour, had revealed to the enemy the existence of the spring,
+he lost all his spirit, and he knew not what to do. He waved the owl
+from his presence, and sat alone hanging his head, utterly overcome.
+
+The clouds grew darker, the wind howled, the trees creaked, and the
+branches cracked (the snail had foreseen the storm and had ventured
+forth on the wall), a few spots of rain came driving along. Kapchack
+heard nothing. He was deserted by all: all had turned traitors against
+him, every one. He who had himself deceived all was now deceived by all,
+and suffered the keenest pangs. Thus, in dolour and despair the darkness
+increased, and the tempest howled about him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE STORM IN THE NIGHT.
+
+
+When the fox, after humbling himself in the dust, was rudely dismissed
+by King Kapchack, he was so mortified, that as he slunk away his brush
+touched the ground, and the tip of his nostrils turned almost white.
+That he, whose ancestors had once held regal dignity, should thus be
+contemned by one who in comparison was a mere upstart, and that, too,
+after doing him a service by means of the gnat, and after bowing
+himself, as it were, to the ground, hurt him to his soul. He went away
+through the fern and the bushes to his lair in the long grass which grew
+in a corner of the copse, and having curled himself up, tried to forget
+the insult in slumber.
+
+But he could not shut his eyes, and after a while he went off again down
+the hedgerow to another place where he sometimes stayed, under thick
+brambles on a broad mound. But he could not rest there, nor in the osier
+bed, nor in the furze, but he kept moving from place to place all day,
+contrary to his custom, and not without running great danger. The sting
+lingered in him, and the more so because he felt that it was true--he
+knew himself that he had not shown any ability lately. Slowly the long
+day passed, the shadows lengthened and it became night. Still
+restlessly and aimlessly wandering he went about the fields noticing
+nothing, but miserable to the last degree. The owl flew by on his errand
+to King Kapchack; the bats fluttered overhead; the wind blew and the
+trees creaked; but the fox neither saw, nor heard, nor thought of
+anything except his own degradation. He had been cast forth as
+unworthy--even the very mouse had received some instructions, but he,
+the descendant of illustrious ancestors, was pointedly told that the wit
+for which they had been famous did not exist in him.
+
+As the night drew on, the wind rose higher, the clouds became thicker
+and darker, the branches crashed to the earth, the tempest rushed along
+bearing everything before it. The owls, alarmed for their safety, hid in
+the hollow trees, or retired to their barns; the bats retreated into the
+crevices of the tiles; nothing was abroad but the wildfowl, whose cries
+occasionally resounded overhead. Now and then, the fall of some branch
+into a hawthorn bush frightened the sleeping thrushes and blackbirds,
+who flew forth into the darkness, not knowing whither they were going.
+The rabbits crouched on the sheltered side of the hedges, and then went
+back into their holes. The larks cowered closer to the earth.
+
+Ruin and destruction raged around: in Choo Hoo's camp the ash poles beat
+against each other, oaks were rent, and his vast army knew no sleep that
+night. Whirled about by the fearful gusts, the dying hawk, suspended
+from the trap, no longer fluttered, but swung unconscious to and fro.
+The feathers of the murdered thrush were scattered afar, and the leaves
+torn from the boughs went sweeping after them. Alone in the scene the
+fox raced along, something of the wildness of the night entered into
+him; he tried, by putting forth his utmost speed, to throw off the sense
+of ignominy.
+
+In the darkness, and in his distress of mind, he neither knew or cared
+whither he was going. He passed the shore of the Long Pond, and heard
+the waves dashing on the stones, and felt the spray driven far up on the
+sward. He passed the miserable hawk. He ran like the wind by the camp of
+Choo Hoo, and heard the hum of the army, unable to sleep. Weary at last,
+he sought for some spot into which to drag his limbs, and crept along a
+mound which, although he did not recognise it in his stupefied state of
+mind, was really not far from where he had started. As he was creeping
+along, he fancied he heard a voice which came from the ground beneath
+his feet; it sounded so strange in the darkness that he started and
+stayed to listen.
+
+He heard it again, but though he thought he knew the voices of all the
+residents in the field, he could not tell who it was, nor whence it
+came. But after a time he found that it proceeded from the lower part or
+butt of an elm-tree. This tree was very large, and seemed perfectly
+sound, but it seems there was a crack in it, whether caused by lightning
+or not he did not know, which did not show at ordinary times. But when
+the wind blew extremely strong as it did to-night, the tree leant over
+before the blast, and thus opened the crack. The fox, listening at the
+crack, heard the voice lamenting the long years that had passed, the
+darkness and the dreary time, and imploring every species of vengeance
+upon the head of the cruel King Kapchack.
+
+After a while the fox came to the conclusion that this must be the toad
+who, very many years ago, for some offence committed against the state,
+was imprisoned by Kapchack's orders in the butt of an elm, there to
+remain till the end of the world. Curious to know why the toad had been
+punished in this terrible manner, the fox resolved to speak to the
+prisoner, from whom perhaps he might learn something to Kapchack's
+disadvantage. Waiting, therefore, till the crack opened as the gust
+came, the fox spoke into it, and the toad, only too delighted to get
+some one to talk to at last, replied directly.
+
+But the chink was so small that his voice was scarcely audible; the
+chink, too, only opened for a second or two during the savage puffs of
+the gale, and then closed again, so that connected conversation was not
+possible, and all the fox heard was that the toad had some very
+important things to say. Anxious to learn these things, the fox tried
+his hardest to discover some way of communicating with the toad, and at
+last he hit upon a plan. He looked round till he found a little bit of
+flint, which he picked up, and when the elm bent over before the gale,
+and the chink opened, he pushed the splinter of flint into the crevice.
+
+Then he found another piece of flint just a trifle larger, and, watching
+his opportunity, thrust it in. This he did three or four times, each
+time putting in a larger wedge, till there was a crack sufficiently open
+to allow him to talk to the toad easily. The toad said that this was the
+first time he had spoken to anybody since his grandson, who lived in the
+rhubarb patch, came to exchange a word with him before the butt of the
+tree grew quite round him.
+
+But though the fox plied him with questions, and persuaded him in every
+way, he would not reveal the reason why he was imprisoned, except that
+he had unluckily seen Kapchack do something. He dared not say what it
+was, because if he did he had no doubt he would be immediately put to
+death, and although life in the tree was no more than a living death,
+still it was life, and he had this consolation, that through being
+debarred from all exercise and work, and compelled to exist without
+eating or drinking, notwithstanding the time passed and the years went
+by, still he did not grow any older. He was as young now as when he was
+first put into the dungeon, and if he could once get out, he felt that
+he should soon recover the use of his limbs, and should crawl about and
+enjoy himself when his grandson who lived in the rhubarb patch, and who
+was already very old and warty, was dead.
+
+Indeed by being thus shut up he should survive every other toad, and he
+hoped some day to get out, because although he had been condemned to
+imprisonment till the end of the world, that was only Kapchack's
+vainglorious way of pronouncing sentence, as if his (Kapchack's)
+authority was going to endure for ever, which was quite contrary to
+history and the teachings of philosophy. So far from that he did not
+believe himself that Kapchack's dynasty was fated to endure very long,
+for since he had been a prisoner immured in the earth, he had heard many
+strange things whispered along underground, and among them a saying
+about Kapchack. Besides which he knew that the elm-tree could not exist
+for ever; already there was a crack in it, which in time would split
+farther up; the elm had reached its prime, and was beginning to decay
+within. By-and-by it would be blown over, and then the farmer would have
+the butt grubbed up, and split for firewood, and he should escape. It
+was true it might be many years hence, perhaps a century, but that did
+not matter in the least--time was nothing to him now--and he knew he
+should emerge as young as when he went in.
+
+This was the reason why he so carefully kept the secret of what he had
+seen, so as to preserve his life; nor could the fox by any persuasion
+prevail upon him to disclose the matter.
+
+"But at least," said the fox, "at least tell me the saying you have
+heard underground about King Kapchack."
+
+"I am afraid to do so," said the toad; "for having already suffered so
+much I dread the infliction of further misery."
+
+"If you will tell me," said the fox, "I will do my very best to get you
+out. I will keep putting in wedges till the tree splits wide open, so
+that you may crawl up the chink."
+
+"Will you," said the toad, excited at the hope of liberty, "will you
+really do that?"
+
+"Yes, that I will," said the fox; "wait an instant, and I will fetch
+another flint."
+
+So he brought another flint which split the tree so much that the toad
+felt the fresh air come down to him. "And you really will do it?" he
+said.
+
+"Yes," repeated the fox, "I will certainly let you out."
+
+"Then," said the toad, "the saying I have heard underground is this:
+'When the hare hunts the hunter in the dead day, the hours of King
+Kapchack are numbered'. It is a curious and a difficult saying, for I
+cannot myself understand how the day could be dead, nor how the hare
+could chase the sportsman; but you, who have so high a reputation for
+sagacity, can no doubt in time interpret it. Now put in some more wedges
+and help me out."
+
+But the fox, having learnt all that the toad could tell him, went away,
+and finding the osiers, curled himself up to sleep.
+
+The same night, the weasel, having had a very pleasant nap upon his
+divan in the elm in the squirrel's copse, woke up soon after midnight,
+and started for the farm, in order to enjoy the pleasure of seeing the
+rat in the gin, which he had instructed Bevis how to set up. Had it not
+been for this he would not have faced so terrible a tempest, but to see
+the rat in torture he would have gone through anything. As he crept
+along a furrow, not far outside the copse, choosing that route that he
+might be somewhat sheltered in the hollow from the wind, he saw a wire
+which a poacher had set up, and stayed to consider how he could turn it
+to his advantage.
+
+"There is Ulu, the hare," he said to himself, "who lives in the
+wheat-field; I had her son, he was very sweet and tender, and also her
+nephew, who was not so juicy, and I have noticed that she has got very
+plump of late. She is up on the hill to-night I have no doubt,
+notwithstanding the tempest, dancing and flirting with her disreputable
+companions, for vice has such an attraction for some minds that they
+cannot forego its pleasures, even at the utmost personal inconvenience.
+Such revels, at such a time of tempest, while the wrath of heaven is
+wreaked upon the trees, are nothing short of sacrilege, and I for one
+have always set my mind against irreverence. I shall do the world a
+service if I rid it of such an abandoned creature." So he called to a
+moor-hen, who was flying over from the Long Pond at a tremendous pace,
+being carried before the wind, and the moor-hen, not without a great
+deal of trouble, managed to wheel round (she was never very clever with
+her wings) to receive his commands, for she did not dare to pass over or
+slight so high a personage.
+
+"Moor-hen," said the weasel, "do you go direct to the hills and find
+Ulu, the hare, and tell her that little Sir Bevis, of whom she is so
+fond, is lost in the copse, and that he is crying bitterly because of
+the darkness and the wind, and what will become of him I do not know. I
+have done my very best to show him the way home, but he cherishes an
+unfortunate prejudice against me, and will not listen to what I say.
+Therefore if the hare does not come immediately and show him the way I
+greatly fear that he will be knocked down by the branches, or cry his
+dear pretty darling heart out; and tell her that he is at this minute
+close to the birches. Go quickly, Moor-hen."
+
+"I will, my lord," said the moor-hen, and away she flew.
+
+Then the weasel proceeded on his way, and shortly afterwards arrived at
+the farm. As he came quietly down from the rick-yard, he said to
+himself: "I will keep a good way from the wall, as it is so dark, and I
+do not know the exact place where Bevis has put the trap. Besides, it is
+just possible that the rat may not yet have passed that way, for he does
+most of his business in the early morning, and it is not yet dawn."
+
+So he crossed over to the wood-pile and listened carefully, but could
+hear no groans, as he had expected; but, on consideration, he put this
+down to the wind, which he observed blew the sound away from him. He
+then slipped over to the grass by the cart-house wall, intending to
+listen at the mouth of the drain to hear if the rat was within, and then
+if that was not the case, to go on along towards the wall of the
+pig-sty, for he began to think the rat must have been stunned by the
+trap, and so could not squeak.
+
+If that was the case, he thought he would just bite off the end of the
+rat's tail, in revenge for the terrible meal he had once been obliged to
+make upon his own, and also to wake up the rat to the misery of his
+position. But just as he approached the mouth of the drain, sniffing and
+listening with the utmost caution, it happened that a drop of rain fell
+through a chink in the top of Pan's tub, and woke him from his slumber.
+Pan shook himself and turned round, and the weasel, hearing the
+disturbance, dreaded lest Pan was loose, and had caught scent of him. He
+darted forwards to get into the drain, when the trap, which the bailiff
+had so carefully removed from where Bevis had set it, snapped him up in
+a second. The shock and the pain made him faint; he turned over and lay
+still.
+
+About the same time the moor-hen, borne swiftly along by the wind on her
+way to the river, reached the hills, and seeing the hare, flew low down
+and delivered the weasel's message as well as she could. The hare was
+dreadfully alarmed about Sir Bevis, and anxious to relieve him from his
+fright in the dark copse, raced down the hill, and over the fields as
+fast as she could go, making towards that part of the copse where the
+birches stood, as the weasel had directed, knowing that in running there
+she would find her neck in a noose.
+
+It happened just as he had foreseen. She came along as fast as the wind,
+and could already see the copse like a thicker darkness before her, when
+the loop of the wire drew up around her neck, and over she rolled in the
+furrow.
+
+Now the weasel had hoped that the wire would not hang her at once. He
+intended to have come back from the farm, and from taunting the rat in
+the trap, in time to put his teeth into her veins, before, in her
+convulsive efforts to get free, she tightened the noose and died.
+
+And this, too, happened exactly as the weasel had intended, but in a
+different manner, and with a different result; for it had chanced that
+the wind, in the course of its ravages among the trees, snapped off a
+twig of ash, which rolling over and over before the blast along the
+sward, came against the stick which upheld the wire, and the end of the
+twig where it had broken from the tree lodged in the loop. Thus, when
+Ulu kicked, and struggled, and screamed, in her fear, the noose indeed
+drew up tight and half-strangled her, but not quite, because the little
+piece of wood prevented it. But, exhausted with pain and terror, and
+partially choked, the poor hare at last could do nothing else but crouch
+down in the furrow, where the rain fell on and soaked her warm coat of
+fur. For as the dawn came on the wind sank, and the rain fell.
+
+In this unhappy plight she passed the rest of the night, dreading every
+moment lest the fox should come along (as she could not run away), and
+not less afraid of the daybreak, when some one would certainly find her.
+
+After many weary hours, the bailiff coming to his work in the morning
+with a sack over his shoulders to keep out the rain, saw something on
+the grass, and pounced upon the wretched hare. Already his great thumb
+was against the back of her neck--already she was thrown across his
+knee--already she felt her sinews stretch, as he proceeded to break her
+neck, regardless of her shrieks--when suddenly it occurred to him how
+delighted Bevis would be with a living hare. For the bailiff was very
+fond of Bevis, and would have done anything to please him. So he took
+the hare in his arms, and carried her down to the farm.
+
+When Bevis got up and came to breakfast, the bailiff came in and brought
+him the hare, expecting that he would be highly pleased. But Bevis in an
+instant recognised his friend who had shown him his way in the cowslips,
+and flew into a rage, and beat the bailiff with his fist for his
+cruelty. Nothing would satisfy him but he must let the hare go free
+before he touched his breakfast. He would not sit down, he stamped and
+made such a to-do that at last they let him have his own way.
+
+He would not even allow the bailiff to carry the hare for him; he took
+her in his arms and went with her up the footpath into the field. He
+would not even permit them to follow him. Now, the hare knew him very
+well but could not speak when any one else was near, for it is very well
+known to be a law among hares and birds, and such creatures, that they
+can only talk to one human being, and are dumb when more than one are
+present. But when Bevis had taken her out into the footpath, and set her
+down, and stroked her back, and her long ears, black at the tip, and had
+told her to go straight up the footpath, and not through the long
+grass, because it was wet with the rain, the hare told him how she came
+in the wire through the wicked weasel telling her that he was lost in
+the copse.
+
+"I was not lost," said Bevis; "I went to bed, and saw the owl go by. The
+weasel told another of his stories--now, I remember, he told me to set
+the trap for the rat."
+
+"Did he?" said the hare; "then you may depend it is some more of his
+dreadful wickedness; there will be no peace in the world while he is
+allowed to go roaming about."
+
+"No," said Bevis, "that there will not: but as sure as my papa's gun,
+which is the best gun in the country, as sure as my papa's gun I will
+kill him the next time I see him. I will not listen to the squirrel, I
+will cut the weasel's tree down, and chop off his head."
+
+"I hope you will, dear," said the hare. "But now I must be gone, for I
+can hear Pan barking, and no doubt he can smell me; besides which, it is
+broad daylight, and I must go and hide; good-bye, my dear Sir Bevis."
+And away went the hare up the footpath till Bevis lost sight of her
+through the gateway.
+
+Then he went to his breakfast, and directly afterwards, putting on his
+greatcoat, for it still rained a little, he went up to the wall by the
+pig-sty expecting to find the rat in the trap. But the trap was gone.
+
+"There now," said he, falling into another rage, twice already that
+morning; "I do believe that stupid bailiff has moved it," and so the
+bailiff trying to please him fell twice into disgrace in an hour.
+
+Looking about to see where the bailiff had put the trap, he remembered
+what the weasel had told him, and going to the cart-house wall by the
+drain, found the trap and the weasel in it: "Oh! you false and
+treacherous creature!" said Bevis, picking up a stone, "now I will smash
+you into seventy thousand little pieces," and he flung the stone with
+all his might, but being in too much of a hurry (as the snail had warned
+him) it missed the mark, and only knocked a bit of mortar out of the
+wall. He looked round for a bigger one, so that he might crush the
+wretch this time, when the weasel feebly lifted his head, and said:
+"Bevis! Bevis! It is not generous of you to bear such malice towards me
+now I am dying; you should rather----"
+
+"Hold your tongue, horrid thing," said Bevis; "I will not listen to
+anything you have to say. Here is a brick, this will do, first-rate, to
+pound you with, and now I think of it, I will come a little nearer so as
+to make quite sure."
+
+"Oh, Bevis!" said the weasel with a gasp, "I shall be dead in a minute,"
+and Bevis saw his head fall back.
+
+"Tell the hare I repented," said the weasel. "I have been very wicked,
+Bevis--oh!--but I shall never, never do it any more--oh!----"
+
+"Are you dead?" said Bevis. "Are you quite dead?" putting down the
+brick, for he could not bear to see anything in such distress, and his
+rage was over in a minute.
+
+"I am," said the weasel, "at least I shall be in half-a-minute, for I
+must be particular to tell the exact truth in this extremity. Oh! there
+is one thing I should like to say----"
+
+"What is it?" said Bevis.
+
+"But if you smash me I can't," said the weasel; "and what is the use of
+smashing me, for all my bones are broken?"
+
+"I will not smash you," said Bevis, "I will only have you nailed up to
+the stable door so that everybody may see what a wretch you were."
+
+"Thank you," said the weasel, very gratefully, "will you please tell the
+hare and all of them that if I could only live I would do everything I
+could to make up to them, for all the wickedness I have
+committed--oh!--I have not got time to say all I would. Oh! Bevis,
+Bevis!"
+
+"Yes, poor thing," said Bevis, now quite melted and sorry for the
+wretched criminal, whose life was ebbing so fast, "what is it you want?
+I will be sure to do it."
+
+"Then, dear Sir Bevis--how kind it is of you to forgive me, dear Sir
+Bevis; when I am dead do not nail me to the door--only think how
+terrible that would be--bury me, dear."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis; "but perhaps you needn't die. Stay a little
+while, and let us see if you cannot live."
+
+"Oh, no," said the weasel, "my time is come. But when I am dead, dear,
+please take me out of this cruel trap in which I am so justly caught,
+as I set it for another; take me out of this cruel trap which has broken
+my ribs, and lay me flat on the grass, and pull my limbs out straight,
+so that I may not stiffen all in a heap and crooked. Then get your
+spade, my dear Sir Bevis, and dig a hole and bury me, and put a stone on
+top of me, so that Pan cannot scratch me up--oh! oh!--will you--oh!"
+
+"Yes, indeed I will. I will dig the hole--I have a capital spade," said
+Bevis; "stay a minute."
+
+But the weasel gave three gasps and fell back quite dead. Bevis looked
+at him a little while, and then put his foot on the spring and pressed
+it down and took the weasel out. He stroked down his fur where the trap
+had ruffled it, and rubbed the earth from his poor paws with which he
+had struggled to get free, and then having chosen a spot close by the
+wood-pile, where the ground was soft, to dig the hole, he put the weasel
+down there, and pulled his limbs out straight, and so disposed him for
+the last sad ceremony. He then ran to the summer-house, which was not
+far, and having found the spade came back with it to the wood-pile. But
+the weasel was gone.
+
+There was the trap; there was the place he had chosen--all the little
+twigs and leaves brushed away ready for digging--but no weasel. He was
+bewildered, when a robin perched on the top of the wood-pile put his
+head on one side, and said so softly and sadly: "Bevis, Bevis, little
+Sir Bevis, what have you done?" For the weasel was not dead, and was not
+even very seriously injured; the trap was old, and the spring not very
+strong, and the teeth did not quite meet. If the rat, who was fat, had
+got in, it would have pinched him dreadfully, but the weasel was
+extremely thin, and so he escaped with a broken rib--the only true thing
+he had said.
+
+So soon as ever Sir Bevis's back was turned, the weasel crawled under
+the wood-pile, just as he had done once before, and from there made his
+way as quickly as he could up the field sheltered by the aftermath,
+which had now grown long again. When Bevis understood that the weasel
+had only shammed dying, and had really got away, he burst into tears,
+for he could not bear to be cheated, and then threw his spade at the
+robin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE OLD OAK.--THE KING'S DESPAIR.
+
+
+The very same morning, after the rain had ceased, the keeper who looked
+after the great woods at the other end of the Long Pond set out with his
+gun and his dogs to walk round the preserves. Now the dogs he took with
+him were the very best dogs he had, for that night a young gentleman,
+who had just succeeded to the estate, was coming down from London, and
+on the following morning would be sure to go out shooting. This young
+gentleman had unexpectedly come into the property through the death of
+the owner, who was shot in his bedroom by a burglar. The robber had once
+been his groom, and the squirrel told Bevis how it all happened through
+a flint falling out of the hole in the bottom of the waggon which
+belonged to the old farmer in whose orchard Kapchack had his palace.
+
+The heir had been kept at a distance during the old gentleman's
+lifetime, for the old gentleman always meant to marry and have a son,
+but did not do so, and also always meant to make a will and leave the
+best part of his estate to somebody else, but he did not do so, and as
+the old toad in the rhubarb patch told Bevis afterwards when he heard
+the story, if you are only going to do a thing, it would be no use if
+you lived a thousand years, it would always be just the same. So the
+young fellow, who had been poor all his life, when he thus suddenly
+jumped into such a property, was not a little elated, and wrote to the
+keeper that he should come down and have some shooting.
+
+The keeper was rather alarmed at this, for the former owner was not a
+sporting man, and did not look strictly after such things, so that the
+game had been neglected and had got scarce; and what was worse, the dogs
+were out of training. He therefore got up early that morning, intending
+to go his rounds quickly, and then take the dogs out into the stubble,
+and try and thrash them into some use. Presently, as he walked along, he
+came to the glade in the woods, and saw the dead hawk hanging from the
+trap up in the old oak-tree. Pleased to find that his trap, so cunningly
+placed, had not been prepared in vain, he went up to the oak, leaned his
+gun against the trunk, ordered the dogs to lie down (which they did with
+some reluctance), and then climbed up into the tree to re-set the gin.
+
+He took the hawk from the trap (his feathers were all draggled and wet
+from the rain), and threw the dead bird down; and, whether it was that
+the act of throwing it caused an extra strain upon the bough, or whether
+the storm had cracked it in the night, or whether it had rotted away
+more than appeared on the surface, or whether it was all of these things
+together, certain it is the bough broke, and down came the keeper thud
+on the sward. The bough fell down with him, and as it fell it struck
+the gun, and the gun exploded, and although the dogs scampered aside
+when they heard the crack, they did not scamper so quick but one of them
+was shot dead, and the other two were mortally wounded.
+
+For a while the keeper lay there stunned, with the wet grass against his
+face. But by-and-by, coming to himself, he sat up with difficulty, and
+called for assistance, for he could not move, having sprained one ankle,
+and broken the small bone of the other leg. There he sat and shouted,
+but no one came for some time, till presently a slouching labourer (it
+was the very same who put up the wire by the copse in which the hare was
+caught) chanced to pass by outside the wood. The keeper saw him, but
+hoarse with shouting, and feeling faint too (for a sprained ankle is
+extremely painful), he could not make him hear. But he bethought him of
+his gun, and dragging it to him, hastily put in a cartridge and fired.
+
+The report drew the labourer's attention, and peering into the wood, he
+saw some one on the ground waving a white handkerchief. After looking a
+long time, he made up his mind to go and see what it was; but then he
+recollected that if he put his foot inside the wood he should be
+trespassing, and as he had got a wire in his pocket that would be a
+serious matter. So he altered his mind, and went on.
+
+Very likely the keeper was angry, but there was no one to hear what he
+said except the dead hawk. He would have fired off fifty cartridges if
+he had had them, but as he did not like a weight to carry he had only
+two or three, and these did not attract attention. As for the labourer,
+about midday, when he sat down to lunch in the cart-house at the farm
+where he worked with the other men, he did just mention that he thought
+he had seen something white waving in the wood, and they said it was
+odd, but very likely nothing to speak of.
+
+One of the wounded dogs ran home, bleeding all the way, and there crept
+into his kennel and died; the other could not get so far, but dropped in
+a hedge. The keeper's wife wondered why he did not come home to dinner,
+but supposed, with a sigh, that he had looked in at an alehouse, and
+went on with her work.
+
+The keeper shouted again when his throat got less hoarse, but all the
+answer he obtained was the echo from the wood. He tried to crawl, but
+the pain was so exquisite he got but a very little way, and there he had
+to lie. The sun rose higher and shone out as the clouds rolled away, and
+the rain-drops on the grass glistened bright till presently they dried
+up.
+
+With the gleaming of the sun there was motion in the woods: blackbirds
+came forth and crossed the glades; thrushes flew past; a jay fluttered
+round the tops of the firs; after a while a pheasant came along the
+verge of the underwood, now stepping out into the grass, and now back
+again into the bushes. There was a pleasant cawing of rooks, and several
+small parties of wood-pigeons (doubtless from Choo Hoo's camp) went
+over. Two or three rabbits hopped out and fed; humble-bees went buzzing
+by; a green woodpecker flashed across the glade and disappeared among
+the trees as if an arrow had been shot into the woods.
+
+The slow hours went on, and as the sun grew hotter the keeper, unable to
+move, began to suffer from the fierceness of the rays, for anything
+still finds out the heat more than that which is in movement. First he
+lifted his hat from time to time above his head, but it was not much
+relief, as the wind had fallen. Next he tried placing his handkerchief
+inside his hat. At last he took off his coat, stuck the barrels of his
+gun into the ground (soft from the rain), and hung the coat upon it.
+This gave him a little shadow. The dead oak-tree having no leaves cast
+but a narrow shade, and that fell on the opposite side to where he was.
+
+In the afternoon, when the heat was very great and all the other birds
+appeared to have gone, a crow came (one of Kauc's retainers) and perched
+low down on an ash-tree not more than fifty yards away. Perhaps it was
+the dead dog; perhaps it was the knowledge that the man was helpless,
+that brought him. There he perched, and the keeper reviled him, wishing
+that he had but saved one of his cartridges, and forgetting that even
+then the barrels of his gun were too full of earth. After a while the
+crow flew idly across to the other side of the glade, and went out of
+sight; but it was only for a short time, and presently he came back
+again. This the crow did several times, always returning to the ash.
+
+The keeper ran over in his mind the people who would probably miss him,
+and cause a search to be made. First there was his wife; but once, when
+he had been a long time from home, and she in a great alarm had sought
+for him, she found him drunk at the alehouse, and he beat her for her
+trouble. It was not likely that she would come. The lad who acted as his
+assistant (he had but one, for, as previously stated, the former owner
+did not shoot) was not likely to look for him either, for not long
+since, bringing a message to his superior, he discovered him selling
+some game, and was knocked down for his pains. As for his companions at
+the alehouse, they would be all out in the fields, and would not
+assemble till night: several of them he knew were poachers, and though
+glad enough to share his beer would not have looked towards him if in
+distress.
+
+The slow hours wore on, and the sun declining a little, the shadow of
+the dead oak moved round, and together with his coat sheltered him
+fairly well. Weary with the unwonted labour of thinking, the tension of
+his mind began to yield, and by-and-by he dropped asleep, lying at full
+length upon his back. The crow returned once more to the ash, and looked
+at the sleeping man and the dead dog, cleaned his beak against the
+bough, and uttered a low croak. Once he flew a little way out towards
+them, but there was the gun: it was true he knew very well there was no
+powder (for, in the first place, he could not smell any, and, secondly,
+if there had been any he knew he should have had the shot singing about
+his ears long before this; you see, he could put two and two together),
+still there was the gun. The dog does not like the corner where the
+walking-stick stands. The crow did not like the gun, though it was stuck
+in the ground: he went back to the ash, cleaned his bill, and waited.
+
+Something came stealthily through the grass, now stopping, now advancing
+with a creeping, evil motion. It was the weasel. When he stole away from
+the wood-pile, after escaping from the trap, he made up the field
+towards the copse, but upon reflection he determined to abandon his lair
+in the hollow elm, for he had so abused Bevis's good-nature that he
+doubted whether Bevis might not attack him even there despite the
+squirrel. He did not know exactly where to go, knowing that every
+creature was in secret his enemy, and in his wounded state, unable to
+move quickly or properly defend himself, he dreaded to trust himself
+near them. After a while he remembered the old dead oak, which was also
+hollow within, and which was so far from the copse it was not probable
+Bevis would find it.
+
+Thither he bent his painful steps, for his broken rib hurt him very
+much, and after many pauses to rest, presently, in the afternoon, he
+came near. Lifting his head above the grass he saw the dead dog, and the
+sleeping keeper; he watched them a long time, and seeing that neither of
+them moved he advanced closer. As he approached he saw the dead hawk,
+and recognised one of Ki Ki's retainers; then coming to the dog, the
+blood from the shot wounds excited his terrible thirst. But it had
+ceased to flow; he sniffed at it and then went towards the man.
+
+The crow, envious, but afraid to join the venture, watched him from the
+ash. Every few inches the weasel stayed, lifted his head; looked, and
+listened. Then he advanced again, paused, and again approached. In five
+minutes he had reached the keeper's feet; two minutes more and he was by
+his waist. He listened again; he sniffed, he knew it was dangerous, but
+he could not check the resistless prompting of his appetite.
+
+He crept up on the keeper's chest; the crow fidgeted on the ash. He
+crept up to the necktie; the crow came down on a lower bough. He moved
+yet another inch to the collar; the crow flew out ten yards and settled
+on the ground. The collar was stiff, and partly covered that part of the
+neck which fascinated the weasel's gaze. He put his foot softly on the
+collar; the crow hopped thrice towards them. He brought up his other
+foot, he sniffed--the breath came warm from the man's half-open lips--he
+adventured the risk, and placed his paw on the keeper's neck.
+
+Instantly--as if he had received an electric shock--the keeper started
+to his knees, shuddering; the weasel dropped from his neck upon the
+ground, the crow hastened back to the ash. With a blow of his open hand
+the keeper knocked the weasel yards away; then, in his rage and fear,
+with whitened face, he wished instead he had beaten the creature down
+upon the earth, for the weasel, despite the grinding of his broken rib,
+began to crawl off, and he could not reach him.
+
+He looked round for a stick or stone, there was none; he put his hand in
+his pocket, but his knife had slipped out when he fell from the tree. He
+passed his hands over his waistcoat seeking for something, felt his
+watch--a heavy silver one--and in his fury snatched it from the swivel,
+and hurled it at the weasel. The watch thrown with such force missed the
+weasel, struck the sward, and bounded up against the oak: the glass
+shivered and flew sparkling a second in the sunshine; the watch glanced
+aside, and dropped in the grass. When he looked again the weasel had
+gone. It was an hour before the keeper recovered himself--the shuddering
+terror with which he woke up haunted him in the broad daylight.
+
+An intolerable thirst now tormented him, but the furrow was dry. In the
+morning, he remembered it had contained a little water from the rain,
+which during the day had sunk into the earth. He picked a bennet from
+the grass and bit it, but it was sapless, dried by the summer heat. He
+looked for a leaf of sorrel, but there was none. The slow hours wore on;
+the sun sank below the wood, and the long shadows stretched out.
+By-and-by the grass became cooler to the touch; dew was forming upon it.
+Overhead the rooks streamed homewards to their roosting trees. They
+cawed incessantly as they flew; they were talking about Kapchack and
+Choo Hoo, but he did not understand them.
+
+The shadows reached across the glade, and yonder the rabbits appeared
+again from among the bushes where their burrows were. He began now to
+seriously think that he should have to pass the night there. His ankle
+was swollen, and the pain almost beyond endurance. The slightest attempt
+at motion caused intense agony. His one hope now was that the same
+slouching labourer who had passed in the morning would go back that way
+at night; but as the shadows deepened that hope departed, and he doubted
+too whether any one could see him through the underwood in the dark. The
+slouching labourer purposely avoided that route home. He did not want to
+see anything, if anything there was.
+
+He went round by the high road, and having had his supper, and given his
+wife a clout in the head, he sauntered down to the alehouse. After he
+had taken three quarts of beer, he mentioned the curious incident of the
+white handkerchief in the woods to his mates, who congratulated him on
+his sense in refraining from going near it, as most likely it was one of
+that keeper's tricks, just to get somebody into the wood. More talk, and
+more beer. By-and-by the keeper's wife began to feel alarmed. She had
+already found the dead dog in the kennel; but that did not surprise her
+in the least, knowing her husband's temper, and that if a dog disobeyed
+it was not at all unusual for a cartridge to go whistling after him.
+
+But when the evening came, and the darkness fell; when she had gone down
+to the alehouse, braving his wrath, and found that he was not there,
+the woman began to get hysterical. The lad who acted as assistant had
+gone home, so she went out into the nearest stubble herself, thinking
+that her husband must have finished his round before lunch, and was
+somewhere in the newly-reaped fields. But after walking about the
+rustling stubble till she was weary, she came back to the alehouse, and
+begged the men to tell her if they had seen anything of him. Then they
+told her about the white handkerchief which the slouching poacher had
+seen in the wood that morning. She turned on him like a tiger, and
+fiercely upbraided him; then rushed from the house. The sloucher took up
+his quart, and said that he saw "no call" to hurry.
+
+But some of the men went after the wife. The keeper was found, and
+brought home on a cart, but not before he had seen the owl go by, and
+the dark speck of the bat passing to and fro overhead.
+
+All that day Bevis did not go to the copse, being much upset with the
+cheat the weasel had played him, and also because they said the grass
+and the hedges would be so wet after the storm. Nor did anything take
+place in the copse, for King Kapchack moped in his fortress, the
+orchard, the whole day long, so greatly was he depressed by the
+widespread treason of which the owl had informed him.
+
+Choo Hoo, thinking that the treaty was concluded, relaxed the strictness
+of discipline, and permitted his army to spread abroad from the camp and
+forage for themselves. He expected the return of the ambassador with
+further communications, and ordered search to be made for every dainty
+for his entertainment; while the thrush, for whom this care was taken,
+had not only ceased to exist, but it would have been impossible to
+collect his feathers, blown away to every quarter.
+
+The vast horde of barbarians were the more pleased with the liberty
+accorded to them, because they had spent so ill a night while the gale
+raged through their camp. So soon as the sun began to gleam through the
+retreating clouds, they went forth in small parties, many of which the
+keeper saw go over him while lying helpless by the dead oak-tree.
+
+King Kapchack, after the owl had informed him of the bewildering maze of
+treason with which he was surrounded, moped, as has been said before,
+upon his perch. In the morning, wet and draggled from the storm, his
+feathers out of place, and without the spirit to arrange them, he seemed
+to have grown twenty years older in one night, so pitiable did he
+appear. Nor did the glowing sun, which filled all other hearts with joy,
+reach his gloomy soul. He saw no resource; no enterprise suggested
+itself to him; all was dark at noonday.
+
+An ominous accident which had befallen the aged apple-tree in which his
+palace stood contributed to this depression of mind. The gale had
+cracked a very large bough, which, having shown signs of weakness, had
+for many years been supported by a prop carefully put up by the farmer.
+But whether the prop in course of time had decayed at the line where the
+air and earth exercise their corroding influence upon wood; or whether
+the bough had stiffened with age, and could not swing easily to the
+wind; or whether, as seems most likely, the event occurred at that
+juncture in order to indicate the course of fate, it is certain that the
+huge bough was torn partly away from the trunk, leaving a gaping cavity.
+
+Kapchack viewed the injury to the tree, which had so long sustained his
+family and fortune, with the utmost concern; it seemed an omen of
+approaching destruction so plain and unmistakable that he could not look
+at it; he turned his mournful gaze in the opposite direction. The day
+passed slowly, as slowly as it did to the keeper lying beneath the oak,
+and the king, though he would have resented intrusion with the sharpest
+language, noticed with an increasing sense of wrong that the court was
+deserted, and with one exception none called to pay their respects.
+
+The exception was Eric, the favourite missel-thrush, who alone of all
+the birds was allowed to frequent the same orchard. The missel-thrush,
+loyal to the last, came, but seeing Kapchack's condition, did not
+endeavour to enter into conversation. As for the rest, they did not
+venture from fear of the king's violent temper, and because their
+unquiet consciences made them suspect that this unusual depression was
+caused by the discovery of their treachery. They remained away from
+dread of his anger. Kapchack, on the other hand, put their absence down
+to the mean and contemptible desire to avoid a falling house. He
+observed that even the little Te-te, the tomtit, and chief of the
+secret police, who invariably came twice or thrice a day with an account
+of some gossip he had overheard, did not arrive. How low he must have
+fallen, since the common informers disdained to associate with him!
+
+Towards the evening he sent for his son, Prince Tchack-tchack, with the
+intention of abdicating in his favour, but what were his feelings when
+the messenger returned without him! Tchack-tchack refused to come. He,
+too, had turned away. Thus, deserted by the lovely La Schach, for whom
+he had risked his throne; deserted by the whole court and even by his
+own son; the monarch welcomed the darkness of the night, the second of
+his misery, which hid his disgrace from the world.
+
+The owl came, faithful by night as the missel-thrush by day, but
+Kapchack, in the deepest despondency, could not reply to his remarks.
+Twice the owl came back, hoping to find his master somewhat more open to
+consolation, and twice had to depart unsuccessful. At last, about
+midnight, the king, worn out with grief, fell asleep.
+
+Now the same evening the hare, who was upon the hills as usual, as she
+came by a barn overheard some bats who lived there conversing about the
+news which they had learnt from their relations who resided in the woods
+of the vale. This was nothing less than the revelations the dying hawk
+had made of the treacherous designs of Ki Ki and the weasel, which, as
+the owl had suspected, had been partly overheard by the bats. The hare,
+in other circumstances, would have rejoiced at the overthrow of King
+Kapchack, who was no favourite with her race, for he had, once or twice,
+out of wanton cruelty, pecked weakly leverets to death, just to try the
+temper of his bill. But she dreaded lest if he were thrust down the
+weasel should seize the sovereignty, the weasel, who had already done
+her so much injury, and was capable of ruining not only herself but her
+whole nation if once he got the supreme power.
+
+Not knowing what to do herself for the best, away she went down the
+valley and over the steep ridges in search of a very old hare, quite
+hoar with age--an astrologer of great reputation in those parts. For the
+hares have always been good star-gazers, and the whole race of them, one
+and all, are not without skill in the mystic sciences, while some are
+highly charged with knowledge of futurity, and have decided the fate of
+mighty battles by the mere direction in which they scampered. The old
+hare no sooner heard her information than he proceeded to consult the
+stars, which shone with exceeding brilliance that night, as they often
+do when the air has been cleared by a storm, and finding, upon taking
+accurate observations, that the house of Jupiter was threatened by the
+approach of Saturn to the meridian, he had no difficulty in pronouncing
+the present time as full of danger and big with fate.
+
+The planets were clearly in combination against King Kapchack, who must,
+if he desired to avoid extinction, avoid all risks, and hide his head,
+as it were, in a corner till the aspect of the heavens changed. Above
+all things let him not make war or go forth himself into the combat; let
+him conclude peace, or at least enter into a truce, no matter at what
+loss of dignity, or how much territory he had to concede to conciliate
+Choo Hoo. His person was threatened, the knife was pointed at his heart;
+could he but wait a while, and tide as it were over the shallows, he
+might yet resume the full sway of power; but if he exposed his life at
+this crisis the whole fabric of his kingdom might crumble beneath his
+feet.
+
+Having thus spoken, the hoary astrologer went off in the direction of
+Stonehenge, whose stones formed his astrolabe, and the hare, much
+excited with the communication she had received (confirmed as it was too
+by the facts of the case), resolved to at once warn the monarch of his
+danger. Calling a beetle, she charged him with a message to the king:
+That he should listen to the voice of the stars, and conclude peace at
+no matter what cost, or at least a truce, submitting to be deprived of
+territory or treasure to any amount or extent, and that above all things
+he should not venture forth personally to the combat. If he hearkened he
+would yet reign; if he closed his ears the evil influence which then
+threatened him must have its way. Strictly enjoining the beetle to make
+haste, and turn neither to the right nor the left, but to speed straight
+away for the palace, she dismissed him.
+
+The beetle, much pleased to be employed upon so important a business,
+opened his wing-cases, began to hum, and increasing his pace as he went,
+flew off at his utmost velocity. He passed safely over the hills,
+descended into the valley, sped across the fields and woods, and in an
+incredibly short space of time approached the goal of his journey. The
+wall of the orchard was in sight, he began to repeat his message to
+himself, so as to be sure and not miss a word of it, when going at this
+tremendous pace, and as usual, without looking in front, but blundering
+onwards, he flew with his whole force against a post. His body, crushed
+by the impetus of its own weight, rebounded with a snap, and he fell
+disabled and insensible to the earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE COURTSHIP IN THE ORCHARD.
+
+
+The next morning Bevis's papa looking at the almanac found there was
+going to be an eclipse of the sun, so Bevis took a piece of glass (part
+of one of the many window panes he had broken) and smoked it over a
+candle, so as to be able to watch the phenomenon without injury to his
+eyes. When the obscuration began too, the dairy-maid brought him a
+bucket of clear water in which the sun was reflected and could be
+distinctly seen. But before the eclipse had proceeded beyond the mere
+edge of the sun, Bevis heard the champing of a bit, and the impatient
+pawing of hoofs, and running up to the stable to see who it was, found
+that his papa was just on the point of driving over in the dog-cart to
+see another farmer (the very old gentleman in whose orchard Kapchack's
+palace was situated) about a load of straw.
+
+Bevis of course insisted upon going too, the smoked glass was thrown
+aside, he clambered up and held the reins, and away they went, the
+eclipse now counting for nothing. After a while, however, as they went
+swiftly along the road, they came to a hill, and from the summit saw a
+long way off a vast shadow like that cast by some immense cloud which
+came towards them over the earth, and in a second or two arrived, and
+as it were put out the light. They looked up and the sun was almost
+gone. In its place was a dark body, with a rim of light round it, and
+flames shooting forth.
+
+As they came slowly down the hill a pheasant crowed as he flew up to
+roost, the little birds retired to the thickets, and at the farmyards
+they passed the fowls went up to their perches. Presently they left the
+highway and drove along a lane across the fields, which had once been
+divided from each other by gates. Of these there was nothing now
+standing but the posts, some of which could hardly be said to stand, but
+declining from the perpendicular, were only kept from falling by the
+bushes. The lane was so rough and so bad from want of mending that they
+could only walk the impatient horse, and at times the jolting was
+extremely unpleasant.
+
+Sometimes they had to stoop down in the trap to pass under the drooping
+boughs of elms and other trees, which not having been cut for years,
+hung over and almost blocked the track. From the hedges the brambles and
+briars extended out into the road, so that the wheels of the dog-cart
+brushed them, and they would evidently have entirely shut up the way had
+not waggons occasionally gone through and crushed their runners. The
+meadows on either hand were brown with grass that had not been mown,
+though the time for mowing had long since gone by, while the pastures
+were thick with rushes and thistles. Though so extensive there were
+only two or three cows in them, and these old and poor, and as it were
+broken-down. No horses were visible, nor any men at work.
+
+There were other fields which had once grown wheat, but were now so
+choked with weeds as to be nothing but a wilderness. As they approached
+the farmhouse where the old gentleman dwelt, the signs of desolation
+became more numerous. There were walls that had fallen, and never been
+repaired, around whose ruins the nettles flourished. There were holes in
+the roofs of the sheds exposing the rafters.
+
+Trees had fallen and lay as they fell, rotting away, and not even cut up
+for firewood. Railings had decayed till there was nothing left but a few
+stumps; gates had dropped from their hinges, and nothing of them
+remained but small bits of rotten board attached to rusty irons. In the
+garden all was confusion, the thistles rose higher than the gooseberry
+bushes, and burdocks looked in at the windows. From the wall of the
+house a pear that had been trained there had fallen away, and hung
+suspended, swinging with every puff; the boughs, driven against the
+windows, had broken the panes in the adjacent casement; other panes
+which had been broken were stuffed up with wisps of hay.
+
+Tiles had slipped from the roof, and the birds went in and out as they
+listed. The remnants of the tiles lay cracked upon the ground beneath
+the eaves just as they had fallen. No hand had touched them; the hand of
+man indeed had touched nothing. Bevis, whose eyes were everywhere, saw
+all these things in a minute. "Why," said he, "there's the knocker; it
+has tumbled down." It had dropped from the door as the screws rusted;
+the door itself was propped up with a log of wood. But one thing only
+appeared to have been attended to, and that was the wall about the
+orchard, which showed traces of recent mortar, and the road leading
+towards it, which had not long since been mended with flints.
+
+Now Bevis, as I say, noting all these things as they came near with his
+eyes, which, like gimlets, went through everything, was continually
+asking his papa questions about them, and why everything was in such a
+state, till at last his papa, overwhelmed with his inquiries, promised
+to tell him the whole story when they got home. This he did, but while
+they are now fastening up the horse (for there was no one to help them
+or mind it), and while Bevis is picking up the rusty knocker, the story
+may come in here very well:--
+
+Once upon a time, many, many years ago, when the old gentleman was
+young, and lived with his mother at the farmhouse, it happened that he
+fell in love. The lady he loved was very young, very beautiful, very
+proud, very capricious, and very poor. She lived in a house in the
+village little better than a cottage, with an old woman who was said to
+be her aunt. As the young farmer was well off, for the land was his own,
+and he had no one to keep but his old mother, and as the young lady
+dearly loved him, there seemed no possible obstacle in their way. But it
+is well known that a brook can never run straight, and thus, though all
+looked so smooth, there were, in reality, two difficulties.
+
+The first of these was the farmer's old mother, who having been mistress
+in the farmhouse for very nearly fifty years, did not like, after
+half-a-century, to give place to a mere girl. She could not refrain from
+uttering disparaging remarks about her, to which her son, being fond of
+his mother, could not reply, though it angered him to the heart, and at
+such times he used to take down his long single-barrelled gun with brass
+fittings, and go out shooting. More than once the jealous mother had
+insulted the young lady openly in the village street, which conduct, of
+course, as things fly from roof to roof with the sparrows, was known all
+over the place, and caused the lady to toss her head like a filly in
+spring to show that she did not care for such an old harridan, though in
+secret it hurt her pride beyond expression.
+
+So great was the difficulty this caused, that the young lady,
+notwithstanding she was so fond of the handsome young farmer, who rode
+so well and shot so straight, and could carry her in his arms as if she
+were no more than a lamb, would never put her dainty foot, which looked
+so little and pretty even in the rude shoes made for her by the village
+cobbler, over the threshold of his house. She would never come in, she
+said, except as a wife, while he on his part, anxious as he was to marry
+her, could not, from affection for his mother, summon up courage to
+bring her in, as it were, rough-shod over his mother's feelings.
+
+Their meetings, therefore, as she would not come indoors, were always
+held in the farmer's orchard, where was a seat in an arbour, a few yards
+in front of which stood the ancient apple-tree in which Kapchack, who
+was also very young in those days, had built his nest. At this arbour
+they met every day, and often twice a day, and even once again in the
+evening, and could there chat and make love as sweetly as they pleased,
+because the orchard was enclosed by a high wall which quite shut out all
+spying eyes, and had a gate with lock and key. The young lady had a
+duplicate key, and came straight to the orchard from the cottage where
+she lived by a footpath which crossed the lane along which Bevis had
+been driven.
+
+It happened that the footpath just by the lane, on coming near the
+orchard, passed a moist place, which in rainy weather was liable to be
+flooded, and as this was inconvenient for her, her lover had a
+waggon-load of flints brought down from the hills where the hares held
+their revels, and placed in the hollow so as to fill it up, and over
+these he placed faggots of nut-tree wood, so that she could step across
+perfectly clean and dry. In this orchard, then, they had their constant
+rendezvous; they were there every day when the nightingale first began
+to sing in the spring, and when the apple-trees were hidden with their
+pink blossom, when the haymakers were at work in the meadow, when the
+reapers cut the corn, and when the call of the first fieldfare sounded
+overhead. The golden and rosy apples dropped at their feet, they laughed
+and ate them, and taking out the brown pips she pressed them between
+her thumb and finger to see how far they would shoot.
+
+Though they had begun to talk about their affairs in the spring, and had
+kept on all the summer and autumn, and though they kept on as often as
+the weather was dry (when they walked up and down the long orchard for
+warmth, sheltered by the wall), yet when the spring came again they had
+not half finished. Thus they were very happy, and the lady used
+particularly to laugh at the antics of the magpie, who became so
+accustomed to their presence as to go on with the repairs to his nest
+without the least shyness. Kapchack, being then very young and full of
+spirits, and only just married, and in the honeymoon of prosperity,
+played such freaks and behaved in so amusing a manner that the lady
+became quite attached to him, and in order to protect her favourite, her
+lover drove away all the other large birds that came near the orchard,
+and would not permit any one whatever to get up into Kapchack's
+apple-tree, nor even to gather the fruit, which hung on the boughs till
+the wind pushed it off.
+
+Thus, having a fortress to retreat to, and being so highly honoured of
+men, Kapchack gave the reins to his natural audacity, and succeeded in
+obtaining the sovereignty. When the spring came again they had still a
+great deal of talking to do; but whether the young lady was weary of
+waiting for the marriage-ring, or whether she was jealous of the
+farmer's mother, or whether she thought they might continue like this
+for the next ten years if she did not make some effort, or whether it
+was the worldly counsels of her aunt, or what it was--perhaps her own
+capricious nature, it is certain that they now began to quarrel a little
+about another gentleman.
+
+This gentleman was very rich, and the owner of a large estate in the
+neighbourhood; he did not often reside there, for he did not care for
+sport or country life, but once when he came down he happened to see the
+young lady, and was much attracted towards her. Doubtless she did not
+mean any harm, but she could not help liking people to admire her, and,
+not to go into every little particular, in the course of time (and not
+very long either) she and the gentleman became acquainted. Now, when her
+own true lover was aware of this, he was so jealous that he swore if
+ever he saw them together he would shoot his rival with his
+long-barrelled gun, though he were hung for it the next day.
+
+The lady was not a little pleased at this frantic passion, and secretly
+liked him ten times better for it, though she immediately resorted to
+every artifice to calm his anger, for she knew his violent nature, and
+that he was quite capable of doing as he had said. But the delight of
+two strings to her bow was not easily to be foregone, and thus, though
+she really loved the farmer, she did not discourage the gentleman. He,
+on his part, finding after a while that although she allowed him to talk
+to her, and even to visit her at the cottage, and sometimes (when she
+knew the young farmer was at market) go for a walk with him, and once
+even came and went over his grand mansion, still finding that it was
+all talk, and that his suit got no further, he presently bethought him
+of diamonds.
+
+He gave her a most beautiful diamond locket, which he had had down all
+fresh and brilliant from London. Now this was the beginning of the
+mischief. She accepted it in a moment of folly, and wished afterwards
+ten times that she had refused, but having once put it on, it looked so
+lovely she could not send it back. She could not openly wear it, lest
+her lover should see it, but every morning she put it on indoors, and
+frequently glanced in the glass.
+
+Nor is it any use to find fault with her; for in the first place she has
+been dead many years, and in the second she was then very young, very
+beautiful, and living quite alone in the world with an old woman. Now
+her lover, notwithstanding the sweet assurances she gave him of her
+faithfulness, and despite the soft kisses he had in abundance every day
+in the orchard, soft as the bloom of the apple-trees, could not quite
+recover his peace of mind. He did not laugh as he used to do. He was
+restless, and the oneness of his mind was gone. Oneness of mind does not
+often last long into life, but while it lasts everything is bright. He
+had now always a second thought, a doubt behind, which clouded his face
+and brought a line into his forehead.
+
+After a time his mother, observing his depression, began to accuse
+herself of unkindness, and at last resolved to stand no longer in the
+way of the marriage. She determined to quit the house in which she had
+lived ever since she came to it a happy bride half-a-century before.
+Having made up her mind, that very morning she walked along the footpath
+to the young lady's cottage, intending to atone for her former
+unkindness, and to bring the girl back to lunch, and thus surprise her
+son when he came in from the field.
+
+She had even made up her mind to put up with the cold reception she
+would probably meet with, nor to reply if any hard words were used
+towards her. Thus thinking, she lifted the latch, as country people do
+not use much ceremony, and stepped into the cottage, when what was her
+surprise to find the girl she had come to see with a beautiful diamond
+locket about her neck, gleaming in the sunshine from the open door! She
+instantly understood what it meant, and upbraiding the girl with her
+falseness, quitted the place, and lost no time in telling her son, but
+first she took the precaution of hiding his gun. As he could not find
+that weapon, after the first storm of his jealous anger had gone over he
+shut himself up in his room.
+
+The lady came the same evening to the rendezvous in the orchard, but her
+lover did not meet her. She came again next day, and in the evening; and
+again the third day, and so all through the week, and for nearly a month
+doing all she could without actually entering the house to get access to
+him. But he sullenly avoided her; once seeing her in the road, he leaped
+his horse over the hedge rather than pass her. For the diamond locket
+looked so like a price--as if she valued a glittering bauble far above
+true love.
+
+At last one day she surprised him at the corner of the village street,
+and notwithstanding that the people (who knew all the story) were
+looking on, she would speak to him. She walked by his side, and said:
+"George, I have put the locket in the arbour, with a letter for you. If
+you will not speak to me, read the letter, and throw the locket in the
+brook."
+
+More she could not say, for he walked as fast as he could, and soon left
+her behind.
+
+He would not go near the orchard all day, but at last in the evening
+something prompted him to go. He went and looked, but the locket and the
+letter were not there.
+
+Either she had not left them as she had said, or else some one had taken
+them. No one could enter the orchard without a key, unless they went to
+the trouble of bringing a ladder from the rickyard, and as it was
+spring, there were no apples to tempt them to do that. He thought,
+perhaps, his mother might have taken his key and gone to the arbour, and
+there was a terrible scene and bitter words between them--the first time
+he had ever replied to her. The consequence was that she packed a chest
+that very day, took a bag of money, which in old-fashioned style she
+kept under her bed, and left her home for ever; but not before she had
+been to the cottage, and reviled the girl with her duplicity and her
+falseness, declaring that if she had not got the locket, she had not put
+it in the orchard, but had sold it, like the hussy she was! Fortunately,
+however, she added, George could now see through her.
+
+The farmer himself, much agitated at his mother's departure, made
+another search for the locket, and mowed the grass in the orchard
+himself, thinking that perhaps the lady had dropped it, or that it had
+caught in her dress and dragged along, and he also took the rake, and
+turned over every heap of dead leaves which the wind had blown into the
+corners. But there was no locket and no letter. At last he thought that
+perhaps the magpie, Kapchack--as magpies were always famous for their
+fondness for glittering things, such as silver spoons--might have picked
+up the locket, attracted by the gleaming diamonds. He got a ladder and
+searched the nest, even pulling part of it to pieces, despite Kapchack's
+angry remonstrances, but the locket was not there.
+
+As he came down the ladder there was the young lady, who had stolen into
+the orchard and watched his operations. They stood and faced each other
+for a minute: at least, she looked at him, _his_ sullen gaze was bent
+upon the ground. As for her, the colour came and went in her cheek, and
+her breast heaved so that, for a while, she could not speak. At last she
+said very low: "So you do not believe me, but some day you will know
+that you have judged me wrongly". Then she turned, and without another
+word went swiftly from the orchard.
+
+He did not follow her, and he never saw her again. The same evening she
+left the village, she and the old woman, her aunt, quietly and without
+any stir, and where they went (beyond the market town) no one knew or
+even heard. And the very same evening, too, the rich gentleman who had
+given her the locket, and who made an unwonted stay in his country home
+because of her, also left the place, and went, as was said, to London.
+Of course people easily put two and two together, and said no doubt the
+girl had arranged to meet her wealthy admirer, but no one ever saw them
+together. Not even the coachman, when the gentleman once more returned
+home years afterwards, though the great authority in those days, could
+say what had become of her; if she had met his master it was indeed in
+some secret and mysterious manner. But the folk, when he had done
+speaking, and had denied these things, after he had quaffed his ale and
+departed, nudged each other, and said that no doubt his master,
+foreseeing the inquiries that would be made, had bribed him with a
+pocketful of guineas to hold his tongue.
+
+So the farmer, in one day, found himself alone; his dear lady, his
+mother, and his rival were gone. He alone remained, and alone he
+remained for the rest of his days. His rival, indeed, came back once now
+and then for short periods to his mansion; but his mother never
+returned, and died in a few years' time. Then indeed deserted, the
+farmer had nothing left but to cultivate, and dwell on, the memory of
+the past. He neglected his business, and his farm; he left his house to
+take care of itself; the cows wandered away, the horses leaped the
+hedges, other people's cattle entered his corn, trampled his wheat, and
+fattened on his clover. He did nothing. The hand of man was removed, and
+the fields, and the house, and the owner himself, fell to decay.
+
+Years passed, and still it was the same, and thus it was, that when
+Bevis and his papa drove up, Bevis was so interested and so inquisitive
+about the knocker, which had fallen from the front door. One thing, and
+one place only, received the owner's care, and that was the orchard, the
+arbour, the magpie's nest, and the footpath that led to the orchard
+gate. Everything else fell to ruin, but these were very nearly in the
+same state as when the young lady used to come to the orchard daily. For
+the old gentleman, as he grew old, and continued to dwell yet more and
+more upon the happy days so long gone by, could not believe that she
+could be dead, though he himself had outlived the usual span of life.
+
+He was quite certain that she would some day come back, for she had said
+so herself; she had said that some day he would know that he had judged
+her wrongly, and unless she came back it was not possible for him to
+understand. He was, therefore, positively certain that some day she
+would come along the old footpath to the gate in the orchard wall, open
+it with her duplicate key, walk to the arbour and sit down, and smile at
+the magpie's ways. The woodwork of the arbour had of course decayed long
+since, but it had been carefully replaced, so that it appeared exactly
+the same as when she last sat within it. The coping fell from the
+orchard wall, but it was put back; the gate came to pieces, but a new
+one was hung in its place.
+
+Kapchack, thus protected, still came to his palace, which had reached an
+enormous size from successive additions and annual repairs. As the time
+went on people began to talk about Kapchack, and the extraordinary age
+to which he had now attained, till, by-and-by, he became the wonder of
+the place, and in order to see how long he would live, the gentlemen who
+had gamekeepers in the neighbourhood instructed them to be careful not
+to shoot him. His reputation extended with his years, and those curious
+in such things came to see him from a distance, but could never obtain
+entrance to the orchard, nor approach near his tree, for neither money
+nor persuasion could induce the owner to admit them.
+
+In and about the village itself Kapchack was viewed by the superstitious
+with something like awe. His great age, his singular fortune, his
+peculiar appearance--having but one eye--gave him a wonderful prestige,
+and his chattering was firmly believed to portend a change of the
+weather or the wind, or even the dissolution of village personages. The
+knowledge that he was looked upon in this light rendered the other birds
+and animals still more obedient than they would have been. Kapchack was
+a marvel, and it gradually became a belief with them that he would never
+die.
+
+Outside the orchard-gate, the footpath which crossed the lane, and
+along which the lady used to come, was also carefully kept in its former
+condition. By degrees the nut-tree faggots rotted away--they were
+supplanted by others; in the process of time the flints sunk into the
+earth, and then another waggon-load was sent for. But the waggons had
+all dropped to pieces except one which chanced to be under cover; this,
+too, was much decayed, still it held together enough for the purpose. It
+was while this very waggon was jolting down from the hills with a load
+of flints to fill this hollow that the one particular flint, out of five
+thousand, worked its way through a hole in the bottom and fell on the
+road. And the rich old gentleman, whose horse stepped on it the same
+evening, who was thrown from the dog-cart, and whose discharged groom
+shot him in his house in London, was the very same man who, years and
+years before, had given the diamond locket to the young lady.
+
+In the orchard the old farmer pottered about every day, now picking up
+the dead wood which fell from the trees, now raking up the leaves, and
+gathering the fruit (except that on Kapchack's tree), now mowing the
+grass, according to the season, now weeding the long gravel path at the
+side under the sheltering wall, up and down which the happy pair had
+walked in the winters so long ago. The butterflies flew over, the
+swallows alighted on the topmost twigs of the tall pear-tree and
+twittered sweetly, the spiders spun their webs, or came floating down on
+gossamer year after year, but he did not notice that they were not the
+same butterflies or the same swallows which had been there in his
+youth. Everything was the same to him within the orchard, however much
+the world might change without its walls.
+
+Why, the very houses in the village close by had many of them fallen and
+been rebuilt; there was scarcely a resident left who dwelt there then;
+even the ancient and unchangeable church was not the same--it had been
+renovated; why, even the everlasting hills were different, for the
+slopes were now in many places ploughed, and grew oats where nothing but
+sheep had fed. But all within the orchard was the same; his lady, too,
+was the same without doubt, and her light step would sooner or later
+come down the footpath to her lover. This was the story Bevis's papa
+told him afterwards.
+
+They had some difficulty in fastening up the horse, until they pulled
+some hay from a hayrick, and spread it before him, for like Bevis he had
+to be bribed with cake, as it were, before he would be good. They then
+knocked at the front door, which was propped up with a beam of timber,
+but no one answered, nor did even a dog bark at the noise; indeed, the
+dog's kennel had entirely disappeared, and only a piece of the staple to
+which his chain had been fastened remained, a mere rusty stump in the
+wall. It was not possible to look into this room, because the broken
+windows were blocked with old sacks to keep out the draught and rain;
+but the window of the parlour was open, the panes all broken, and the
+casement loose, so that it must have swung and banged with the wind.
+
+Within, the ceiling had fallen upon the table, and the chairs had
+mouldered away; the looking-glass on the mantelpiece was hidden with
+cobwebs, the cobwebs themselves disused; for as they collected the dust,
+the spiders at last left them to spin new ones elsewhere. The carpet, if
+it remained, was concealed by the dead leaves which had been carried in
+by the gales. On these lay one or two picture frames, the back part
+upwards, the cords had rotted from the nails, and as they dropped so
+they stayed. In a punch-bowl of ancient ware, which stood upon the old
+piano untouched all these years, a robin had had his nest. After Bevis
+had been lifted up to the window-ledge to look in at this desolation,
+they went on down towards the orchard, as if the old gentleman was not
+within he was certain to be there.
+
+They found the gate of the orchard open--rather an unusual thing, as he
+generally kept it locked, even when at work inside--and as they stepped
+in, they saw a modern double-barrel gun leant against a tree. A little
+farther, and Bevis caught sight of Kapchack's nest, like a wooden castle
+in the boughs, and clapped his hands with delight. But there was a
+ladder against Kapchack's tree, a thing which had not been seen there
+these years and years, and underneath the tree was the old farmer
+himself, pale as his own white beard, and only kept from falling to the
+ground by the strong arms of a young gentleman who upheld him. They
+immediately ran forward to see what was the matter.
+
+Now it had happened in this way. It will be recollected that when the
+keeper fell from the dead oak-tree, he not only disabled himself, but
+his gun going off shot the dogs. Thus when the heir to the estate came
+down the same evening, he found that there was neither dog nor keeper to
+go round with him the next day. But when the morning came, not to be
+deprived of his sport, he took his gun and went forth alone into the
+fields. He did not find much game, but he shot two or three partridges
+and a rabbit, and he was so tempted by the crowds of wood-pigeons that
+were about (parties from Choo Hoo's army out foraging), that he fired
+away the remaining cartridges in his pocket at them.
+
+So he found himself early in the day without a cartridge, and was just
+thinking of walking back to the house for some more, when the shadow of
+the eclipse came over. He stayed leaning against a gate to watch the
+sun, and presently as he was looking up at it a hare ran between his
+legs--so near, that had he seen her coming he could have caught her with
+his hands.
+
+She only went a short way down the hedge, and he ran there, when she
+jumped out of the ditch, slipped by him, and went out fifty or sixty
+yards into the field, and sat up. How he now wished that he had not shot
+away all his ammunition at the wood-pigeons! While he looked at the hare
+she went on, crossed the field, and entered the hedge on the other side;
+he marked the spot, and hastened to get over the gate, with the
+intention of running home for cartridges. Hardly had he got over, than
+the hare came back again on that side of the hedge, passed close to
+him, and again leaped into the ditch. He turned to go after her, when
+out she came again, and crouched in a furrow only some twenty yards
+distant.
+
+Puzzled at this singular behaviour (for he had never seen a hare act
+like it before), he ran after her; and the curious part of it was, that
+although she did indeed run away, she did not go far--she kept only a
+few yards in front, just evading him. If she went into a hedge for
+shelter, she quickly came out again, and thus this singular chase
+continued for some time. He got quite hot running, for though he had not
+much hope of catching the creature, still he wanted to understand the
+cause of this conduct.
+
+By-and-by the zig-zag and uncertain line they took led them close to the
+wall of the old gentleman's orchard, when suddenly a fox started out
+from the hedge, and rushed after the hare. The hare, alarmed to the last
+degree, darted into a large drain which went under the orchard, and the
+fox went in after her. The young gentleman ran to the spot, but could
+not of course see far up the drain. Much excited, he ran round the
+orchard wall till he came to the gate, which chanced to be open, because
+the farmer that day, having discovered that the great bough of
+Kapchack's tree had been almost torn from the trunk by the gale, had
+just carried a fresh piece of timber in for a new prop, and having his
+hands full, what with the prop and the ladder to fix it, he could not
+shut the gate behind him. So the sportsman entered the orchard, left
+his gun leaning against a tree, and running down to see if he could find
+which way the drain went, came upon the old gentleman, and caught sight
+of the extraordinary nest of old King Kapchack.
+
+Now the reason Ulu (for it was the very hare Bevis was so fond of)
+played these fantastic freaks, and ran almost into the very hands of the
+sportsman, was because the cunning fox had driven her to do so for his
+own purposes.
+
+After he learnt the mysterious underground saying from the toad
+imprisoned in the elm, he kept on thinking, and thinking, what it could
+mean; but he could not make it out. He was the only fox who had a
+grandfather living, and he applied to his grandfather, who after
+pondering on the matter all day, advised him to keep his eyes open. The
+fox turned up his nostrils at this advice, which seemed to him quite
+superfluous. However, next day, instead of going to sleep as usual, he
+did keep his eyes open, and by-and-by saw a notch on the edge of the
+sun, which notch grew bigger, until the shadow of the eclipse came over
+the ground.
+
+At this he leaped up, recognising in a moment the dead day of the
+underground saying. He knew where Bevis's hare had her form, and
+immediately he raced across to her, though not clearly knowing what he
+was going to do; but as he crossed the fields he saw the sportsman,
+without any dogs and with an empty gun, leaning over the gate and gazing
+at the eclipse. With a snarl the fox drove Ulu from her form, and so
+worried her that she was obliged to run (to escape his teeth) right
+under the sportsman's legs, and thus to fulfil the saying: "The hare
+hunted the hunter".
+
+Even yet the fox did not know what was going to happen, or why he was
+doing this, for such is commonly the case during the progress of great
+events. The actors do not recognise the importance of the part they are
+playing. The age does not know what it is doing; posterity alone can
+appreciate it. But after a while, as the fox drove the hare out of the
+hedges, and met and faced her, and bewildered the poor creature, he
+observed that her zig-zag course, entirely unpremeditated, was leading
+them closer and closer to the orchard where Kapchack (whom he wished to
+overthrow) had his palace.
+
+Then beginning to see whither fate was carrying them, suddenly he darted
+out and drove the hare into the drain, and for safety followed her
+himself. He knew the drain very well, and that there was an outlet on
+the other side, having frequently visited the spot in secret in order to
+listen to what Kapchack was talking about. Ulu, quite beside herself
+with terror, rushed through the drain, leaving pieces of her fur against
+the projections of the stones, and escaped into the lane on the other
+side, and so into the fields there. The fox remained in the drain to
+hear what would happen.
+
+The sportsman ran round, entered the gate, and saw the old farmer
+trimming the prop, the ladder just placed against the tree, and caught
+sight of the palace of King Kapchack. As he approached a missel-thrush
+flew off--it was Eric; the farmer looked up at this, and saw the
+stranger, and was at first inclined to be very angry, for he had never
+been intruded upon before, but as the young gentleman at once began to
+apologise for the liberty, he overlooked it, and listened with interest
+to the story the sportsman told him of the vagaries of the hare. While
+they were talking the sportsman looked up several times at the nest
+above him, and felt an increasing curiosity to examine it. At last he
+expressed his wish; the farmer demurred, but the young gentleman pressed
+him so hard, and promised so faithfully not to touch anything, that at
+last the farmer let him go up the ladder, which he had only just put
+there, and which he had not himself as yet ascended.
+
+The young gentleman accordingly went up the ladder, being the first who
+had been in that tree for years, and having examined and admired the
+nest, he was just going to descend, when he stayed a moment to look at
+the fractured bough. The great bough had not broken right off, but as
+the prop gave way beneath it had split at the part where it joined the
+trunk, leaving an open space, and revealing a hollow in the tree. In
+this hollow something caught his eye; he put in his hand and drew forth
+a locket, to which an old and faded letter was attached by a mouldy
+ribbon twisted round it. He cast this down to the aged farmer, who
+caught it in his hand, and instantly knew the locket which had
+disappeared so long ago.
+
+The gold was tarnished, but the diamonds were as bright as ever, and
+glittered in the light as the sun just then began to emerge from the
+eclipse. He opened the letter, scarce knowing what he did; the ink was
+faded and pale, but perfectly legible, for it had been in a dry place.
+The letter said that having tried in vain to get speech with him, and
+having faced all the vile slander and bitter remarks of the village for
+his sake, she had at last resolved to write and tell him that she was
+really and truly his own. In a moment of folly she had, indeed, accepted
+the locket, but that was all, and since the discovery she had twice sent
+it back, and it had twice been put on her dressing-table, so that she
+found it there in the morning (doubtless by the old woman, her aunt,
+bribed for the purpose).
+
+Then she thought that perhaps it would be better to give it to him (the
+farmer), else he might doubt that she had returned it; so she said, as
+he would not speak to her, she should leave it in the arbour, twisting
+the ribbon round her letter, and she begged him to throw the locket in
+the brook, and to believe her once again, or she should be miserable for
+life. But, if after this he still refused to speak to her, she would
+still stay a while and endeavour to obtain access to him; and if even
+then he remained so cruel, there was nothing left for her but to quit
+the village, and go to some distant relations in France. She would wait,
+she added, till the new moon shone in the sky, and then she must go, for
+she could no longer endure the insinuations which were circulated about
+her. Lest there should be any mistake she enclosed a copy of a note she
+had sent to the other gentleman, telling him that she should never
+speak to him again. Finally, she put the address of the village in
+France to which she was going, and begged and prayed him to write to
+her.
+
+When the poor old man had read these words, and saw that after all the
+playful magpie must have taken the glittering locket and placed it, not
+in his nest, but a chink of the tree; when he learned that all these
+years and years the girl he had so dearly loved must have been waiting
+with aching heart for a letter of forgiveness from him, the orchard swam
+round, as it were, before his eyes, he heard a rushing sound like a
+waterfall in his ears, the returning light of the sun went out again,
+and he fainted. Had it not been for the young gentleman, who caught him,
+he would have fallen to the ground, and it was just at this moment that
+Bevis and his papa arrived at the spot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE GREAT BATTLE.
+
+
+Early the same morning when Kapchack awoke, he was so much refreshed by
+the sound slumber he had enjoyed, that much of his depression--the sharp
+edge of his pain as it were--had passed away. The natural vivacity of
+his disposition asserted itself, and seemed to respond to the glory of
+the sunshine. Hungry from his long fast, away he flew to well-known
+places reserved for his own especial feeding-ground, and having
+satisfied his appetite went up into a hawthorn, trimmed his feathers,
+and began to think things over.
+
+He at once decided that something of an exceptional character must be
+attempted in order to regain his authority. Half measures, delays, and
+intrigues were now in vain; some grand blow must be struck, such as
+would fill all hearts with admiration or dismay. Another treaty with
+Choo Hoo was out of the question, for the overbearing rebel would throw
+in his face the assassination of the envoy, and even could it be thought
+of, who could he entrust with the mission? His throne was completely
+surrounded with traitors. He ground his beak as he thought of them, and
+resolved that terrible indeed should be the vengeance he would take if
+once he got them again into his power. The hope of revenge was the
+keenest spur of all to him to adventure something bold and unexpected;
+the hope of revenge, and the determination that the house of Kapchack
+should not fall without an effort worthy of a monarch.
+
+He resolved to at once attack the mighty horde Choo Hoo commanded with
+the only troops he could get quickly together in this emergency. These
+were the rooks, the praetorian guard of his state, the faithful,
+courageous, and warlike tenth legion of his empire. No sooner did he
+thus finally resolve than his whole appearance seemed to change. His
+outward form in some degree reflected the spirit within. His feathers
+ruffled up, and their black and white shone with new colour. The glossy
+green of his tail gleamed in the sunshine. One eye indeed was gone, but
+the other sparkled with the fire of war; he scented the battle, and
+sharpened his bill against the bough.
+
+He only regretted that he had not taken this course before, instead of
+idling in the palace, and leaving his kingdom to the wiles of traitorous
+courtiers and delegates. If he had only bestirred himself like the
+ancient Kapchack of former days this extremity would not have arisen.
+Even yet it was not too late; war was a desperate and uncertain game,
+and it was not always the greatest army, in point of numbers, that
+rejoiced in the victory. He would trust in his fortune, and swoop down
+upon the enemy. Calling to his body-guard, he flew at once straight
+towards the plain, where, at that time in the morning, he knew the main
+body of the rooks would be foraging. Full of these resolutions he did
+not observe the maimed beetle lying helpless in the grass, but looking
+neither to the right nor the left, taking counsel of no one--for to whom
+could he apply for honest advice?--he winged his way swiftly onward.
+
+In about half-an-hour he reached the plain, and saw the rooks scattered
+over the ground; he rested here upon the lower branch of an elm, and
+sent forward a messenger, one of the eight magpies who attended him, to
+tell the commander-in-chief to wait upon him. Upon receiving the
+message, the general, hoping that at last the king had decided upon
+action, since so abrupt a summons to his side was somewhat unusual, flew
+hastily to the elm and saluted the monarch. Kapchack, without any
+preamble, announced his intention of forming the rooks into column, and
+falling at once upon the horde of barbarians. In the rooks, he said, and
+their loyal commander, lay the last hope of the state--he placed himself
+in their midst and relied upon them solely and alone.
+
+Ah Kurroo Khan, the commander-in-chief, could scarcely refrain from
+shouting with delight. He was not only wild with the joy of coming
+combat, but this straightforward speech and conduct went to his heart,
+and never in all his long, long reign had Kapchack so complete and
+autocratic an empire as at that moment over the rooks.
+
+Ah Kurroo, when he had in some degree expressed his pleasure at these
+commands, and the readiness with which he placed himself and his army
+at Kapchack's orders, proceeded first to pass the word to the legions to
+fall into their ranks, and next to inform the monarch of the position
+held by the enemy.
+
+They were, he said, dispersed in all directions foraging, and discipline
+was much relaxed, insomuch that several bands of them had even fallen to
+blows amongst themselves. To attack these scattered positions, which
+could individually be easily overwhelmed, would be a mistake, for these
+reasons. The advantage of destroying one or two such bands of marauders
+would be practically nothing, and while it was being accomplished the
+rest would carry the information to Choo Hoo, and he would assemble his
+enormous horde. Thus the chance of surprising and annihilating his army
+would be lost.
+
+But it appeared that Choo Hoo's son, Tu Kiu, who was also the second in
+command of the barbarians, finding that already the country was becoming
+denuded of supplies close to the camp, had during the previous day, at
+his father's orders, marched a large division--in itself an immense
+army--into a plain at a few miles' distance, which was surrounded with
+the hills, and out of sight from the camp. The best strategy therefore
+open to Kapchack, was either to assail Choo Hoo's camp, or else to fall
+upon the divisions of Tu Kiu.
+
+The difficulty in the case of the camp was that amidst the trees the
+assailants would suffer as much loss from crushing and confusion as
+would be inflicted upon the enemy. It was impossible, when once
+involved in a forest conflict, to know which way the issue was tending.
+The battle became split up into a thousand individual combats,
+discipline was of no avail, no officer could survey the scene or direct
+the movements, and a panic at any moment was only too probable. On the
+other hand, the division of Tu Kiu offered itself for annihilation. It
+was not only several miles distant from the main body, but a range of
+hills between prevented all view, and obstructed communication. There
+was a route by which the plain could be approached, through a narrow
+valley well sheltered with woods, which would screen the advancing
+troops from sight, and enable them to debouch at once into the midst of
+the invaders. Without doubt, thus suddenly attacked, Tu Kiu must give
+way; should victory declare for them decisively, it was easy to foretell
+what would happen. Tu Kiu falling back in disorder would confuse the
+regiments of Choo Hoo coming to his assistance, a panic would arise, and
+the incredible host of the barbarians would encumber each other's
+flight.
+
+Kapchack listened to the Khan with the deepest attention, approved of
+all he had put forward, and gave the order to attack Tu Kiu.
+
+Without a sound--for Ah Kurroo had strictly enjoined silence, lest the
+unusual noise should betray that something was intended--the legions
+fell into rank, and at the word of command, suppressing even the shout
+of joy which they wished so much to utter, moved in a dense column to
+the southwards. Kapchack, with his guards behind him, and Ah Kurroo
+Khan at his side, led the van.
+
+The Khan secretly congratulated himself as he flew upon his
+extraordinary good fortune, that he should thus enter the field of
+battle unhampered with any restrictions, and without the useless and
+unpleasant companionship of a political officer, appointed by the
+council of his nation. Well he knew that had Kapchack given the least
+notice of his intention, the rook council would have assembled and held
+interminable discussions upon the best method of carrying out the
+proposed object, ending, as usual, with a vote in which mere numbers
+prevailed, without any reference to reason or experience, and with the
+appointment of a state official to overlook the conduct of the general,
+and to see that he did not arrogate too much to himself.
+
+Thus in fact the rooks were accustomed to act, lest a commander should
+become too victorious. They liked indeed to win, and to destroy the
+enemy, and to occupy his territory, but they did not like all this to be
+accomplished by one man, but the rather, at the very zenith of his fame,
+provided him with an opportunity for disgracing himself, so that another
+might take his place and divide the glory. Ah Kurroo knew all this;
+imagine, then, his joy that Kapchack without calling parliament together
+had come direct to the camp, and ordered an immediate advance. Himself
+choosing the route, trusting to no guides, not even to his own
+intelligence department, Ah Kurroo pointed the way, and the legions
+with steady and unvarying flight followed their renowned commander.
+
+The noise of their wings resounded, the air was oppressed with their
+weight and the mighty mass in motion. Then did Kapchack indeed feel
+himself every feather a king. He glanced back--he could not see the
+rear-guard, so far did the host extend. His heart swelled with pride and
+eagerness for the fight. Now quitting the plain, they wound by a devious
+route through the hills--the general's object being to so manage the
+march that none of them should appear above the ridges. The woods upon
+the slopes concealed their motions, and the advance was executed without
+the least delay, though so great was their length in this extended order
+that when the head of the column entered the plain beyond, the
+rear-guard had not reached the hills behind. This rendered their front
+extremely narrow, but Ah Kurroo, pausing when he had gone half-a-mile
+into the plain, and when the enemy were already in sight, and actually
+beneath them, ordered the leading ranks to beat time with their wings,
+while their comrades came up.
+
+Thus, in a few minutes, the place where the narrow valley debouched into
+the hill-surrounded plain, was darkened with the deploying rooks.
+Kapchack, while waiting, saw beneath him the hurrying squadrons of Tu
+Kiu. From the cut corn, from the stubble, from the furrows (where
+already the plough had begun its work), from the green roots and second
+crops of clover, from the slopes of the hills around, and the distant
+ridges, the alarmed warriors were crowding to their standards.
+
+While peacefully foraging, happy in the sunshine and the abundance of
+food, without a thought of war and war's hazards, they suddenly found
+themselves exposed, all unprepared, to the fell assault of their black
+and mortal enemies. The sky above them seemed darkened with the legions,
+the hoarse shouts of command as the officers deployed their ranks, the
+beating of the air, struck them with terror. Some, indeed, overwhelmed
+with affright, cowered on the earth; a few of the outlying bands, who
+had wandered farthest, turned tail and fled over the ridges. But the
+majority, veterans in fight, though taken aback, and fully recognising
+the desperate circumstances under which they found themselves, hastened
+with all speed towards Tu Kiu, whose post was in a hedge, in which stood
+three low ash-trees by a barn. This was about the centre of the plain,
+and thither the squadrons and companies hurried, hoarsely shouting for
+their general.
+
+Tu Kiu, undismayed, and brave as became the son and heir of the mighty
+Emperor Choo Hoo, made the greatest efforts to get them into some kind
+of array and order. Most fell into rank of their own accord from long
+use and habit, but the misfortune was that no sooner had one regiment
+formed than fresh arrivals coming up threw all into disorder again. The
+crowd, the countless multitude overwhelmed itself; the air was filled,
+the earth covered, they struck against each other, and Tu Kiu, hoarse
+with shouting, was borne down, and the branch of ash upon which he
+stood broken with the weight of his own men. He struggled, he called, he
+cried; his voice was lost in the din and clangour.
+
+Ah Kurroo Khan, soaring with Kapchack, while the legions deployed,
+marked the immense confusion of the enemy's centre. He seized the
+moment, gave the command, and in one grand charge the whole army bore
+swiftly down upon Tu Kiu. Kapchack himself could scarce keep pace with
+the increasing velocity of the charge; he was wrapped, as it were,
+around with the dense and serried ranks, and found himself hurled in a
+moment into the heart of the fight. Fight, indeed, it could not be
+called.
+
+The solid phalanx of the rooks swept through the confused multitude
+before them, by their mere momentum cutting it completely in two, and
+crushing innumerable combatants underneath. In a minute, in less than a
+minute, the mighty host of Tu Kiu, the flower of Choo Hoo's army, was
+swept from the earth. He himself, wounded and half-stunned by the shock,
+was assisted from the scene by the unwearied efforts of his personal
+attendants.
+
+Each tried to save himself regardless of the rest; the oldest veteran,
+appalled by such utter defeat, could not force himself to turn again and
+gather about the leaders. One mass of fugitives filled the air; the
+slopes of the hills were covered with them. Still the solid phalanx of
+Kapchack pressed their rear, pushing them before it.
+
+Tu Kiu, who, weary and faint, had alighted for a moment upon an ancient
+grass-grown earthwork--a memorial of former wars--which crowned a hill,
+found it necessary to again flee with his utmost speed, lest he should
+be taken captive.
+
+It was now that the genius of Ah Kurroo Khan showed itself in its most
+brilliant aspect. Kapchack, intoxicated with battle, hurried the legions
+on to the slaughter--it was only by personal interference that the Khan
+could restrain the excited king. Ah Kurroo, calm and far-seeing in the
+very moment of victory, restrained the legions, held them in, and not
+without immense exertion succeeded in checking the pursuit, and
+retaining the phalanx in good order. To follow a host so completely
+routed was merely to slay the slain, and to waste the strength that
+might profitably be employed elsewhere. He conjectured that so soon as
+ever the news reached Choo Hoo, the emperor, burning with indignation,
+would arouse his camp, call his army together, and without waiting to
+rally Tu Kiu's division, fly immediately to retrieve this unexpected
+disaster. Thus, the victors must yet face a second enemy, far more
+numerous than the first, under better generalship, and prepared for the
+conflict.
+
+Ah Kurroo was, even now, by no means certain of the ultimate result. The
+rooks, indeed, were flushed with success, and impelled with all the
+vigour of victory; their opponents, however brave, must in some degree
+feel the depression attendant upon serious loss. But the veterans with
+Choo Hoo not only outnumbered them, and could easily outflank or
+entirely surround, but would also be under the influence of his personal
+leadership. They looked upon Choo Hoo, not as their king, or their
+general only, but as their prophet, and thus the desperate valour of
+fanaticism must be reckoned in addition to their natural courage.
+Instead, therefore, of relying simply upon force, Ah Kurroo, even in the
+excitement of the battle, formed new schemes, and aimed to out-general
+the emperor.
+
+He foresaw that Choo Hoo would at once march to the attack, and would
+come straight as a line to the battle-field. His plan was to wheel
+round, and, making a detour, escape the shock of Choo Hoo's army for the
+moment, and while Choo Hoo was looking for the legions that had
+overthrown his son, to fall upon and occupy his undefended camp. He was
+in hopes that when the barbarians found their rear threatened, and their
+camp in possession of the enemy, a panic would seize upon them.
+
+Kapchack, when he had a little recovered from the frenzy of the fray,
+fully concurred, and without a minute's delay Ah Kurroo proceeded to
+carry out this strategical operation. He drew off the legions for some
+distance by the same route they had come, and then, considering that he
+had gone far enough to avoid Choo Hoo, turned sharp to the left, and
+flew straight for the emperor's camp, sheltered from view on the side
+towards it by a wood, and in front by an isolated hill, also crowned
+with trees. Once over that hill, and Choo Hoo's camp must inevitably
+fall into their hands. With swift, steady flight, the dark legions
+approached the hill, and were now within half-a-mile of it, when to Ah
+Kurroo's surprise and mortification the van-guard of Choo Hoo appeared
+above it, advancing directly upon them.
+
+When the fugitives from the field of battle reached Choo Hoo, he could
+at first scarce restrain his indignation, for he had deemed the treaty
+in full force; he exclaimed against the perfidy of a Power which called
+itself civilised and reproached his host as barbarians, yet thus
+violated its solemn compacts. But recognising the gravity of the
+situation, and that there was no time to waste in words, he gave orders
+for the immediate assembly of his army, and while the officers carried
+out his command flew to a lofty fir to consider a few moments alone upon
+the course he should take.
+
+He quickly decided that to attempt to rally Tu Kiu's division would be
+in vain; he did not even care to protect its retreat, for as it had been
+taken so unawares, it must suffer the penalty of indiscretion. To march
+straight to the field of battle, and to encounter a solid phalanx of the
+best troops in the world, elated with victory, and led by a general like
+Ah Kurroo, and inspired, too, by the presence of their king, while his
+own army was dispirited at this unwonted reverse, would be courting
+defeat. He resolved to march at once, but to make a wide detour, and so
+to fall upon the rooks in their rear while they were pursuing Tu Kiu.
+The signal was given, and the vast host set out.
+
+Thus the two generals, striving to outwit each other, suddenly found
+themselves coming into direct collision. While fancying that they had
+arranged to avoid each other, they came, as it were, face to face, and
+so near, that Choo Hoo, flying at the head of his army, easily
+distinguished King Kapchack and the Khan. It seemed now inevitable that
+sheer force must decide between them.
+
+But Choo Hoo, the born soldier, no sooner cast his keen glance over the
+fields which still intervened, than he detected a fatal defect in
+Kapchack's position. The rooks, not expecting attack, were advancing in
+a long dense column, parallel with, and close to, a rising ground, all
+along the summit of which stood a row of fine beech-trees. Quick as
+thought, Choo Hoo commanded his centre to slacken their speed while
+facing across the line the rooks were pursuing. At the same time he sent
+for his left to come up at the double in extended order, so as to
+outflank Ah Kurroo's column, and then to push it, before it could
+deploy, bodily, and by mere force of numbers, against the beeches, where
+their wings entangled and their ranks broken by the boughs they must
+become confused. Then his right, coming up swiftly, would pass over, and
+sweep the Khan's disordered army before it.
+
+This manoeuvre, so well-conceived, was at once begun. The barbarian
+centre slackened over the hill, and their left, rushing forward,
+enclosed Ah Kurroo's column, and already bore down towards it, while the
+noise of their right could be heard advancing towards the beeches above,
+and on the other side of which it would pass. Ah Kurroo saw his
+danger--he could discover no possible escape from the trap in which he
+was caught, except in the desperate valour of his warriors. He shouted
+to them to increase their speed, and slightly swerving to his right,
+directed his course straight towards Choo Hoo himself. Seeing his
+design--to bear down the rebel emperor, or destroy him before the battle
+could well begin--Kapchack shouted with joy, and hurried forward to be
+the first to assail his rival.
+
+Already the advancing hosts seemed to feel the shock of the combat, when
+a shadow fell upon them, and they observed the eclipse of the sun. Till
+that moment, absorbed in the terrible work they were about, neither the
+rank and file nor the leaders had noticed the gradual progress of the
+dark semicircle over the sun's disk. The ominous shadow fell upon them,
+still more awful from its suddenness. A great horror seized the serried
+hosts. The prodigy in the heavens struck the conscience of each
+individual; with one consent they hesitated to engage in carnage with so
+terrible a sign above them.
+
+In the silence of the pause they heard the pheasants crow, and the fowls
+fly up to roost; the lesser birds hastened to the thickets. A strange
+dulness stole over their senses, they drooped, as it were; the
+barbarians sank to the lower atmosphere; the rooks, likewise overcome
+with this mysterious lassitude, ceased to keep their regular ranks, and
+some even settled on the beeches.
+
+Choo Hoo himself struggled in vain against the omen; his mighty mind
+refused to succumb to an accident like this; but his host was not so
+bold of thought. With desperate efforts he managed indeed to shake off
+the physical torpor which endeavoured to master him; he shouted
+"Koos-takke!" but for the first time there was no response. The
+barbarians, superstitious as they were ignorant, fell back, and lost
+that unity of purpose which is the soul of an army. The very
+superstition and fanaticism which had been his strength was now Choo
+Hoo's weakness. His host visibly melted before his eyes; the vast mass
+dissolved; the ranks became mixed together, without order or cohesion.
+Rage overpowered him; he stormed; he raved till his voice from the
+strain became inaudible. The barbarians were cowed, and did not heed
+him.
+
+The rooks, less superstitious, because more civilised, could not,
+nevertheless, view the appearance of the sun without dismay, but as
+their elders were accustomed to watch the sky, and to deduce from its
+aspect the proper time for nesting, they were not so over-mastered with
+terror as the enemy; but they were equally subjected by the mysterious
+desire of rest which seized upon them. They could not advance; they
+could scarce float in the air; some, as already observed, sought the
+branches of the beeches. Ah Kurroo, however, bearing up as well as he
+could against this strange languor, flew to and fro along the disordered
+ranks, begging them to stand firm, and at least close up if they could
+not advance, assuring them that the shadow would shortly pass, and that
+if they could only retain their ranks victory was certain, for the
+barbarians were utterly demoralised.
+
+The drowsy rooks mechanically obeyed his orders, they closed their ranks
+as well as they could; they even feebly cheered him. But more than this
+they could not do. Above them the sun was blotted out, all but a rim of
+effulgent light, from which shone forth terrible and threatening flames.
+Some whispered that they saw the stars. Suddenly while they gazed,
+oppressed with awe, the woods rang with a loud cry, uttered by Kapchack.
+
+The king, excited beyond measure, easily withstood the slumberous
+heaviness which the rest could scarce sustain. He watched the efforts of
+the Khan with increasing impatience and anger. Then seeing that although
+the army closed up it did not move, he lost all control of himself. He
+shouted his defiance of the rebels before him, and rushed alone--without
+one single attendant--across the field towards Choo Hoo. In amazement at
+his temerity, the rooks watched him as if paralysed for a moment. Choo
+Hoo himself could scarce face such supernatural courage; when suddenly
+the rooks, as if moved by one impulse, advanced. The clangour of their
+wings resounded, a hoarse shout arose from their throats, they strained
+every nerve to overtake and assist their king.
+
+Kapchack, wild with desperate courage, was within twenty yards of Choo
+Hoo, when the dense column of his own army passed him and crushed into
+the demoralised multitude of the enemy, as a tree overthrown by the
+wind crushes the bushes beneath it. Kapchack himself whirled round and
+round, and borne he knew not whither, scarce recognised whom he struck,
+but wreaked his vengeance till his sinews failed him, and he was forced
+to hold from sheer weariness. It is not possible to describe the scene
+that now took place. The whole plain, the woods, the fields, were hidden
+with the hurrying mass of the fugitives, above and mixed with whom the
+black and terrible legions dealt destruction.
+
+Widening out as it fled, the host of Choo Hoo was soon scattered over
+miles of country. None stayed to aid another; none even asked the other
+the best route to a place of safety; all was haste and horror. The
+pursuit, indeed, only ended with evening; for seven long hours the
+victors sated their thirst for slaughter, and would hardly have stayed
+even then had not the disjointed and weary fragments of Choo Hoo's army
+found some refuge now in a forest.
+
+Choo Hoo himself only escaped from the ruck by his extraordinary
+personal strength; once free from the confused mass, his speed, in which
+he surpassed all the barbarians, enabled him to easily avoid capture.
+But as he flew his heart was dead within him, for there was no hope of
+retrieving this overwhelming disaster.
+
+Meantime King Kapchack, when compelled by sheer physical weariness to
+fall out from the pursuit, came down and rested upon an oak. While he
+sat there alone and felt his strength returning, the sun began to come
+forth again from the shadow, and to light up the land with renewed
+brilliance. His attendants, who had now discovered his whereabouts,
+crowding round him with their congratulations, seized upon this
+circumstance as a fortunate omen. The dark shadow, they said, was past;
+like the sun, Kapchack had emerged to shine brighter than before. For
+once, indeed, the voice of flattery could not over-estimate the
+magnitude of this glorious victory.
+
+It utterly destroyed the invading host, which for years had worked its
+way slowly into the land. It destroyed the prestige of Choo Hoo; never
+again would his race regard him as their invincible chief. It raised the
+reputation of King Kapchack to the skies. It crushed all domestic
+treason with one blow. If Kapchack was king before, now he was
+absolutely autocratic.
+
+Where now was Ki Ki, the vainglorious hawk who had deemed that without
+his aid nothing could be accomplished? Where the villainous crow, the
+sombre and dark designing Kauc, whose murderous poniard would be thrust
+into his own breast with envy? Where the cunning weasel, whose intrigues
+were swept away like spiders' webs? Where were they all? They were
+utterly at Kapchack's mercy. Mercy indeed! at his _mercy_--their instant
+execution was already certain. His body-guard, crowding about him,
+already began the paean.
+
+He set out to return to his palace, flushed with a victory of which
+history furnishes no parallel. It would have been well if he had
+continued in this intention to at once return, summon his council, and
+proclaim the traitors. Had he gone direct thither he must have met Eric,
+the missel-thrush, who alone was permitted to frequent the orchard.
+Eric, alarmed at seeing a stranger in the orchard, and at the
+unprecedented circumstance of his ascending the ladder into the
+apple-tree, had started away to find the king, and warn him that
+something unusual was happening, and not to return till the coast was
+clear. He had not yet heard of the battle, or rather double battle that
+morning, nor did he know which way Kapchack had gone, but he considered
+that most probably the woodpecker could tell him, and therefore flew
+direct towards the copse to inquire.
+
+If Kapchack had continued his flight straight to his palace he would
+have passed over the copse, and the missel-thrush would have seen him
+and delivered his message. But as he drew near home Kapchack saw the
+clump of trees which belonged to Ki Ki not far distant upon his right.
+The fell desire of vengeance seized upon him; he turned aside, intending
+to kill Ki Ki with his own beak, but upon approaching nearer he saw that
+the trees were vacant. Ki Ki, indeed, had had notice of the victory from
+his retainers soaring in the air, and guessing that the king's first
+step would be to destroy him, had instantly fled. Kapchack, seeing that
+the hawk was not there, again pursued his return journey, but meantime
+the missel-thrush had passed him.
+
+The king was now within a few hundred yards of his fortress, the dome of
+his palace was already visible, and the voices of his attendants rose
+higher and higher in their strain of victory. The missel-thrush had seen
+the woodpecker, who informed him that Kapchack had just passed, and like
+the wind he rushed back to the orchard. But all the speed of his wings
+was in vain, he could not quite overtake the monarch; he shouted, he
+shrieked, but the song of triumph drowned his cries. Kapchack was close
+to the wall of the orchard.
+
+At the same time Bevis, not caring much about the locket or the letter,
+or the old gentleman (whose history he had not yet heard), while his
+papa spoke to, and aroused the old gentleman from his swoon, had slipped
+back towards the orchard-gate where was an irresistible attraction. This
+was the sportsman's double-barrelled gun, leant there against a tree. He
+could scarce keep his hands off it; he walked round it; touched it;
+looked about to see if any one was watching, and was just on the point
+of taking hold of it, when the old gentleman rushed past, but seeing the
+gun, stopped and seized it. Finding, however, that it was not loaded, he
+threw it aside, and went on towards the house. In a minute he returned
+with the long single-barrelled gun, with which, so many years before, he
+had vowed to shoot his rival.
+
+He had heard the magpie returning, and mad with anger--since it was the
+magpie's theft which had thus destroyed the happiness of his life, for
+all might have been well had he had the letter--he hastened for his
+gun. As he came to the orchard-gate, Kapchack, with his followers behind
+him, neared the wall. The avenger looked along his gun, pulled the
+trigger, and the report echoed from the empty, hollow house. His aim was
+uncertain in the agony of his mind, and even then Kapchack almost
+escaped, but one single pellet, glancing from the bough of an
+apple-tree, struck his head, and he fell with darkness in his eyes.
+
+The old gentleman rushed to the spot, he beat the senseless body with
+the butt of his gun till the stock snapped; then he jumped on it, and
+stamped the dead bird into a shapeless remnant upon the ground. At this
+spectacle Bevis, who, although he was always talking of shooting and
+killing, could not bear to see anything really hurt, burst out into a
+passion of tears, lamenting the magpie, and gathering up some of the
+feathers. Nor could they pacify him till they found him a ripe and
+golden King Pippin apple to eat.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+PALACE SECRETS.
+
+
+Next day Sir Bevis, so soon as ever he could get away after dinner, and
+without waiting for the noontide heat to diminish, set out in all haste
+for the copse, taking with him his cannon-stick. He was full of
+curiosity to know what would happen now that Kapchack was dead, who
+would now be king, and everything about it, all of which he knew he
+should learn from the squirrel. He took his cannon-stick with him
+heavily loaded, and the charge rammed home well, meaning to shoot the
+weasel; if the wretch would not come out when called upon to receive the
+due punishment of his crimes, he would bang it off into his hole in the
+tree, and, perhaps, some of the shot would reach the skulking vagabond.
+
+He went up the field, reached the great oak-tree, and crossed over to
+the corner of the wheat-field, but neither the hare nor the dragon-fly
+were waiting about to conduct him, as was their duty. He sat down on the
+grass to see if they would come to him, but although two dragon-flies
+passed over they did not stay to speak, but went on their journey.
+Neither of them was his guide, but they both went towards the copse.
+Immediately afterwards a humble-bee came along, droning and talking to
+himself as he flew. "Where is the hare?" said Bevis; "and where is the
+dragon-fly?" "Buzz," said the humble-bee, "the usual course on occasions
+like the present--buzz--zz," the sound of his voice died away as he went
+past without replying. Three swallows swept by next at a great pace,
+chattering as they flew.
+
+"Where's my dragon-fly?" said Bevis, but they were too busy to heed him.
+Presently a dove flew over too high to speak to, and then a
+missel-thrush, and soon afterwards ten rooks, after whom came a whole
+bevy of starlings, and behind these a train of finches. Next a thrush
+came along the low hedge, then two blackbirds, all so quick that Bevis
+could not make them understand him. A crow too appeared, but catching
+sight of Bevis's cannon-stick, he smelt the powder, wheeled round and
+went by far to the left hand out of talking distance. Still more
+starlings rushed overhead, and Bevis waved his hand to them, but it was
+no use. Just afterwards he saw a thrush coming, so he jumped up, pointed
+his cannon-stick, and said he would shoot if the thrush did not stop.
+Much frightened, the thrush immediately perched on the hedge, and begged
+Bevis not to kill him, for he remembered the fate of his relation who
+was shot with the same cannon.
+
+"Tell me where the hare is, and where is my dragon-fly," said Bevis;
+"and why are all the people hurrying away towards the copse, and why
+don't they stop and tell me, and what is all this about?"
+
+"I do not know exactly where the hare is," said the
+thrush, "but I suppose she is in the copse too, and I have no doubt at
+all the dragon-fly is there, and I am going myself so soon as you will
+let me."
+
+"Why are you all going to the copse?" said Bevis. "Is it because
+Kapchack is dead?"
+
+"Yes," said the thrush, "it is because the king is dead, and there is
+going to be an election, that is if there is time, or if it can be
+managed; for it is expected that Choo Hoo will return now Kapchack is
+overthrown."
+
+"When did Choo Hoo go, then?" asked Bevis--for he had not yet heard of
+the battle. So the thrush told him all about it, and how strange it was
+that King Kapchack in the hour of victory should be slain by the very
+man who for so many years had protected him. The thrush said that the
+news had no doubt reached Choo Hoo very soon afterwards, and everybody
+expected that the barbarians would gather together again, and come back
+to take vengeance, and so, as they now had no king or leader, they were
+all hastening to the copse to take sanctuary from Choo Hoo. The only
+doubt was whether the emperor would respect the enclosure hitherto
+regarded by all the civilised people as a place where they could meet
+without danger. The barbarians knew nothing of these tacit agreements,
+which make communication so easy and pleasant among educated people.
+Still there was nothing else they could do.
+
+"And what is going on in the copse?" said Bevis, "and who is to be
+king?"
+
+"I cannot tell you," said the thrush, "I was just going to see, and if
+possible to vote against Ki Ki, who treacherously slew my friend and
+relation the ambassador, whom the king sent to Choo Hoo."
+
+"We will go together," said Bevis, "and you can tell me some more about
+it as we go along. One thing is quite certain, the weasel will never be
+king."
+
+"Before I go with you," said the thrush, "you must please leave off
+pointing that dreadful cannon-stick at me, else I shall not be able to
+converse freely."
+
+So Bevis left off pointing it, and carried his gun over his shoulder,
+just as he had seen his papa carry his. The thrush flew slowly along
+beside him, but he could not quite manage to keep at exactly the same
+pace; his wings would carry him faster than Bevis walked, so he stopped
+on the ground every now and then for Bevis to come up.
+
+"I am sure," he said, "I hope the weasel will not be king, and there is
+a rumour going about that he is disabled by some accident he has met
+with. But I greatly fear myself that he will be, notwithstanding what
+you say, for he is so cunning, and has so terrible a reputation that no
+one can prevail against him."
+
+"Pooh!" said Bevis, "don't tell me such stuff and rubbish; I say the
+weasel shall not be king, for I am going to shoot him as dead as any
+nail; after which Pan shall tear him into twenty pieces."
+
+"But you tried to kill him once before, did you not?" said the thrush.
+
+"You hold your tongue, this minute, you impudent thrush," said Bevis, in
+a great rage; and he took his cannon-stick off his shoulder, and looked
+so black that the thrush, alarmed for his safety, took advantage of a
+hedge being near, and slipped through it in a second.
+
+"I'm very glad you're gone," said Bevis, calling after him, "but I'll
+shoot you next time I see you for leaving me without permission."
+
+"And that will just serve him right," said a blackbird, as he hastened
+by, "for the thrush is the greediest bird in the world, and is always
+poaching about the places that belong to me."
+
+Bevis was now very near the copse, and had not the least difficulty in
+finding the little bridge over the ditch, but he stopped before he
+crossed it, to listen to the noise there was inside among the trees.
+Whenever he had come before in the afternoon it was always so quiet, but
+now there was a perfect uproar of talking. Hundreds of starlings were
+chattering in the fir-trees, and flying round the branches with
+incessant motion. In the thick hedge which enclosed it there were crowds
+of greenfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, yellow-hammers, and sparrows,
+who never ceased talking. Up in the elms there were a number of rooks,
+who were deliberating in a solemn manner; it was indeed the rook council
+who had met there to consider as the safest place, the very council that
+Ah Kurroo so much disliked. Two or three dozen wood-pigeons cowered on
+the lower branches of some ashes; they were the aliens who dwelt in
+Kapchack's kingdom. Rabbits were rushing about in all directions;
+dragon-flies darting up and down with messages; humble-bees droning at
+every corner; the woodpecker yelled out his views in the midst of the
+wood; everything was in confusion.
+
+As Bevis walked into the copse along the green track, with the tall
+thistles and the fern on each side of him, he caught little bits here
+and there of what they were saying; it was always the same, who was
+going to be king, and what would Choo Hoo do? How long would it be
+before the emperor's army could be got together again to come sweeping
+back and exact a dire vengeance for its defeat? Where was the weasel?
+What was the last atrocity Ki Ki had committed? Had anybody heard
+anything more of Kauc, the crow? Had Prince Tchack-tchack arrived? Had
+the rooks made up their mind?--and so on, till Bevis shook his head and
+held his hands to his ears, so tremendous was the din.
+
+Just then he saw his own dragon-fly and beckoned to him; the dragon-fly
+came at once. "What is all this?" began Bevis.
+
+"My dear, how are you?" interrupted the dragon-fly. "I am so busy," and
+off he went again.
+
+"Well I never!" said Bevis, getting excited like the rest, when the hare
+came across the path and stopped to speak to him. "What is going on?"
+said Bevis.
+
+"That is just what I want to know," said the hare. "Everybody says that
+somebody is going to do something, but what it is they do not themselves
+know. There never was such a confusion, and, for aught we know, Choo
+Hoo may be here any minute, and there's not a single regiment in
+position."
+
+"Dear me!" said Bevis, "why ever don't they begin?"
+
+"I cannot tell you," said the hare. "I don't think anybody knows how:
+and the fact is, they are all thinking about who shall be king, and
+intriguing for the sovereignty, when they should be thinking of their
+country, and providing for its defence."
+
+"And who is to be king?" said Bevis. "The weasel shall not, that is
+certain; for I am just this very minute going to shoot into his hole!"
+
+"It is no use to do that," said the hare; "though I am very glad to hear
+you say that he shall not be king. But it is no use shooting into his
+hole, for he is not there, nor anywhere in his old haunts, and we are
+all very suspicious as to what he is about. I think you had better come
+and see the squirrel; he is in the raspberries, and the jay is there
+too, and there is an immense deal of talking going on."
+
+"So I will," said Bevis; and he followed the hare to the raspberries
+(all the fruit was now gone), and found the squirrel, who advanced to
+welcome him, and the jay up in the oak. Being hot with walking in the
+sun, Bevis sat down on the moss at the foot of the oak, and leaned back
+against the tree whose beautiful boughs cast so pleasant a shadow. The
+hare came close to him on one side, and the squirrel the other, and the
+jay perched just overhead, and they all began to tell him the news at
+once. Not able to understand what they meant while they were all
+speaking together, Bevis held up his hands and begged them to stop a
+minute, and then asked the squirrel to explain.
+
+"So I will," said the squirrel, "though I ought to be hiding my stores
+as fast as I can from the voracious host of barbarians, who will be here
+in a minute. But what am I to do? for I cannot get anybody to help
+me--everybody is thinking about himself."
+
+"But the story--the story!" said Bevis; "tell me all about it."
+
+"Well, since I can do nothing," said the squirrel, "I suppose I must,
+though there is not a great deal to tell. You must know, then, that the
+news of Kapchack's death got here in half-a-minute, for the
+missel-thrush came with it, and from here it was all over the country in
+less than an hour. Everybody knew it except Ah Kurroo Khan and the
+victorious legions, and Choo Hoo and the flying enemy. These were so
+busy, the one with slaughter, and the other with trying to escape, that
+they could not listen to what the swifts at once flew to tell them, but
+continued to fight and fly away till the evening, when the fragments of
+Choo Hoo's army took refuge in the forest. Even then they would not
+believe so extraordinary a circumstance, but regarded the account that
+had reached them as one of the rumours which always fly about at such
+times. Choo Hoo continued to go from tree to tree deeper and deeper into
+the forest.
+
+"Ah Kurroo Khan, calling off his legions, since nothing further could be
+done, drew his victorious army back to some isolated clumps and
+avenues, where they intended to make their camp for the night. But in
+the course of an hour the rumours increased so much, and so many
+messengers arrived with the same intelligence and additional
+particulars, that Ah Kurroo Khan, dreading lest it should be true, sent
+out a squadron to ascertain the facts.
+
+"Long before it could return, an envoy arrived from the council of the
+rooks themselves, with an order to Ah Kurroo Khan to retire at once,
+notwithstanding the lateness of the evening, and that the sun was
+sinking.
+
+"With much disappointment (for he had hoped to continue the pursuit, and
+entirely exterminate the barbarians on the morrow), and not without
+forebodings as to his own fate, Ah Kurroo reluctantly communicated the
+order to his troops. The wearied legions accordingly started on their
+homeward journey, slowly passing over the fields which had witnessed the
+conquest of the morning. The sun had already sunk when their van reached
+the rooks' city, and Ah Kurroo came to the front to deliver the report
+he had prepared upon his way. As he approached the trees where the
+council of the rooks was sitting, in dark and ominous silence, an
+official stopped him, and informed him that he had been dismissed from
+the command, degraded from the rank he held, and the title of Khan taken
+from him. He was to retire to a solitary tree at some distance, and
+consider himself under arrest.
+
+"Thus they punished him for daring to move without their orders (even at
+the direct instance of the king), and thus was he rewarded for winning
+the greatest battle known to history. The legions were immediately
+disbanded, and each individual ordered to his home. Meantime, the news
+had at last reached Choo Hoo, but neither he, nor the fugitive host,
+could believe it, till there arrived some of the aliens who had dwelt
+with us, and who assured the barbarians that it was correct. Directly
+afterwards, the intelligence was confirmed by the retreat of Ah Kurroo
+Khan.
+
+"All that livelong night Choo Hoo, once more beginning to hope, flew to
+and fro from tree to tree, endeavouring to animate his host afresh with
+spirit for the fight; and as messengers continually came in with fresh
+particulars of the confusion in Kapchack's kingdom, he began to succeed.
+Early this morning, when the sun rose, the mystic syllables,
+'Koos-takke,' resounded once more; the forest was alive, and echoed with
+the clattering of their wings, as the army drew together and re-formed
+its ranks. The barbarians, easily moved by omens, saw in the
+extraordinary death of Kapchack the very hand of fate. Once more they
+believed in their emperor; once more Choo Hoo advanced at their head.
+
+"Not half-an-hour since a starling came in with the intelligence that
+Choo Hoo's advanced guard had already reached his old camp. We suppose
+the barbarians will halt there a little while for refreshment, and then
+move down upon us in a mass. Would you believe it, instead of preparing
+for defence, the whole state is rent with faction and intrigue! Yonder
+the council of the rooks, wise as they are, are indeed deliberating,
+having retired here for greater safety lest their discussion should be
+suddenly interrupted by the enemy; but the subject of this discussion is
+not how to defend the country, but what punishment they shall inflict
+upon Ah Kurroo. There is a difference of opinion. Some hold that the
+established penalty for his offence is to break his wings and hurl him
+helpless from the top of the tallest elm. Some, more merciful, are for
+banishment, that he be outlawed, and compelled to build his nest and
+roost on an isolated tree, exposed to all the insults of the crows. The
+older members of the council, great sticklers for tradition, maintain
+that the ancient and only adequate punishment is the hanging up of the
+offender by one leg to a dead and projecting branch, there to dangle and
+die of starvation, a terror to all such evil-doers.
+
+"While they thus talk of torture the enemy is in sight, and their own
+army, it is more than whispered, is discontented and angry at the
+reception meted out to the victorious Khan. But this, alas! is not all.
+
+"So soon as ever Ki Ki was certain that Kapchack was really dead, he
+returned, and he has gathered to himself a crew of the most terrible
+ruffians you ever beheld. He has got about him all the scum of the
+earth; all the blackguards, villains, vermin, cut-throat scoundrels have
+rallied to his standard; as the old proverb says: 'Birds of a feather
+flock together'. He has taken possession of the firs, yonder, on the
+slope (which are the property of my friend the jay), and which command
+my copse. He has proclaimed himself king, and seeks to obtain
+confirmation of his title by terrorism. Already he has twice sent forth
+his murderous banditti, who, scouring the fields, have committed fearful
+havoc upon defenceless creatures. I am in dread every minute lest he
+should descend upon the copse itself, for he respects no law of earth or
+heaven.
+
+"At the same time Kauc, the crow, has come forth in his true colours; he
+too has proclaimed himself king. He has taken his stand in the trees by
+the Long Pond--you came close by them just now--they are scarce a
+quarter of a mile hence. To our astonishment, he has got at least thrice
+as many retainers as he is entered to have in the roll which was read
+before Kapchack. He had reckoned, it seems, upon the assistance of
+Cloctaw, of St. Paul's, who has great influence among the jackdaws.
+Cloctaw, however, avoided him and came hither, and Kauc vows he will
+destroy him.
+
+"I know not which is most formidable, the violent Ki Ki or the ruthless
+Kauc. The latter, I feel sure, is only waiting till he sees an opening
+to rush in and slaughter us. There is not a generous sentiment in his
+breast; he would not spare the fledgling in the nest. Between these two,
+one on either hand, we are indeed in a fearful predicament; Choo Hoo is
+to be preferred to them.
+
+"Whether Raoul, the rat, intends to strike a blow for the throne, I know
+not; he is here; he bears an evil character, but for myself I like him
+far better than Kauc or Ki Ki. The fox is, of course, out of the
+question. But my great fear is the weasel; should he obtain the throne
+which of us will be safe? By night as well as by day we shall be
+decimated. His Machiavellian schemes, indeed, have thus far gone astray,
+and although he could arrange for everything, he could not foresee his
+own illness. Yet, though lying by now with a broken rib and other
+injuries, I have not the least doubt he is weaving new webs and
+preparing fresh deceptions. Thus, while the invader threatens us hourly,
+the kingdom of Kapchack is torn to pieces with the dissensions of those
+who should defend it."
+
+"But why does not Prince Tchack-tchack take the throne and be king?"
+said Bevis. "He is the heir; he is Kapchack's son."
+
+"So he ought," said the squirrel; "but the truth is, people are weary of
+the rule of the magpies; nor is this young and flighty prince capable of
+taking up the reins of state. He is vain, and dissipated, and
+uncertain--no one can depend upon him. And besides, even if they could,
+have you not heard the extraordinary secret he has let out, like the
+great lout he is, and of which everybody is talking?"
+
+"No," said Bevis; "I have heard nothing--how should I? I have only just
+got here. What is the secret? Tell me the secret this minute."
+
+"To think," said the jay, "that we should have been so long deceived.
+But I had my suspicions."
+
+"I cannot say I suspected anything," said the hare; "but I remember Kauc
+did make a very curious remark on one occasion; he was always looking
+askew into things and places that did not concern him, so that I did
+not much heed, especially as he had started slanders about me."
+
+"Well," said the jay, "the truth is, my wife--she is, you know, the most
+beautiful creature in the world, and quite turned the head of the late
+monarch--told me that she all along had her ideas; and Kapchack himself
+indeed told her in confidence that he was not so old as he looked, being
+jealous of the youth of Tchack-tchack, who objected to having his eye
+pecked out, and his feathers ruffled, as if he had any claims to be
+handsome;" and the jay surveyed his own bright feathers with pride.
+
+"You stupids!" said Bevis, "what is the use of talking in that way? I
+want to know the secret."
+
+"There is no secret," said the jay; "and I am not stupid. How can there
+be a secret, when everybody knows it?"
+
+"Hush! hush!" said the hare, trying to make peace; "do not let us
+quarrel, at all events, if all the rest do."
+
+"No," said the squirrel; "certainly not."
+
+"Certainly not," repeated the jay.
+
+"Well, what is it, then?" said Bevis, still frowning.
+
+"The fact is," said the squirrel, "Tchack-tchack has babbled out the
+great state secret. I myself knew a little of it previously, having
+overheard the crow muttering to himself--as Ulu said, he peers into
+things that do not concern him. And, if you remember, Bevis, I was in a
+great fright one day when I nearly let it out myself. Now Prince
+Tchack-tchack, finding that he could not get the crown, has babbled
+everything in his rage, and the beautiful jay has told us many things
+that prove it to be true. It now turns out that Kapchack was not
+Kapchack at all."
+
+"Not Kapchack!" said Bevis. "How could Kapchack not be Kapchack, when he
+was Kapchack?"
+
+"Kapchack could not be Kapchack," said the squirrel, "because he never
+was Kapchack."
+
+"Then who was Kapchack?" said Bevis, in amazement.
+
+"Well, he was not who he was," said the squirrel; "and I will tell you
+why it was that he was not, if you will listen, and not keep
+interrupting, and asking questions. The reed once told you how stupid it
+is to ask questions; you would understand everything very well, if you
+did not trouble to make inquiries. The king who is just dead, and who
+was called Kapchack, was not Kapchack, because the real old original
+Kapchack died forty years ago."
+
+"What?" said Bevis.
+
+"Extraordinary!" said the jay.
+
+"Extraordinary!" said the hare.
+
+"But true," said the squirrel. "The real old original Kapchack, the
+cleverest, cunningest, most consummate schemer who ever lived, who built
+the palace in the orchard, and who played such fantastic freaks before
+the loving couple, who won their hearts, and stole their locket and
+separated them for ever (thinking that would serve his purpose best,
+since if they married they would forget him, and have other things to
+think about, while if they were apart he should be regarded as a sacred
+souvenir), this marvellous genius, the founder of so illustrious a
+family, whose dominion stretched from here to the sea--I tell you that
+_this_ Kapchack, the real old original one, died forty years ago.
+
+"But before he died, being so extremely cunning, he made provision for
+the continuation of himself in this way. He reflected that he was very
+old, and that a good deal of the dignity he enjoyed was due to that
+fact. The owner of the orchard and warden of his fortress regarded him
+with so much affection, because in his youth he had capered before the
+young lady whom he loved. It was not possible for the old gentleman to
+transfer this affection to a young and giddy magpie, who had not seen
+any of these former things. Nor, looking outside the orchard wall, was
+it probable that the extensive kingdom he himself enjoyed would pass
+under the sway of a youthful prince in its entirety.
+
+"Some of the nobles would be nearly certain to revolt: the empire he had
+formed with so much labour, ingenuity, and risk, would fall to pieces,
+the life of one ruler not being sufficiently long to consolidate it. The
+old king, therefore, as he felt the years pressing heavy upon him, cast
+about in his mind for some means of securing his dynasty.
+
+"After long cogitation one day he called to him his son and heir, a very
+handsome young fellow, much like the Tchack-tchack whom we know, and
+motioning him to come close, as if about to whisper in his ear, suddenly
+pecked out his left eye. The vain young prince suffered not only from
+the physical pain, but the intense mortification of knowing that his
+beauty was destroyed for ever. If he wanted even to look at himself in
+the pond, before he could see his own reflection, he had to turn his
+head upon one side. He bitterly upbraided his unnatural father for this
+cruel deed: the queen joined in the reproaches, and the palace resounded
+with rage and lamentation.
+
+"Old King Kapchack the First bore all this disturbance with equanimity,
+sustained by the conviction that he had acted for the welfare of the
+royal house he had founded. After a time, when the young one-eyed prince
+ceased to complain, and was only sullen, he seized an opportunity when
+they were alone in the apple-tree, and explained to him the reason why
+he had done it.
+
+"'I,' said he, 'I have founded this house, and through me you are
+regarded everywhere as of royal dignity; but if I were gone, the wicked
+and traitorous world which surrounds the throne would certainly begin to
+conspire against you on account of your youth; nor would the warden of
+this orchard take any interest or defend you, as you were not the
+witness of the caresses bestowed upon him by his young lady. If you look
+at me, you will see that a wound, received in the wars which I waged
+long since, extinguished my left eye. You will also see that my tail is
+not, to say the least, either so glossy or so ample as of yore, and my
+neck and temples are somewhat bare, partly because in those wars I
+received divers swashing blows upon my head, and partly because of my
+increasing age.'
+
+"The prince looked at him, and remarked that he certainly was a draggled
+old scarecrow. Not the least annoyed by this unfilial expression, the
+old king proceeded to show his heir how, in order for him, first, to
+retain the kingdom, and secondly, to keep the interest of the old
+gentleman owner of the orchard, it was necessary for him to present the
+same appearance as Kapchack himself did. 'In short,' said he, 'when I
+die you must be ready to take my place, and to look exactly like me.'
+The prince began to see the point, and even to admire the cunning of his
+father, but still he could not forgive the loss of his eye.
+
+"'Ah!' said Kapchack I., 'you see I was obliged to take you upon the
+hop, otherwise it would never have been accomplished; no persuasion
+could have induced you to submit to such a deprivation, and, now I am
+about it, let me advise you, indeed, strictly enjoin upon you, when it
+becomes your turn, and you, too, are old and failing, to do the same as
+I did. Do not tell your son and heir what you are going to do, or depend
+upon it he will slip aside and avoid you; but do it first. And now,
+since you have already so far the same bleared aspect as myself, you
+will feel no difficulty in submitting to certain curtailments behind,
+and to the depilation of your head and neck.'
+
+"Well, the result was, that the prince, full of ambition, and
+determined to rule at any price, in the end submitted to these
+disfigurations; the only thing he groaned over was the fear that none of
+the young lady magpies would now have anything to say to him.
+
+"'My dear and most dutiful son,' said the old king, greatly pleased at
+the changed attitude of his heir, 'I assure you that you will not
+experience any loss of attention upon that score. It is in early youth
+indeed a very prevalent mistake for gaudy young fellows (as you appeared
+the other day) to imagine that it is the gloss of their feathers, the
+brilliance of their eyes, and the carriage of their manly forms that
+obtains for them the smiles and favours of the fair. But, believe me,
+this gratifying idea is not founded on fact; it is not the glossy
+feather, or the manly form, my son, it is the wealth that you possess,
+and even more than that, the social dignity and rank, which is already
+yours, that has brought a circle of charming darlings around you.
+
+"'It is certainly somewhat mortifying to feel that it is not ourselves
+they care for, but merely the gratification of their own vanity. Of
+course you must bury this profound secret in your own breast. But if you
+ponder over what I have said you will soon see how you can use this
+knowledge to your own advantage. And it will at least save you from the
+folly of really falling in love, than which, my most dutiful son, there
+is no disease so terrible, and so lasting in its effects, as witness
+that drivelling fool who keeps this orchard for us, and surrounds our
+palace as with an impregnable fortification. Believe me,
+notwithstanding your now antique appearance--except at very close
+quarters, and without close examination (I don't think you have quite as
+many crow's-feet round your cyclopean eye as myself), it is not possible
+to distinguish you from me--believe me, in spite of this, the circle of
+charming darlings, reflecting that you are the heir to the greatest
+crown in the universe, will discover that you are even more attractive
+than before.'
+
+"The prince in a day or two found that the old king was right, and
+recovered much of his former spirit. As for the old king, having
+provided for his dynasty, and feeling certain that his royal house would
+now endure, he feasted and laughed, and cracked the oddest jokes you
+ever heard. One afternoon, after spending the whole time in this way, he
+recollected that he had not yet informed his heir of one important
+secret, namely, the entrance to his treasure house.
+
+"This was a chink, covered over with an excrescence of the bark, in the
+aged apple-tree, at the juncture of a large bough (the very bough that
+was lately cracked by the hurricane), and it was here that he had
+accumulated the spoils of the many expeditions he had undertaken, the
+loot of provinces and the valuable property he had appropriated nearer
+home, including the diamond locket. So cunningly had he chosen his
+treasure vault that not one of all his courtiers, not even his queens,
+could ever discover it, though they were all filled with the most
+intense desire and burning cupidity. The monarch thoroughly enjoyed the
+jest, for all the time they were sitting right over it, and that was,
+no doubt, why they could not see it, being under their feet. Well, the
+old king recollected that afternoon that he had not communicated the
+secret to his heir, and decided that the time had come when it was
+necessary to do so. He therefore gave out that he felt sleepy after so
+much feasting, and desired his friends to leave him alone for a while,
+all except the missel-thrush (not the present, of course, but his
+ancestor).
+
+"Accordingly they all flew away to flirt in the copse, and so soon as
+the court was clear the king told the missel-thrush to go and send his
+son to him, as he had something of importance to communicate in private.
+The missel-thrush did as he was bid, and in about half-an-hour the young
+prince approached the palace. But when he came near he saw that the
+king, overcome perhaps by too much feasting, had dozed off into slumber.
+As it was a rule in the palace that the monarch must never be awakened,
+the prince perched silently close by.
+
+"Now, while he was thus sitting waiting for the king to wake up, as he
+watched him it occurred to him that if any one came by--as the warden of
+the orchard and--saw the two magpies up in the tree, he would wonder
+which was which. Instead of one old Kapchack, lo! there would be two
+antique Kapchacks.
+
+"Thought the prince: 'The king is very clever, exceedingly clever, but
+it seems to me that he has overreached himself. For certainly, if it is
+discovered that there are two old ones about, inquiries will be made,
+and a difficulty will arise, and it is not at all unlikely that one of
+us will be shot. It seems to me that the old fellow has lived a little
+too long, and that his wits are departing (here he gave a quiet hop
+closer), and gone with his feathers, and it is about time I succeeded to
+the throne. (Another hop closer.) In an empire like this, so recently
+founded, the sceptre must be held in vigorous claws, and upon the whole,
+as there is no one about----' He gave a most tremendous peck upon the
+poor old king's head, and Kapchack fell to the ground, out of the tree,
+stone dead upon the grass.
+
+"The prince turned his head upon one side, and looked down upon him;
+then he quietly hopped into his place, shut his eye, and dozed off to
+sleep. By-and-by the courtiers ventured back by twos and threes, and
+gathered on the tree, respectfully waiting till he should awake, and
+nodding, and winking, and whispering to each other about the body in the
+grass. Presently his royal highness woke up, yawned, complained that the
+gout grew worse as he got older, and asked for the prince, who had been
+sitting by him just now. Then looking round and seeing that all were a
+little constrained in their manner, he glanced in the same direction
+they did, and exclaimed that there was his poor son and heir lying in
+the grass!
+
+"With great lamentation he had the body laid out in state, and called in
+the court physicians to examine how the prince (for so he persisted in
+calling the dead monarch) came by his fate. Now, there was no
+disguising the fact that the deceased had been most foully murdered,
+for his skull was driven in by the force of the blow; but you see those
+were dangerous times, and with a despotic king eyeing them all the
+while, what could the physicians do? They discovered that there was a
+small projecting branch which had been broken off half-way down the tree
+and which had a sharp edge, or splinter, and that this splinter
+precisely fitted the wound in the head. Without doubt the prince had
+been seized with sudden illness, had fallen and struck his head against
+the splinter. It was ordered that this bough should be at once removed.
+Kapchack raised a great lamentation, as he had lost his son and heir,
+and in that character the dead monarch was ceremoniously interred in the
+royal vaults, which are in the drain the hunted hare took refuge in
+under the orchard.
+
+"And so complete was the resemblance the prince bore to his dead parent,
+owing to the loss of his eye and the plucking of his feathers, that for
+the most part the courtiers actually believed that it really was the
+prince they had buried, and all the common people accepted it without
+doubt. One or two who hinted at a suspicion when they were alone with
+Kapchack the Second received promises of vast rewards to hold their
+tongues; and no sooner had they left his presence than he had them
+assassinated. Thus the dynasty was firmly consolidated, just as the dead
+founder had desired, though in rather a different manner to what he
+expected.
+
+"But the new (or as he appeared the old) king had not been many days on
+the throne when he remembered the immense treasure of which his parent
+had been possessed. Sending every one away on one pretext and another,
+he searched the palace from attic to basement, peeped into all the
+drawers his father had used, turned over every document, sounded every
+wall, bored holes in the wainscot, ripped up the bark, and covered
+himself with dust in his furious endeavours to find it. But though he
+did this twenty times, though he examined every hollow tree within ten
+miles, and peered into everything, forcing even the owl's ancestor to
+expose certain skeletons that were in his cupboard, yet could he never
+find it.
+
+"And all the while the greatest difficulty he encountered was to hold
+his tongue; he did not dare let out that he was looking for the
+treasure, because, of course, everybody thought that he was Kapchack,
+the same who had put it away. He had to nip his tongue with his beak
+till it bled to compel himself by sheer pain to abstain from reviling
+his predecessor. But it was no good, the treasure could not be found. He
+gave out that all this searching was to discover an ancient deed or
+treaty by which he was entitled to a distant province. As the deed could
+not be found (having never existed), he marched his army and took the
+province by force. And, will you believe it, my friends, the fact is
+that from that time to this (till the hurricane broke the bough the
+other day) none of the King Kapchacks have had the least idea where
+their treasure was. They have lived upon credit.
+
+"Everybody knew there was a treasure, and as time went on and new
+generations arose, it became magnified as the tale was handed down, till
+only lately, as you know, the whole world considered that Kapchack
+possessed wealth the like of which had never been seen. Thus it happened
+that as each succeeding Kapchack got farther and farther away from the
+reality and lost all trace of the secret, the fame of these riches
+increased. But to return. In course of years this Kapchack also found
+himself growing old, and it became his turn to prepare a son and heir
+for the throne by pecking out his left eye, and denuding him of his tail
+feathers. I need not go into further details; suffice it to say the
+thing was managed, and although the old fellows well knew their danger
+and took all sorts of precautions, the princes thus mutilated always
+contrived to assassinate their parents, and thus that apple-tree has
+been the theatre of the most awful series of tragedies the earth has
+ever known.
+
+"Down to the last King Kapchack, the thing was always managed
+successfully, and he was the sixth who had kept up the deception. But
+the number six seems in some way fatal to kings, the sixth always gets
+into trouble, and Kapchack VI. proved very unfortunate. For in his time,
+as you know, Choo Hoo arose, the kingdom was invaded, and quite half of
+it taken from him. Whether he shrank from the risk attending the
+initiation of Prince Tchack-tchack (his heir) I do not know, but for
+some reason or other he put it off from time to time, till the prince in
+fact grew rather too old himself, and too cunning, and getting about
+with disreputable companions--that gross old villain Kauc, the crow,
+for one--it is just possible that some inkling of the hereditary
+mutilation in store for him was insinuated (for his own purposes) by
+that vile wretch.
+
+"Still, most likely, even if he had known of it he would have come in
+time to submit (so powerful a motive is ambition) rather than lose the
+crown, had not it happened that both he and Kapchack fell violently in
+love with the beautiful young jay, La Schach. Very naturally and very
+excusably, being so young and so beautiful, she was perhaps just a
+little capricious. Jealous to the last degree, old King Kapchack told
+her the secret, and that he really was not nearly so old as the world
+believed him to be--he was the sixth of the race, and not the original
+antiquity. No doubt the beauty laughed in her sleeve at him, and just
+for fun told Tchack-tchack all about it, and that she would never marry
+a one-eyed bird. Kapchack, full of jealousy, bethought him that it was
+high time to destroy his heir's good looks, so he attempted to peck out
+his left eye in accordance with the usage of the house.
+
+"But Tchack-tchack, having now learnt the secret, vain of his beauty,
+and determined to have the lovely jay at any cost, was alive to the
+trick, and eluded his parent. This was the reason why Tchack-tchack
+towards the last would never go near the palace. Thus it happened that
+the hereditary practice was not resorted to, for poor old Kapchack VI.
+fell, as you know, in the very hour of victory. Tchack-tchack, who has
+both eyes, and the most glossy tail, and a form of the manliest beauty,
+is now at this minute chattering all round the copse in a terrible rage,
+and quite beside himself, because nobody will vote for him to be king,
+especially since through the breaking of the bough the vaunted treasure
+is at last revealed and found to consist of a diamond locket and one
+silver spoon--a hollow business you see--so that he has no money, while
+the beautiful jay has just been united to our friend here--and, goodness
+me, here she comes in a flutter!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE NEW KING.
+
+
+Up came the lovely young bride, full of news, and told them that the
+most extraordinary thing had just happened.
+
+"Whatever is it, my love?" said her husband.
+
+"Quick, whatever is it?" said the squirrel.
+
+"I can't wait," said Bevis.
+
+"Nor I," said the hare.
+
+"Well," said the lovely creature--for whom an empire had been thrown
+away--"while the rook council was deliberating about the punishment to
+be awarded to Ah Kurroo, the legions, disgusted with the treatment they
+had received after so wonderful a victory, have risen in revolt,
+overthrown the government, driven the council away, taken the Khan from
+the tree where he was a prisoner and proclaimed him dictator!"
+
+"Extraordinary!" said the hare; "the rooks always would have it that
+theirs was the most perfect form of government ever known."
+
+"No such rebellion was ever heard of before," said the squirrel, "there
+is nothing like it in history; I know, for I've often slipped into the
+owl's muniment room (between you and me) on the sly, and taken a peep
+at his ancient documents. It is most extraordinary!"
+
+"I can't see it," said the jay; "I don't agree with you; I am not in the
+least surprised. I always said they would never get on with so much
+caw-cawing and talking every evening; I always said----"
+
+"Gentlemen," shouted the woodpecker, rushing up breathless with haste,
+"I am sent round to tell you from the dictator that you can now proceed
+to the election of a king without fear of any kind, for he will keep the
+enemy employed should they appear, and he will over-awe the two
+pretenders, Ki Ki and Kauc. Let every one say what he thinks without
+dread, and let there be no bribery and no intimidation. In the name of
+Ah Kurroo Khan!" and away he flew through the copse to make the
+proclamation.
+
+Immediately afterwards the owl, blundering in the daylight, came past
+and said that they had better come on to his house, for he had just had
+a private interview with the Khan, and had orders to preside over this
+business. So Bevis and the squirrel, the hare and the two jays proceeded
+to the pollard-tree; there was no need for Bevis to hide now, because he
+was recognised as a great friend of the squirrel's and the enemy of the
+weasel. A noisy crowd had already collected, which was augmented every
+minute, and there was a good deal of rough pushing and loud talking, not
+unmingled with blows. They were all there (except the weasel), the
+goldfinch, the tomtit, the chaffinch, the thrush, the blackbird, the
+missel-thrush, all of them, jays, the alien pigeons, doves,
+woodpeckers, the rat, the mouse, the stoat, and the fox.
+
+As the crowd increased, so did the uproar, till the owl appeared at the
+balcony of his mansion, and the woodpecker called for silence. The owl,
+when he could get a hearing, said they were all to give their opinions
+and say who they would have for their king. And that there might be less
+confusion he would call upon the least of them in size and the youngest
+in age to speak first, and so on upwards to the oldest and biggest.
+
+"I'm the least," cried the wren, coming forward without a moment's
+delay, "and I think that, after all I have seen of the ins and outs of
+the world, I myself should make a very good king."
+
+"Indeed you're not the smallest," said Te-te, the tomtit; "I am the
+smallest, besides which you are a smuggler. Now I, on the contrary, have
+already rendered great services to my country, and I am used to official
+life."
+
+"Yes, you spy," cried Tchink, the chaffinch; and all the assembly hissed
+Te-te, till he was obliged to give way, as he could not make himself
+heard.
+
+"Why not have a queen?" said the goldfinch. "I should think you have had
+enough of kings; now, why not have me for queen? I have the richest
+dress of all."
+
+"Nothing of the kind," said the yellow-hammer, "I wear cloth of gold
+myself."
+
+"As for that," said the woodpecker, "I myself have no little claim on
+the score of colour."
+
+"But you have no such azure as me," said the kingfisher.
+
+"Such gaudy hues are in the worst possible taste," said the blackbird,
+"and very vulgar. Now, if I were chosen----"
+
+"Well," said the thrush, "well, I never heard anything equal to the
+blackbird's assurance; he who has never held the slightest appointment.
+Now, my relation was ambassador----"
+
+"I think," said the dove, "I should be able, if I held the position, to
+conciliate most parties, and make everything smooth."
+
+"You're much too smooth for me," said Tchink. "It's my belief you're
+hand-in-glove with Choo Hoo, for all your tender ways--dear me!"
+
+"If experience," said Cloctaw, "if experience is of any value on a
+throne, I think I myself----"
+
+"Experience!" cried the jay, in high disdain, "what is he talking of?
+Poor Cloctaw has gone past his prime; however, we must make allowance
+for his infirmities. You want some one with a decided opinion like
+myself, ladies and gentlemen!"
+
+"If I might speak," began one of the alien wood-pigeons, but they
+shouted him down.
+
+"I don't mean to be left out of this business, I can tell you," said the
+mole, suddenly thrusting his snout up through the ground; "I consider I
+have been too much overlooked. But no election will be valid without my
+vote. Now, I can tell you that there's not a fellow living who knows
+more than I do."
+
+"Since the throne is vacant," said the mouse, "why should not I be
+nominated?"
+
+"I do not like the way things have been managed," said the rat; "there
+were too many fine feathers at the court of the late king. Fur must have
+a turn now--if I am elected I shall make somebody who wears fur my prime
+minister." This was a bold bid for the support of all the four-footed
+creatures, and was not without its effect.
+
+"I call that downright bribery," said the jay.
+
+"Listen to me a minute," said Sec, the stoat; but as they were now all
+talking together no one could address the assembly.
+
+After a long time Bevis lost all patience, and held up his cannon-stick,
+and threatened to shoot the next one who spoke, which caused a hush.
+
+"There's one thing _I_ want to say," said Bevis, frowning, and looking
+very severe, as he stamped his foot. "I have made up my mind on one
+point. Whoever you have for king you shall not have the weasel, for I
+will shoot him as dead as a nail the first time I see him."
+
+"Hurrah!" cried everybody at once. "Hurrah for little Sir Bevis!"
+
+"Now," said Bevis, "I see the owl wants to speak, and as he's the only
+sensible one among you, just be quiet and hear what he's got to say."
+
+At this the owl, immensely delighted, made Sir Bevis a profound bow, and
+begged to observe that one thing seemed to have escaped the notice of
+the ladies and gentlemen whom he saw around him. It was true they were
+all of noble blood, and many of them could claim a descent through
+countless generations. But they had overlooked the fact that, noble as
+they were, there was among them one with still higher claims; one who
+had royal blood in his veins, whose ancestors had been kings, and kings
+of high renown. He alluded to the fox.
+
+At this the fox, who had not hitherto spoken, and kept rather in the
+background, modestly bent his head, and looked the other way.
+
+"The fox," cried Tchink, "impossible--he's nobody."
+
+"Certainly not," said Te-te, "a mere nonentity."
+
+"Quite out of the question," said the goldfinch.
+
+"Out of the running," said the hare.
+
+"Absurd," said the jay; and they all raised a clamour, protesting that
+even to mention the fox was to waste the public time.
+
+"I am not so sure of that," muttered Cloctaw. "We might do worse; I
+should not object." But his remark was unheeded by all save the fox,
+whose quick ear caught it.
+
+Again there was a great clamour and uproar, and not a word could be
+heard, and again Bevis had to lift up his cannon-stick. Just then Ah
+Kurroo Khan sent a starling to know if they had finished, because Choo
+Hoo had quitted his camp, and his outposts were not a mile off.
+
+"In that case," said the owl, "our best course will be to stop further
+discussion, and to put the matter to the test of the vote at once.
+('Hear, hear.') Do you then all stand off a good way, so that no one
+shall be afraid to do as he chooses, and then come to me one at a time,
+beginning with the wren (as she spoke first), and let each tell me who
+he or she votes for, and the reason why, and then I will announce the
+result."
+
+So they all stood off a good way, except Sir Bevis, who came closer to
+the pollard to hear what the voters said, and to see that all was done
+fairly. When all was ready the owl beckoned to the wren, and the wren
+flew up and whispered: "I vote for the fox because Te-te shall not have
+the crown".
+
+Next came Te-te, and he said: "I vote for the fox because the wren shall
+not have it".
+
+Then Tchink, who said he voted for the fox so that the goldfinch should
+not have the throne.
+
+The goldfinch voted for the fox that the yellow-hammer should not have
+it, and the yellow-hammer because the goldfinch should not succeed. The
+jay did the same because Tchack-tchack should not have it; the dove
+because the pigeon should not have it; the blackbird to oust the thrush,
+and the thrush to stop the blackbird; the sparrow to stop the starling,
+and the starling to stop the sparrow; the woodpecker to stop the
+kingfisher, and the kingfisher to stop the woodpecker; and so on all
+through the list, all voting for the fox in succession, to checkmate
+their friends' ambition, down to Cloctaw, who said he voted for the fox
+because he knew he could not get the throne himself, and considered the
+fox better than the others. Lastly, the owl, seeing that Reynard had got
+the election (which indeed he had anticipated when he called attention
+to the modest fox), also voted for him.
+
+Then he called the fox forward, and was about to tell him that he was
+duly elected, and would sit on a throne firmly fixed upon the wide base
+of a universal plebiscite, when Eric, the missel-thrush (who had taken
+no part in the proceedings, for he alone regretted Kapchack), cried out
+that the fox ought to be asked to show some proof of ability before he
+received the crown. This was so reasonable that every one endorsed it;
+and the missel-thrush, seeing that he had made an impression, determined
+to set the fox the hardest task he could think of, and said that as it
+was the peculiar privilege of a monarch to protect his people, so the
+fox, before he mounted the throne, ought to be called upon to devise
+some effectual means of repelling the onslaught of Choo Hoo.
+
+"Hear, hear!" shouted the assembly, and cried with one voice upon the
+fox to get them out of the difficulty, and save them from the barbarian
+horde.
+
+The fox was in the deepest bewilderment, but he carefully concealed his
+perplexity, and looked down upon the ground as if pondering profoundly,
+whereas he really had not got the least idea what to do. There was
+silence. Every one waited for the fox.
+
+"Ahem!" said Cloctaw, as if clearing his throat.
+
+The fox detected his meaning, and slyly glanced towards him, when
+Cloctaw looked at Bevis and winked. Instantly the fox took the hint
+(afterwards claiming the idea as entirely his own), and lifting his
+head, said:--
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen, you have indeed set me a most difficult task--so
+difficult, that should I succeed in solving this problem, I hope shall
+obtain your complete confidence. Gentlemen, we have amongst us at this
+moment a visitor, and one whom we all delight to honour, the more
+especially as we know him to be the determined foe of that mercenary
+scoundrel the weasel, who, should I be so fortunate as to obtain the
+crown, shall, I promise you, never set foot in my palace--I allude to
+the friend of the squirrel and the hare--I allude to Sir Bevis. ('Hear,
+hear! Hurrah for little Sir Bevis! Three cheers more!') I see that you
+respond with enthusiasm to the sentiment I have expressed. Well, our
+friend Sir Bevis can, I think, if we call upon him in a respectful and
+proper manner, help us out of this difficulty.
+
+"He carries in his hand an instrument in which the ignition of certain
+chemical substances causes an alarming report, and projects a shower of
+formidable missiles to a distance. This instrument, which I hear he
+constructed himself, thereby displaying unparalleled ingenuity, he calls
+his cannon-stick. Now if we could persuade him to become our ally, and
+to bang off his cannon-stick when Choo Hoo comes, I think we should soon
+see the enemy in full retreat, when the noble dictator, Ah Kurroo Khan,
+could pursue, and add another to his already lengthy list of brilliant
+achievements. I would therefore propose, with the utmost humility, that
+Sir Bevis be asked to receive a deputation; and I would, with your
+permission, nominate the hare, the squirrel, and Cloctaw as the three
+persons best able to convey your wishes."
+
+At this address there was a general buzz of admiration; people whispered
+to each other that really the fox was extraordinarily clever, and well
+worthy to ascend the throne--who would have thought that any one so
+retiring could have suggested so original, and yet at the same time so
+practical a course? The fox's idea was at once adopted. Bevis went back
+with the jay to his seat on the moss under the oak, and there sat down
+to receive the deputation.
+
+Just as it was about to set out, the fox begged permission to say one
+word more, which being readily granted, he asked if he might send a
+message by the starling to Ah Kurroo Khan. The present, he said, seemed
+a most favourable moment for destroying those dangerous pretenders, Ki
+Ki and Kauc. Usually their brigand retainers were scattered all over the
+country, miles and miles apart, and while thus separated it would
+require an immense army--larger than the state in the present exhausted
+condition of the treasury could afford to pay without fresh taxes--to
+hunt the robbers down in their woods and fastnesses. But they were now
+concentrated, and preparing no doubt for a raid upon the copse.
+
+Now if Ah Kurroo Khan were asked to fall upon them immediately, he
+could destroy them in the mass, and overthrow them without difficulty.
+Might he send such a message to the Khan? The assembly applauded the
+fox's foresight, and away flew the starling with the message. Ah Kurroo,
+only too delighted to have the opportunity of overthrowing his old enemy
+Kauc, and his hated rival Ki Ki, immediately gave the order to advance
+to his legions.
+
+Meantime the deputation, consisting of the hare, the squirrel, and
+Cloctaw, waited upon Sir Bevis, who received them very courteously upon
+his seat of moss under the oak. He replied that he would shoot off his
+cannon-stick with the greatest pleasure, if they would show him in which
+direction they expected Choo Hoo to come. So the hare, the squirrel, and
+Cloctaw, with all the crowd following behind, took him to a gap in the
+hedge round the copse on the western side, and pointed out to him the
+way the enemy would come.
+
+Indeed, Sir Bevis had hardly taken his stand and seen to the priming
+than the van-guard of the barbarians appeared over the tops of the
+trees. They were pushing on with all speed, for it seems that the
+outposts had reported to the emperor that there was a division in the
+copse, and that civil war had broken out, being deceived by the attack
+delivered by Ah Kurroo upon the black pretender Kauc. Up then came the
+mighty host in such vast and threatening numbers that the sun was
+darkened as it had been on the day of the eclipse, and the crowd behind
+Sir Bevis, overwhelmed with fear, could scarce stand their ground. But
+Sir Bevis, not one whit daunted, dropped upon one knee, and levelling
+his cannon-stick upon the other, applied his match. The fire and smoke
+and sound of the report shook the confidence of the front ranks of the
+enemy; they paused and wheeled to the right and left instead of
+advancing.
+
+In a minute Bevis had his cannon-stick charged again, and bang it went.
+The second rank now turned and fell back and threw the host into
+confusion; still the vast numbers behind pushed blindly on. Bevis, in a
+state of excitement, now prepared for a grand effort. He filled his
+cannon with powder nearly to the muzzle, he rammed it down tight, and
+fearing lest it might kick and hurt him, he fixed his weapon on the
+stump of an elm which had been thrown some winters since, and whose fall
+had made the gap in the hedge. Then he cut a long, slender willow stick,
+slit it at one end, and inserted his match in the cleft. He could thus
+stand a long way back out of harm's way and ignite the priming. The
+report that followed was so loud the very woods rang again, the birds
+fluttered with fear, and even the fox, bold as he was, shrank back from
+such a tremendous explosion.
+
+Quite beside themselves with panic fear, the barbarian host turned and
+fled in utter confusion, nor could Choo Hoo, with all his efforts, rally
+them again, for having once suffered defeat in the battle of the
+eclipse, they had lost confidence. Ah Kurroo Khan, just as he had driven
+in the defenders and taken Kauc's camp (though Kauc himself, like the
+coward he was, escaped before the conflict began), saw the confusion and
+retreat of Choo Hoo's host, and without a moment's delay hurled his
+legions once more on the retiring barbarians. The greater number fled in
+every direction, each only trying to save himself; but the best of Choo
+Hoo's troops took refuge in their old camp.
+
+Ah Kurroo Khan surrounded and invested the camp, but he hesitated to
+storm it, for he knew that it would entail heavy losses. He prepared to
+blockade Choo Hoo with such strictness that he must eventually surrender
+from sheer hunger. He despatched a starling with a message, describing
+the course he had taken at once to the copse, and the starling, flying
+with great speed, arrived there in a few minutes. Meanwhile the
+assembly, delighted with the success which had attended Bevis's
+cannonading, crowded round and overwhelmed him with their thanks. Then
+when their excitement had somewhat abated, they remembered that the idea
+had emanated from the fox, and it was resolved to proceed with his
+coronation at once. Just then the starling arrived from the Khan.
+
+"Ah! yes," said Eric, the missel-thrush, who wanted Tchack-tchack to
+ascend the throne of his fathers, "it is true Choo Hoo is driven back
+and his camp surrounded. But do you bear in mind that Tu Kiu is not in
+it. He, they say, has gone into the west and has already collected a
+larger host than even Choo Hoo commanded, who are coming up as fast as
+they can to avenge the Battle of the Eclipse. You must also remember
+that Sir Bevis cannot be always here with his cannon-stick; he is not
+often here in the morning, and who can tell that some day while he is
+away Tu Kiu may not appear and, while Choo Hoo makes a sortie and
+engages Ah Kurroo's attention, come on here and ravage the whole place,
+destroy all our stores, and leave us without a berry or an acorn! It
+seems to me that the fox has only got us into a deeper trouble than
+ever, for if Choo Hoo or Tu Kiu ever does come down upon us, they will
+exact a still worse vengeance for the disgrace they have suffered. The
+fox has only half succeeded; he must devise something more before he can
+claim our perfect confidence."
+
+"Hear, hear!" shouted the assembly, "the missel-thrush is right. The fox
+must do something more!"
+
+Now the fox hated the missel-thrush beyond all expression, for just as
+he was, as it seemed, about to grasp the object of his ambition, the
+missel-thrush always suggested some new difficulty and delayed his
+triumph, but he suppressed his temper and said: "The missel-thrush is a
+true patriot, and speaks with a view not to his own interest but to the
+good of his country. I myself fully admit the truth of his observations;
+Choo Hoo is indeed checked for a time, but there is no knowing how soon
+we may hear the shout of 'Koos-takke' again. Therefore, gentlemen, I
+would, with all humility, submit the following suggestion.
+
+"There can be no doubt but that this invasion has gone on year after
+year, because the kingdom of Kapchack had become somewhat unwieldy with
+numerous annexations, and could not be adequately defended. This policy
+of annexation which the late government carried on for so long, bore,
+indeed, upon the surface the false glitter of glory. We heard of
+provinces and principalities added to the realm, and we forgot the cost.
+That policy has no doubt weakened the cohesive power of the kingdom: I
+need not pause here to explain to an audience of the calibre I see
+before me the difference between progress and expansion, between
+colonisation and violent, uncalled-for, and unjust annexation.
+
+"What I am now about to suggest will at once reduce taxation, fill our
+impoverished treasury, secure peace, and I believe impart a lasting
+stability to the state. It will enable us one and all to enjoy the
+fruits of the earth. I humbly propose that a treaty be made with Choo
+Hoo ('Oh! Oh!' from the missel-thrush and Tchack-tchack), that upon the
+payment of an ample war indemnity--say a million nuts, two million
+acorns, and five million berries, or some trifling figure like that, not
+to be too exorbitant--he be permitted to withdraw ('Shame!' from
+Tchack-tchack), and that the provinces torn by force and fraud by the
+late government from their lawful owners be restored to them ('Which
+means,' said the missel-thrush, 'that as the lawful owners are not
+strong enough to protect themselves, Choo Hoo may plunder half the world
+as he likes'), and that peace be proclaimed. I, for my part, would far
+rather--if I be so fortunate as to be your king--I say I would far
+rather rule over a contented and prosperous people than over an empire
+in which the sword is never in the scabbard!"
+
+"Hear, hear!" shouted the assembly. "We have certainly selected the
+right person: this is truly wisdom. Let the treaty be concluded; and
+what a feast we will have upon the war indemnity," they said to one
+another.
+
+"It is selling our honour--making a bargain and a market of our
+ancestors' courage," said the missel-thrush.
+
+"It is a vile infringement of my right," said Tchack-tchack; "I am
+robbed of my inheritance, and the people of theirs, under a false
+pretext and sham. The country will be ruined."
+
+"Begone," shouted the crowd, "begone, you despicable wretches," and away
+flew the missel-thrush and Tchack-tchack in utter disgust and despair.
+
+So soon as they had gone the assembly proceeded to appoint a Commission
+to negotiate the treaty of peace. It consisted of the woodpecker, the
+thrush, and Cloctaw: the stoat muttered a good deal, for having been
+almost the only adherent of the fox in his former lowly condition, he
+expected profitable employment now his friend had obtained such dignity.
+The fox, however, called him aside and whispered something which
+satisfied him, and the Commission having received instructions proceeded
+at once to Ah Kurroo, who was to furnish them with a flag of truce. A
+company of starlings went with them to act as couriers and carry
+intelligence. When the Commission reached Ah Kurroo, he declined to
+open a truce with Choo Hoo, even for a moment, and presently, as the
+Commission solemnly demanded obedience in the name of the fox, he
+decided to go himself to the king-elect and explain the reasons--of a
+purely military character--which led him to place this obstruction in
+their way.
+
+The fox received Ah Kurroo with demonstrations of the deepest respect,
+congratulated him upon his achievements, and admired the disposition he
+had made of his forces so as to completely blockade the enemy. Ah
+Kurroo, much pleased with this reception, and the appreciation of his
+services, pointed out that Choo Hoo was now so entirely in his power,
+that in a few days he would have to surrender, as provisions were
+failing him. Long ere Tu Kiu could return with the relieving column the
+emperor would be a captive. Ah Kurroo begged the fox not to throw away
+this glorious opportunity.
+
+The king-elect, who had his own reasons for not desiring the Khan to
+appear too victorious, listened attentively, but pointed out that it was
+not so much himself, but the nation which demanded instant peace.
+
+"Moreover," said he in a whisper to the Khan, "don't you see, my dear
+general, that if you totally destroy Choo Hoo your occupation will be
+gone; we shall not require an army or a general. Now as it is my
+intention to appoint you commander-in-chief for life----"
+
+"Say no more," said Ah Kurroo, "say no more;" then aloud: "Your royal
+highness' commands shall be immediately obeyed;" and away he flew, and
+gave the Commission the flag of truce.
+
+Choo Hoo, confined in his camp with a murmuring and mutinous soldiery,
+short of provisions, and expecting every moment to see the enemy pouring
+into his midst, was beyond measure delighted when he heard that peace
+was proposed, indeed he could scarcely believe that any one in his
+senses could offer such a thing to an army which must inevitably
+surrender in a few hours. But when he heard that the fox was the
+king-elect, he began to comprehend, for there were not wanting
+suspicions that it was the fox who, when Choo Hoo was only a nameless
+adventurer, assisted him with advice.
+
+The Commission, therefore, found their task easy enough so far as the
+main point was concerned, that there should be peace, but when they came
+to discuss the conditions it became a different matter. The fox, a born
+diplomat, had instructed them to put forward the hardest conditions
+first, and if they could not force these upon Choo Hoo to gradually
+slacken them, little by little, till they overcame his reluctance. At
+every step they sent couriers to the king-elect with precise information
+of their progress.
+
+The negotiations lasted a very long time, quite an hour, during which
+the couriers flew incessantly to and fro, and Bevis, lying on his back
+on the moss under the oak, tried which could screech the loudest,
+himself or the jay. Bevis would easily have won had he been able to
+resist the inclination to pull the jay's tail, which made the latter
+set up such a yell that everybody started, Bevis shouted with laughter,
+and even the fox lost his gravity.
+
+Choo Hoo agreed to everything without much difficulty, except the
+indemnity; he drew back at that, declaring it was too many millions, and
+there was even some danger of the negotiations being broken off. But the
+fox was equally firm, he insisted on it, and even added 10,000 bushels
+of grain to the original demand, at which Choo Hoo nearly choked with
+indignation. The object of the fox in requiring the grain was to secure
+the faithful allegiance of all his lesser subjects, as the sparrows, and
+indeed he regarded the indemnity as the most certain means of beginning
+his reign at the height of popularity, since it would be distributed
+among the nation. People could not, moreover, fail to remark the extreme
+disinterestedness of the king, since of all these millions of berries,
+acorns, nuts, grain, and so forth, there was not one single mouthful for
+himself. Choo Hoo, as said before, full of indignation, abruptly turned
+away from the Commission, and, at a loss what to do, they communicated
+with the fox.
+
+He ordered them to inform Choo Hoo that under certain restrictions
+travellers would in future be permitted access to the spring in the
+copse which did not freeze in winter. The besieged emperor somewhat
+relaxed the austerity of his demeanour at this; another pourparler took
+place, in the midst of which the fox told the Commission to mention (as
+if casually) that among others there would be a clause restoring
+independence to all those princes and archdukes whose domains the late
+Kapchack had annexed. Choo Hoo could scarce maintain decorum when he
+heard this; he could have shouted with delight, for he saw in a moment
+that it was equivalent to ceding half Kapchack's kingdom, since these
+small Powers would never be able to defend themselves against his hosts.
+
+At the same moment, too, he was called aside, and informed that a
+private messenger had arrived from the fox: it was the humble-bee, who
+had slipped easily through the lines and conveyed a strong hint from the
+king-elect. The fox said he had done the best he could for his brother,
+the emperor, remembering their former acquaintance; now let the emperor
+do his part, and between them they could rule the earth with ease. Choo
+Hoo, having told the humble-bee that he quite understood, and that he
+agreed to the fox's offer, dismissed him, and returned to the
+Commission, whose labours were now coming to a close.
+
+All the clauses having been agreed to, Ess, the owl, as the most
+practised in such matters, was appointed by the fox to draw up the
+document in proper form for signature. While this was being done, the
+king-elect proceeded to appoint his Cabinet: Sec, the stoat, was
+nominated treasurer; Ah Kurroo Khan, commander-in-chief for life; Ess,
+the owl, continued chief secretary of state; Cloctaw was to be grand
+chamberlain; Raoul, the rat, lieutenant-governor of the coast (along the
+brook and Long Pond), and so on.
+
+Next the weasel, having failed to present himself when summoned by the
+woodpecker, was attainted as contumacious, and sentenced, with the
+entire approval of the assembly, to lose all his dignities and estates;
+his woods, parks, forests, and all his property were escheated to the
+Crown, and were by the king handed over to his faithful follower Sec.
+The weasel (whose whereabouts could not be discovered) was also
+proclaimed an outlaw, whom any one might slay without fear of trial. It
+was then announced that all others who absented themselves from the
+court, and were not present when the treaty was signed, would be treated
+as traitors, and receive the same punishment as the weasel.
+
+Immediately he heard this, Yiwy, son and heir of Ki Ki, the hawk, who
+had fled, came and paid homage to the fox, first to save the estates
+from confiscation, and secondly that he might enjoy them in his father's
+place. Ki Ki was accordingly declared an outlaw. Directly afterwards,
+Kauc, the crow, crept in, much crestfallen, and craved pardon, hoping to
+save his property. The assembly received him with hisses and hoots:
+still the fox kept his word, and permitted him to retain his estates
+upon payment of an indemnity for the cost of the troops employed against
+him under Ah Kurroo, of 100,000 acorns. Kauc protested that he should be
+ruined: but the crowd would not hear him, and he was obliged to submit.
+
+Then Eric, the missel-thrush, and Prince Tchack-tchack flew up: the
+prince had yielded to good advice, and resolved to smother his
+resentment in order to enjoy the immense private domains of his late
+parent. The protocols were now ready, and the fox had already taken the
+document to sign, when there was a rush of wings, and in came six or
+seven of those princes and archdukes--among them the archduke of the
+peewits--to whom independence was to be restored. They loudly proclaimed
+their loyalty, and begged not to be cast off: declaring that they were
+quite unable to defend themselves, and should be mercilessly plundered
+by the barbarian horde. The fox lifted his paw in amazement that there
+should exist on the face of the earth any such poltroons as this, who
+preferred to pay tribute and enjoy peace rather than endure the labour
+of defending their own independence. The whole assembly cried shame upon
+them, but the princes persisted, and filled the court with their
+lamentations, till at a sign from the king they were hustled out of the
+copse.
+
+The treaty itself filled so many pages of parchment that no one
+attempted to read it, the owl certifying that it was all correct: an
+extract, however, divested of technical expressions, was handed about
+the court, and was to the following effect:--
+
+
+The Treaty of Windflower Copse.
+
+1. The high contracting parties to this treaty are and shall be, on the
+one side, King Reynard CI., and on the other side, Choo Hoo the emperor.
+
+2. It is declared that Kapchack being dead honour is satisfied, and
+further fighting superfluous.
+
+3. Choo Hoo agrees to pay a war indemnity of one million nuts, two
+million acorns, five million berries, and ten thousand bushels of grain,
+in ten equal instalments, the first instalment the day of the full moon
+next before Christmas, and the remainder at intervals of a fortnight.
+
+4. The spring in the copse, which does not freeze in winter, is declared
+free and open to all travellers, not exceeding fifty in number.
+
+5. The copse itself is hereby declared a neutral zone, wherein all
+councils, pourparlers, parliaments, commissions, markets, fairs,
+meetings, courts of justice, and one and all and every such assembly for
+public or private purposes, may be and shall be held, without let or
+hindrance, saving only:--(_a_) Plots against His Majesty King Reynard
+CI.; (_b_) plots against His Imperial Majesty Choo Hoo.
+
+6. The unjust annexations of the late King Kapchack are hereby
+repudiated, and all the provinces declared independent.
+
+7. Lastly, peace is proclaimed for ever and a day, beginning to-morrow.
+
+(Signed)
+His Majesty King Reynard CI.
+His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Choo Hoo.
+B. (for Sir Bevis).
+Sec, the stoat (Treasurer).
+Ah Kurroo Khan (Commander-in-Chief).
+Ess, the owl (Chief Secretary of State).
+Cloctaw, the jackdaw (Grand Chamberlain).
+Raoul, the rat (Lieutenant-Governor of the Coasts).
+Phu, the starling.
+Tchink, the chaffinch.
+Te-te, the tomtit.
+Ulu, the hare.
+Eric, the missel-thrush.
+Tchack-tchack, the magpie, etc., etc., etc.
+
+
+Every one in fact signed it but the weasel, who was still lying sullenly
+_perdu_. The B. was for Bevis; the fox, who excelled in the art of
+paying delicate compliments, insisted upon Bevis signing next to the
+high contracting parties. So taking the quill, Bevis printed a good big
+B, a little staggering, but plain and legible. Directly this business
+was concluded, Ah Kurroo withdrew his legions; Choo Hoo sallied forth
+from the camp, and returning the way he had come, in about an hour was
+met by his son Tu Kiu at the head of enormous reinforcements. Delighted
+at the treaty, and the impunity they now enjoyed, the vast barbarian
+horde, divided into foraging parties of from one hundred to a thousand,
+spread over a tract of country thirty miles wide, rolled like a
+devastating tidal wave in resistless course southwards, driving the
+independent princes before them, plundering, ravaging, and destroying,
+and leaving famine behind. Part of the plunder indeed, of the provinces
+recently attached to Kapchack's kingdom, and now declared independent,
+furnished the first instalment of the war indemnity the barbarians had
+engaged to pay.
+
+Meantime, in the copse, preparations were made for the coronation of
+the king, who had assumed, in accordance with well-known precedents,
+that all his ancestors, whether acknowledged or not, had reigned, and
+called himself King Reynard the Hundred and First. The procession having
+been formed, and all the ceremonies completed, Bevis banged off his
+cannon-stick as a salute, and the fox, taking the crown, proceeded to
+put it on his head, remarking as he did so that thus they might see how
+when rogues fall out honest folk come by their own.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+SIR BEVIS AND THE WIND.
+
+
+Some two or three days after peace was concluded, it happened that one
+morning the waggon was going up on the hills to bring down a load of
+straw, purchased from the very old gentleman who in his anger shot King
+Kapchack. When Bevis saw the horses brought out of the stable, and
+learnt that they were to travel along the road that led towards the
+ships (though but three miles out of the sixty), nothing would do but he
+must go with them. As his papa and the bailiff were on this particular
+occasion to accompany the waggon, Bevis had his own way as usual.
+
+The road passed not far from the copse, and Bevis heard the woodpecker
+say something, but he was too busy touching up the horses with the
+carter's long whip to pay any heed. If he had been permitted he would
+have lashed them into a sharp trot. Every now and then Bevis turned
+round to give the bailiff a sly flick with the whip; the bailiff sat at
+the tail and dangled his legs over behind, so that his broad back was a
+capital thing to hit. By-and-by, the carter left the highway and took
+the waggon along a lane where the ruts were white with chalk, and which
+wound round at the foot of the downs. Then after surmounting a steep
+hill, where the lane had worn a deep hollow, they found a plain with
+hills all round it, and here, close to the sward, was the straw-rick
+from which they were to load.
+
+Bevis insisted upon building the load, that is putting the straw in its
+place when it was thrown up; but in three minutes he said he hated it,
+it was so hot and scratchy, so out he jumped. Then he ran a little way
+up the green sward of the hill, and lying down rolled over and over to
+the bottom. Next he wandered along the low hedge dividing the stubble
+from the sward, so low that he could jump over it, but as he could not
+find anything he came back, and at last so teased and worried his papa
+to let him go up to the top of the hill, that he consented, on Bevis
+promising in the most solemn manner that he would not go one single inch
+beyond the summit, where there was an ancient earthwork. Bevis promised,
+and his eyes looked so clear and truthful, and his cheek so rosy and
+innocent, and his lips so red and pouting, that no one could choose but
+believe him.
+
+Away he ran thirty yards up the hill at a burst, but it soon became so
+steep he had to stay and climb slowly. Five minutes afterwards he began
+to find it very hard work indeed, though it looked so easy from below,
+and stopped to rest. He turned round and looked down; he could see over
+the waggon and the straw-rick, over the ash-trees in the hedges, over
+the plain (all yellow with stubble) across to the hills on the other
+side, and there, through a gap in them, it seemed as if the land
+suddenly ceased, or dropped down, and beyond was a dark blue expanse
+which ended in the sky where the sky came down to touch it.
+
+By his feet was a rounded boulder-stone, brown and smooth, a hard
+sarsen; this he tried to move, but it was so heavy that he could but
+just stir it. But the more difficult a thing was, or the more he was
+resisted, the more determined Bevis always became. He would stamp and
+shout with rage, rather than let a thing alone quietly. When he did this
+sometimes Pan, the spaniel, would look at him in amazement, and wonder
+why he did not leave it and go on and do something else, as the world
+was so big, and there were very many easy things that could be done
+without any trouble. That was not Bevis's idea, however, at all; he
+never quitted a thing till he had done it. And so he tugged and strained
+and struggled with the stone till he got it out of its bed and on the
+sloping sward.
+
+Then he pushed and heaved at it, till it began to roll, and giving it a
+final thrust with his foot, away it went, at first rumbling and rolling
+slowly, and then faster and with a thumping, till presently it bounded
+and leaped ten yards at a time, and at the bottom of the hill sprang
+over the hedge like a hunter, and did not stop till it had gone twenty
+yards out into the stubble towards the straw-rick. Bevis laughed and
+shouted, though a little disappointed that it had not smashed the
+waggon, or at least jumped over it. Then, waving his hat, away he went
+again, now picking up a flint to fling as far down as he could, now
+kicking over a white round puff ball--always up, up, till he grew hot,
+and his breath came in quick deep pants.
+
+But still as determined as ever, he pushed on, and presently stood on
+the summit, on the edge of the fosse. He looked down; the waggon seemed
+under his feet; the plain, the hills beyond, the blue distant valley on
+one side, on the other the ridge he had mounted stretched away, and
+beyond it still more ridges, till he could see no further. He went into
+the fosse, and there it seemed so pleasant that he sat down, and in a
+minute lay extended at full length in his favourite position, looking up
+at the sky. It was much more blue than he had ever seen it before, and
+it seemed only just over his head; the grasshoppers called in the grass
+at his side, and he could hear a lark sing, singing far away, but on a
+level with him. First he thought he would talk to the grasshopper, or
+call to one of the swallows, but he had now got over the effort of
+climbing, and he could not sit still.
+
+Up he jumped, ran up the rampart, and then down again into the fosse. He
+liked the trench best, and ran along it in the hollow, picking up stray
+flints and throwing them as far as he could. The trench wound round the
+hill, and presently when he saw a low hawthorn-bush just outside the
+broad green ditch, and scrambled up to it, the waggon was gone and the
+plain, for he had reached the other side of the camp. There the top of
+the hill was level and broad: a beautiful place for a walk.
+
+Bevis went a little way out upon it, and the turf was so soft, and
+seemed to push up his foot so, that he must go on, and when he had got a
+little farther, he heard another grasshopper, and thought he would run
+and catch him; but the grasshopper, who had heard of his tricks, stopped
+singing, and hid in a bunch, so that Bevis could not see him.
+
+Next he saw a little round hill--a curious little hill--not very much
+higher than his own head, green with grass and smooth. This curious
+little hill greatly pleased him; he would have liked to have had it
+carried down into his garden at home; he ran up on the top of it, and
+shouted at the sun, and danced round on the tumulus. A third grasshopper
+called in the grass, and Bevis ran down after him, but he, too, was too
+cunning; then a glossy ball of thistledown came up so silently, Bevis
+did not see it till it touched him, and lingered a moment lovingly
+against his shoulder. Before he could grasp it, it was gone.
+
+A few steps farther and he found a track crossing the hill, waggon-ruts
+in the turf, and ran along it a little way--only a little way, for he
+did not care for anything straight. Next he saw a mushroom, and gathered
+it, and while hunting about hither and thither for another, came upon
+some boulder-stones, like the one he had hurled down the slope, but very
+much larger, big enough to play hide-and-seek behind. He danced round
+these--Bevis could not walk--and after he had danced round every one,
+and peered under and climbed over one or two, he discovered that they
+were put in a circle.
+
+"Somebody's been at play here," thought Bevis, and looking round to see
+who had been placing the stones in a ring, he saw a flock of rooks far
+off in the air, even higher up than he was on the hill, wheeling about,
+soaring round with outspread wings and cawing. They slipped past each
+other in and out, tracing a maze, and rose up, drifting away slowly as
+they rose; they were so happy, they danced in the sky. Bevis ran along
+the hill in the same direction they were going, shouting and waving his
+hand to them, and they cawed to him in return.
+
+When he looked to see where he was he was now in the midst of long
+mounds or heaps of flints that had been dug and stacked; he jumped on
+them, and off again, picked up the best for throwing, and flung them as
+far as he could. There was a fir-copse but a little distance farther, he
+went to it, but the trees grew so close together he could not go
+through, so he walked round it, and then the ground declined so gently
+he did not notice he was going downhill. At the bottom there was a wood
+of the strangest old twisted oaks he had ever seen; not the least like
+the oak-trees by his house at home that he knew so well.
+
+These were short, and so very knotty that even the trunks, thick as they
+were, seemed all knots, and the limbs were gnarled, and shaggy with grey
+lichen. He threw pieces of dead stick, which he found on the ground, up
+at the acorns, but they were not yet ripe, so he wandered on among the
+oaks, tapping every one he passed to see which was hollow, till
+presently he had gone so far he could not see the hills for the boughs.
+
+But just as he was thinking he would ask a bee to show him the way out
+(for there was not a single bird in the wood), he came to a place where
+the oaks were thinner, and the space between them was covered with
+bramble-bushes. Some of the blackberries were ripe, and his lips were
+soon stained with their juice. Passing on from bramble-thicket to
+bramble-thicket, by-and-by he shouted, and danced, and clapped his hands
+with joy, for there were some nuts on a hazel bough, and they were ripe
+he was sure, for the side towards the sun was rosy. He knew that nuts do
+not get brown first, but often turn red towards the south. Out came his
+pocket-knife, and with seven tremendous slashes, for Bevis could not do
+anything steadily, off came a branch with a crook. He crooked down the
+bough and gathered the nuts, there were eight on that bough, and on the
+next four, and on the next only two. But there was another stole beyond,
+from which, in a minute, he had twenty more, and then as he could not
+stay to crack them, he crammed them into his pocket and ceased to
+reckon.
+
+"I will take fifty up to the squirrel," he said to himself, "and the
+nut-crackers, and show him how to do it properly with some salt." So he
+tugged at the boughs, and dragged them down, and went on from stole to
+stole till he had roamed into the depths of the nut-tree wood.
+
+Then, as he stopped a second to step over a little streamlet that oozed
+along at his feet, all at once he became aware how still it was. No
+birds sang, and no jay called; no woodpecker chuckled; there was not
+even a robin; nor had he seen a rabbit, or a squirrel, or a dragon-fly,
+or any of his friends. Already the outer rim of some of the hazel leaves
+was brown, while the centre of the leaf remained green, but there was
+not even the rustle of a leaf as it fell. The larks were not here, nor
+the swallows, nor the rooks; the streamlet at his feet went on without a
+murmur; and the breeze did not come down into the hollow. Except for a
+bee, whose buzz seemed quite loud as he flew by, there was not a moving
+thing. Bevis was alone; he had never before been so utterly alone, and
+he stopped humming the old tune the brook had taught him, to listen.
+
+He lifted his crook and struck the water; it splashed, but in a second
+it was still again. He flung a dead branch into a tree; it cracked as it
+hit a bough, on which the leaves rustled; then it fell thump, and lay
+still and quiet. He stamped on the ground, the grass gave no sound. He
+shouted "Holloa!" but there was no echo. His voice seemed to slip away
+from him, he could not shout so loud as he had been accustomed to. For a
+minute he liked it; then he began to think it was not so pleasant; then
+he wanted to get out, but he could not see the hill, so he did not know
+which way to go.
+
+So he stroked a knotted oak with his hand, smoothing it down, and said:
+"Oak, oak, tell me which way to go!" and the oak tried to speak, but
+there was no wind, and he could not, but he dropped just one leaf on
+the right side, and Bevis picked it up, and as he did so, a nut-tree
+bough brushed his cheek.
+
+He kissed the bough, and said: "Nut-tree bough, nut-tree bough, tell me
+the way to go!" The bough could not speak for the same reason that the
+oak could not; but it bent down towards the streamlet. Bevis dropped on
+one knee and lifted up a little water in the hollow of his hand, and
+drank it, and asked which way to go.
+
+The stream could not speak because there was no stone to splash against,
+but it sparkled in the sunshine (as Bevis had pushed the bough aside),
+and looked so pleasant that he followed it a little way, and then he
+came to an open place with twisted old oaks, gnarled and knotted, where
+a blue butterfly was playing.
+
+"Show me the way out, you beautiful creature," said Bevis.
+
+"So I will, Bevis dear," said the butterfly. "I have just come from your
+waggon, and your papa and the bailiff have been calling to you, and I
+think they will soon be coming back to look for you. Follow me, my
+darling."
+
+So Bevis followed the little blue butterfly, who danced along as
+straight as it was possible for him to go, for he, like Bevis, did not
+like too much straightness. Now the oak knew the butterfly was there,
+and that was why he dropped his leaf; and so did the nut-tree bough, and
+that was why he drooped and let the sun sparkle on the water, and the
+stream smiled to make Bevis follow him to where the butterfly was
+playing. Without pausing anywhere, but just zig-zagging on, the blue
+butterfly floated before Bevis, who danced after him, the nuts falling
+from his crammed pockets; knocking every oak as he went with his stick,
+asking them if they knew anything, or had anything to tell the people in
+the copse near his house. The oaks were bursting with things to tell
+him, and messages to send, but they could not speak, as there was no
+breeze in the hollow. He whipped the bramble bushes with his crook, but
+they did not mind in the least, they were so glad to see him.
+
+He whistled to the butterfly to stop a moment while he picked a
+blackberry; the butterfly settled on a leaf. Then away they went again
+together till they left the wood behind and began to go up the hill.
+There the butterfly grew restless, and could scarce restrain his pace
+for Bevis to keep up, as they were now in the sunshine. Bevis raced
+after as fast as he could go uphill, but at the top the butterfly
+thought he saw a friend of his, and telling Bevis that somebody would
+come to him in a minute, away he flew. Bevis looked round, but it was
+all strange and new to him; there were hills all round, but there was no
+waggon, and no old trench or rampart; nothing but the blue sky and the
+great sun, which did not seem far off.
+
+While he wondered which way to go, the wind came along the ridge, and
+taking him softly by the ear pushed him gently forward and said: "Bevis,
+my love, I have been waiting for you ever so long; why did you not come
+before?"
+
+"Because you never asked me," said Bevis.
+
+"Oh yes, I did; I asked you twenty times in the copse. I beckoned to you
+out of the great oak, under which you went to sleep; and I whispered to
+you from the fir-trees where the squirrel played, but you were so busy,
+dear, so busy with Kapchack, and the war, and Choo Hoo, and the court,
+and all the turmoil, that you did not hear me."
+
+"You should have called louder," said Bevis.
+
+"So I did," said the wind. "Don't you remember I whirled the little
+bough against your window, and rattled the casement that night you saw
+the owl go by?"
+
+"I was so sleepy," said Bevis, "I did not know what you meant; you
+should have kissed me."
+
+"So I did," said the wind. "I kissed you a hundred times out in the
+field, and stroked your hair, but you would not take any notice."
+
+"I had so much to do," said Bevis; "there was the weasel and my
+cannon-stick."
+
+"But I wanted you very much," said the wind, "because I love you, and
+longed for you to come and visit me."
+
+"Well, now I am come," said Bevis. "But where do you live?"
+
+"This is where I live, dear," said the wind. "I live upon the hill;
+sometimes I go to the sea, and sometimes to the woods, and sometimes I
+run through the valley, but I always come back here, and you may always
+be sure of finding me here; and I want you to come and romp with me."
+
+"I will come," said Bevis; "I like a romp, but are you very rough?"
+
+"Oh no, dear; not with you."
+
+"I am a great big boy," said Bevis; "I am eating my peck of salt very
+fast: I shall soon get too big to romp with you. How old are you, you
+jolly Wind?"
+
+The wind laughed and said: "I am older than all the very old things. I
+am as old as the brook."
+
+"But the brook is very old," said Bevis. "He told me he was older than
+the hills, so I do not think you are as old as he is."
+
+"Yes I am," said the wind; "he was always my playfellow; we were
+children together."
+
+"If you are so very, very old," said Bevis, "it is no use your trying to
+romp with me, because I am very strong; I can carry my papa's gun on my
+shoulder, and I can run very fast; do you know the stupid old bailiff
+can't catch me? I can go round the ricks ever so much quicker than he
+can."
+
+"I can run quick," said the wind.
+
+"But not so quick as me," said Bevis; "now see if you can catch me."
+
+Away he ran, and for a moment he left the wind behind; but the wind blew
+a little faster, and overtook him, and they raced along together, like
+two wild things, till Bevis began to pant. Then down he sat on the turf
+and kicked up his heels and shouted, and the wind fanned his cheek and
+cooled him, and kissed his lips and stroked his hair, and caressed him
+and played with him, till up he jumped again and danced along, the wind
+always pushing him gently.
+
+"You are a jolly old Wind," said Bevis, "I like you very much; but you
+must tell me a story, else we shall quarrel. I'm sure we shall."
+
+"I will try," said the wind; "but I have forgotten all my stories,
+because the people never come to listen to me now."
+
+"Why don't they come?" said Bevis.
+
+"They are too busy," said the wind, sighing; "they are so very, very
+busy, just like you were with Kapchack and his treasure and the war, and
+all the rest of the business; they have so much to do, they have quite
+forsaken me."
+
+"I will come to you," said Bevis; "do not be sorry. I will come and play
+with you."
+
+"Yes, do," said the wind; "and drink me, dear, as much as ever you can.
+I shall make you strong. Now drink me."
+
+Bevis stood still and drew in a long, long breath, drinking the wind
+till his chest was full and his heart beat quicker. Then he jumped and
+danced and shouted.
+
+"There," said the wind, "see, how jolly I have made you. It was I who
+made you dance and sing, and run along the hill just now. Come up here,
+my darling Sir Bevis, and drink me as often as ever you can, and the
+more you drink of me the happier you will be, and the longer you will
+live. And people will look at you and say: 'How jolly he looks! Is he
+not nice? I wish I was like him.' And presently they will say: 'Where
+does he learn all these things?'
+
+"For you must know, Bevis, my dear, that although I have forgotten my
+stories, yet they are all still there in my mind, and by-and-by, if you
+keep on drinking me I shall tell you all of them, and nobody will know
+how you learn it all. For I know more than the brook, because, you see,
+I travel about everywhere: and I know more than the trees; indeed, all
+they know I taught them myself. The sun is always telling me everything,
+and the stars whisper to me at night: the ocean roars at me: the earth
+whispers to me: just you lie down, Bevis love, upon the ground and
+listen."
+
+So Bevis lay down on the grass, and heard the wind whispering in the
+tufts and bunches, and the earth under him answered, and asked the wind
+to stay and talk. But the wind said: "I have got Bevis to-day: come on,
+Bevis," and Bevis stood up and walked along.
+
+"Besides all these things," said the wind, "I can remember everything
+that ever was. There never was anything that I cannot remember, and my
+mind is so clear that if you will but come up here and drink me, you
+will understand everything."
+
+"Well then," said Bevis, "I will drink you--there, I have just had such
+a lot of you: now tell me this instant why the sun is up there, and is
+he very hot if you touch him, and which way does he go when he sinks
+beyond the wood, and who lives up there, and are they nice people, and
+who painted the sky?"
+
+The wind laughed aloud, and said: "Bevis, my darling, you have not drunk
+half enough of me yet, else you would never ask such silly questions as
+that. Why, those are like the silly questions the people ask who live in
+the houses of the cities, and never feel me or taste me, or speak to me.
+And I have seen them looking through long tubes----"
+
+"I know," said Bevis; "they are telescopes, and you look at the sun and
+the stars, and they tell you all about them."
+
+"Pooh!" said the wind, "don't you believe such stuff and rubbish, my
+pet. How can they know anything about the sun who are never out in the
+sunshine, and never come up on the hills, or go into the wood? How can
+they know anything about the stars who never stopped on the hills, or on
+the sea all night? How can they know anything of such things who are
+shut up in houses, dear, where I cannot come in?
+
+"Bevis, my love, if you want to know all about the sun, and the stars,
+and everything, make haste and come to me, and I will tell you, dear. In
+the morning, dear, get up as quick as you can, and drink me as I come
+down from the hill. In the day go up on the hill, dear, and drink me
+again, and stay there if you can till the stars shine out, and drink
+still more of me.
+
+"And by-and-by you will understand all about the sun, and the moon, and
+the stars, and the earth which is so beautiful, Bevis. It is so
+beautiful, you can hardly believe how beautiful it is. Do not listen,
+dear, not for one moment, to the stuff and rubbish they tell you down
+there in the houses where they will not let me come. If they say the
+earth is not beautiful, tell them they do not speak the truth. But it is
+not their fault, for they have never seen it, and as they have never
+drank me their eyes are closed, and their ears shut up tight. But every
+evening, dear, before you get into bed, do you go to your window--the
+same as you did the evening the owl went by--and lift the curtain and
+look up at the sky, and I shall be somewhere about, or else I shall be
+quiet in order that there may be no clouds, so that you may see the
+stars. In the morning, as I said before, rush out and drink me up.
+
+"The more you drink of me, the more you will want, and the more I shall
+love you. Come up to me upon the hills, and your heart will never be
+heavy, but your eyes will be bright, and your step quick, and you will
+sing and shout----"
+
+"So I will," said Bevis, "I will shout. Holloa!" and he ran up on to the
+top of the little round hill, to which they had now returned, and danced
+about on it as wild as could be.
+
+"Dance away, dear," said the wind, much delighted. "Everybody dances who
+drinks me. The man in the hill there----"
+
+"What man?" said Bevis, "and how did he get in the hill? just tell him I
+want to speak to him."
+
+"Darling," said the wind, very quiet and softly, "he is dead, and he is
+in the little hill you are standing on, under your feet. At least, he
+was there once, but there is nothing of him there now. Still it is his
+place, and as he loved me, and I loved him, I come very often and sing
+here."
+
+"When did he die?" said Bevis. "Did I ever see him?"
+
+"He died about a minute ago, dear; just before you came up the hill. If
+you were to ask the people who live in the houses, where they will not
+let me in (they carefully shut out the sun too), they would tell you he
+died thousands of years ago; but they are foolish, very foolish. It was
+hardly so long ago as yesterday. Did not the brook tell you all about
+that?
+
+"Now this man, and all his people, used to love me and drink me, as much
+as ever they could all day long and a great part of the night, and when
+they died they still wanted to be with me, and so they were all buried
+on the tops of the hills, and you will find these curious little mounds
+everywhere on the ridges, dear, where I blow along. There I come to them
+still, and sing through the long dry grass, and rush over the turf, and
+I bring the scent of the clover from the plain, and the bees come
+humming along upon me. The sun comes too, and the rain. But I am here
+most; the sun only shines by day, and the rain only comes now and then.
+
+"But I am always here, day and night, winter and summer. Drink me as
+much as you will, you cannot drink me away; there is always just as much
+of me left. As I told you, the people who were buried in these little
+mounds used to drink me, and oh! how they raced along the turf, dear;
+there is nobody can run so fast now; and they leaped and danced, and
+sang and shouted. I loved them as I love you, my darling; there, sit
+down and rest on the thyme, dear, and I will stroke your hair and sing
+to you."
+
+So Bevis sat down on the thyme, and the wind began to sing, so low and
+sweet and so strange an old song, that he closed his eyes and leaned on
+his arm on the turf. There were no words to the song, but Bevis
+understood it all, and it made him feel so happy. The great sun smiled
+upon him, the great earth bore him in her arms gently, the wind caressed
+him, singing all the while. Now Bevis knew what the wind meant; he felt
+with his soul out to the far-distant sun just as easily as he could feel
+with his hand to the bunch of grass beside him; he felt with his soul
+down through into the earth just as easily as he could touch the sward
+with his fingers. Something seemed to come to him out of the sunshine
+and the grass.
+
+"There never was a yesterday," whispered the wind presently, "and there
+never will be to-morrow. It is all one long to-day. When the man in the
+hill was you were too, and he still is now you are here; but of these
+things you will know when you are older, that is if you will only
+continue to drink me. Come, dear, let us race on again." So the two went
+on and came to a hawthorn-bush, and Bevis, full of mischief always,
+tried to slip away from the wind round the bush, but the wind laughed
+and caught him.
+
+A little farther and they came to the fosse of the old camp. Bevis went
+down into the trench, and he and the wind raced round along it as fast
+as ever they could go, till presently he ran up out of it on the hill,
+and there was the waggon underneath him, with the load well piled up
+now. There was the plain, yellow with stubble; the hills beyond it and
+the blue valley, just the same as he had left it.
+
+As Bevis stood and looked down, the wind caressed him, and said:
+"Good-bye, darling, I am going yonder, straight across to the blue
+valley and the blue sky, where they meet; but I shall be back again when
+you come next time. Now remember, my dear, to drink me--come up here and
+drink me."
+
+"Shall you be here?" said Bevis, "are you quite sure you will be here?"
+
+"Yes," said the wind, "I shall be quite certain to be here; I promise
+you, love, I will never go quite away. Promise me faithfully, too, that
+you will come up and drink me, and shout and race and be happy."
+
+"I promise," said Bevis, beginning to go down the hill; "good-bye, jolly
+old Wind."
+
+"Good-bye, dearest," whispered the wind, as he went across out towards
+the valley. As Bevis went down the hill, a blue harebell, who had been
+singing farewell to summer all the morning, called to him and asked him
+to gather her and carry her home as she would rather go with him than
+stay now autumn was near.
+
+Bevis gathered the harebell, and ran with the flower in his hand down
+the hill, and as he ran the wild thyme kissed his feet and said: "Come
+again, Bevis, come again". At the bottom of the hill the waggon was
+loaded now; so they lifted him up, and he rode home on the broad back of
+the leader.
+
+
+
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