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diff --git a/38421.txt b/38421.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..601f526 --- /dev/null +++ b/38421.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4342 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Little Boy Lost, by W. H. Hudson, +Illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop + + +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: A Little Boy Lost + + +Author: W. H. Hudson + + + +Release Date: December 27, 2011 [eBook #38421] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE BOY LOST*** + + +E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Jane Moss, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made +available by Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 38421-h.htm or 38421-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38421/38421-h/38421-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38421/38421-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/littleboylost00huds + + + + + +A LITTLE BOY LOST + + * * * * * + +UNUSUAL BOOKS _FOR BOYS AND GIRLS_ + + + THREE AND THE MOON BY JACQUES DOREY + _DECORATED BY BORIS ARTZYBASHEFF_ + + THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY BIBLE STORIES + _SELECTED AND DECORATED BY JAMES DAUGHERTY_ + + THE RUNAWAY SARDINE + _TOLD AND ILLUSTRATED BY EMMA L. BROCK_ + + THE THREE MULLA-MULGARS BY WALTER DE LA MARE + _ILLUSTRATED BY DOROTHY LATHROP_ + + COME HITHER BY WALTER DE LA MARE + _DECORATED BY ALEC BUCKELS_ + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: HE IN TURN, LEANING OVER THE ROCK STARED BACK INTO +MARTIN'S FACE WITH HIS IMMENSE FISHY EYES.] + + +A LITTLE BOY LOST + +by + +W . H . HUDSON + +Author of "Green Mansions," Etc. + +Illustrated by Dorothy . P . Lathrop + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + +New York +Alfred . A . Knopf +MCMXXXVI + +Copyright 1920 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. + +All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced +in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, +except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce +not more than three illustrations in a review to be printed +in a magazine or newspaper. + +Published September 18, 1920 + +Manufactured in the United States of America + + + + +_Contents_ + + + I THE HOME ON THE GREAT PLAIN, 13 + + II THE SPOONBILL AND THE CLOUD, 20 + + III CHASING A FLYING FIGURE, 29 + + IV MARTIN IS FOUND BY A DEAF OLD MAN, 33 + + V THE PEOPLE OF THE MIRAGE, 44 + + VI MARTIN MEETS WITH SAVAGES, 60 + + VII ALONE IN THE GREAT FOREST, 68 + + VIII THE FLOWER AND THE SERPENT, 76 + + IX THE BLACK PEOPLE OF THE SKY, 86 + + X A TROOP OF WILD HORSES, 95 + + XI THE LADY OF THE HILLS, 109 + + XII THE LITTLE PEOPLE UNDERGROUND, 117 + + XIII THE GREAT BLUE WATER, 129 + + XIV THE WONDERS OF THE HILLS, 135 + + XV MARTIN'S EYES ARE OPENED, 144 + + XVI THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST, 153 + + XVII THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA, 163 + + XVIII MARTIN PLAYS WITH THE WAVES, 173 + + NOTE, 184 + + + + +_Illustrations_ + + + He in turn, leaning over the rock stared back into Martin's face + with his immense fishy eyes _Frontispiece_ + + PAGE + + "Oh, poor bird," he cried suddenly, "open your wings and fly + away!" 28 + + Groping his way to the bucket of cold water--he managed to + raise it up in his arms, and poured it over the sleeper 39 + + "The Queen wishes to speak to you--stand up, little boy" 52 + + How strange it seemed when, holding on to a twig, he bent over + and saw himself reflected in that black mirror 71 + + He quickly ate it, and then pulled another and ate that, and then + another, and still others, until he could eat no more 79 + + Then the wild man, catching Martin up, leaped upon the back of + one of the horses 103 + + She raised him in her arms and pressed him to her bosom, wrapping + her hair like a warm mantle around him 115 + + For a moment or two he was tempted to turn and run back into the + passage through which he had come 122 + + The doe--timidly smelt at his hand, then licked it with her long + pink tongue 140 + + Throwing up her arms, she uttered a long call, and the birds + began to come lower and lower down 145 + + One of the mist people--held the shell to Martin's ear,--and + Martin knew--that it was the voice of the sea 156 + + + + + +A LITTLE BOY LOST + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter One_ + +_The Home on the Great Plain_ + + +Some like to be one thing, some another. There is so much to be done, so +many different things to do, so many trades! Shepherds, soldiers, +sailors, ploughmen, carters--one could go on all day naming without +getting to the end of them. For myself, boy and man, I have been many +things, working for a living, and sometimes doing things just for +pleasure; but somehow, whatever I did, it never seemed quite the right +and proper thing to do--it never quite satisfied me. I always wanted to +do something else--I wanted to be a carpenter. It seemed to me that to +stand among wood-shavings and sawdust, making things at a bench with +bright beautiful tools out of nice-smelling wood, was the cleanest, +healthiest, prettiest work that any man can do. Now all this has +nothing, or very little, to do with my story: I only spoke of it +because I had to begin somehow, and it struck me that would make a start +that way. And for another reason, too. _His father was a carpenter_. I +mean Martin's father--Martin, the Little Boy Lost. His father's name was +John, and he was a very good man and a good carpenter, and he loved to +do his carpentering better than anything else; in fact as much as I +should have loved it if I had been taught that trade. He lived in a +seaside town, named Southampton, where there is a great harbour, where +he saw great ships coming and going to and from all parts of the world. +Now, no strong, brave man can live in a place like that, seeing the ships +and often talking to the people who voyaged in them about the distant +lands where they had been, without wishing to go and see those distant +countries for himself. When it is winter in England, and it rains and +rains, and the east wind blows, and it is grey and cold and the trees +are bare, who does not think how nice it would be to fly away like the +summer birds to some distant country where the sky is always blue and +the sun shines bright and warm every day? And so it came to pass that +John, at last, when he was an old man, sold his shop, and went abroad. +They went to a country many thousands of miles away--for you must know +that Mrs. John went too; and when the sea voyage ended, they travelled +many days and weeks in a wagon until they came to the place where they +wanted to live; and there, in that lonely country, they built a house, +and made a garden, and planted an orchard. It was a desert, and they +had no neighbours, but they were happy enough because they had as much +land as they wanted, and the weather was always bright and beautiful; +John, too, had his carpenter's tools to work with when he felt inclined; +and, best of all, they had little Martin to love and think about. + +But how about Martin himself? You might think that with no other child +to prattle to and play with or even to see, it was too lonely a home for +him. Not a bit of it! No child could have been happier. He did not want +for company; his play-fellows were the dogs and cats and chickens, and +any creature in and about the house. But most of all he loved the little +shy creatures that lived in the sunshine among the flowers--the small +birds and butterflies, and little beasties and creeping things he was +accustomed to see outside the gate among the tall, wild sunflowers. +There were acres of these plants, and they were taller than Martin, and +covered with flowers no bigger than marigolds, and here among the +sunflowers he used to spend most of the day, as happy as possible. + +He had other amusements too. Whenever John went to his carpenter's +shop--for the old man still dearly loved his carpentering--Martin would +run in to keep him company. One thing he loved to do was to pick up the +longest wood-shavings, to wind them round his neck and arms and legs, +and then he would laugh and dance with delight, happy as a young Indian +in his ornaments. + +A wood-shaving may seem a poor plaything to a child with all the +toyshops in London to pick and choose from, but it is really very +curious and pretty. Bright and smooth to the touch, pencilled with +delicate wavy lines, while in its spiral shape it reminds one of winding +plants, and tendrils by means of which vines and creepers support +themselves, and flowers with curling petals, and curled leaves and +sea-shells and many other pretty natural objects. + +One day Martin ran into the house looking very flushed and joyous, +holding up his pinafore with something heavy in it. + +"What have you got now?" cried his father and mother in a breath, +getting up to peep at his treasure, for Martin was always fetching in +the most curious out-of-the-way things to show them. + +"My pretty shaving," said Martin proudly. + +When they looked they were amazed and horrified to see a spotted green +snake coiled comfortably up in the pinafore. It didn't appear to like +being looked at by them, for it raised its curious heart-shaped head and +flicked its little red, forked tongue at them. + +His mother gave a great scream, and dropped the jug she had in her hand +upon the floor, while John rushed off to get a big stick. "Drop it, +Martin--drop the wicked snake before it stings you, and I'll soon kill +it." + +Martin stared, surprised at the fuss they were making; then, still +tightly holding the ends of his pinafore, he turned and ran out of the +room and away as fast as he could go. Away went his father after him, +stick in hand, and out of the gate into the thicket of tall wild +sunflowers where Martin had vanished from sight. After hunting about for +some time, he found the little run-away sitting on the ground among the +weeds. + +"Where's the snake?" he cried. + +"Gone!" said Martin, waving his little hand around. "I let it go and you +mustn't look for it." + +John picked the child up in his arms and marched back to the room and +popped him down on the floor, then gave him a good scolding. "It's a +mercy the poisonous thing didn't sting you," he said. "You're a naughty +little boy to play with snakes, because they're dangerous bad things, +and you die if they bite you. And now you must go straight to bed; +that's the only punishment that has any effect on such a harebrained +little butterfly." + +Martin, puckering up his face for a cry, crept away to his little room. +It was very hard to have to go to bed in the daytime when he was not +sleepy, and when the birds and butterflies were out in the sunshine +having such a good time. + +"It's not a bit of use scolding him--I found that out long ago," said +Mrs. John, shaking her head. "Do you know, John, I can't help thinking +sometimes that he's not our child at all." + +"Whose child do you think he is, then?" said John, who had a cup of +water in his hand, for the chase after Martin had made him hot, and he +wanted cooling. + +"I don't know--but I once had a very curious dream." + +"People often do have curious dreams," said wise old John. + +"But this was a very curious one, and I remember saying to myself, if +this doesn't mean something that is going to happen, then dreams don't +count for much." + +"No more they do," said John. + +"It was in England, just when we were getting ready for the voyage, and +it was autumn, when the birds were leaving us. I dreamed that I went out +alone and walked by the sea, and stood watching a great number of +swallows flying by and out over the sea--flying away to some distant +land. By-and-by I noticed one bird coming down lower and lower as if he +wanted to alight, and I watched it, and it came down straight to me, and +at last flew right into my bosom. I put my hand on it, and looking close +saw that it was a martin, all pure white on its throat and breast, and +with a white patch on its back. Then I woke up, and it was because of +that dream that I named our child Martin instead of John as you wished +to do. Now, when I watch swallows flying about, coming and going round +the house, I sometimes think that Martin came to us like that one in the +dream, and that some day he will fly away from us. When he gets bigger, +I mean." + +"When he gets littler, you mean," said John with a laugh. "No, no, he's +too big for a swallow--a Michaelmas goose would be nothing to him for +size. But here I am listening to your silly dreams instead of watering +the melons and cucumbers!" And out he went to his garden, but in a +minute he put his head in at the door and said, "You may go and tell him +to get up if you like. Poor little fellow! Only make him promise not to +go chumming with spotted snakes any more, and not to bring them into the +house, because somehow they disagree with me." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Two_ + +_The Spoonbill and the Cloud_ + + +As Martin grew in years and strength, his age being now about seven, his +rambles began to extend beyond the waste grounds outside of the fenced +orchard and gate. These waste grounds were a wilderness of weeds: here +were the sunflowers that Martin liked best; the wild cock's-comb, +flaunting great crimson tufts; the yellow flowering mustard, taller than +the tallest man; giant thistle, and wild pumpkin with spotted leaves; +the huge hairy fox-gloves with yellow bells; feathery fennel, and the +big grey-green thorn-apples, with prickly burs full of bright red seed, +and long white wax-like flowers, that bloomed only in the evening. He +could never get high enough on anything to see over the tops of these +plants; but at last he found his way through them, and discovered on +their further side a wide grassy plain with scarcely a tree on it, +stretching away into the blue distance. On this vast plain he gazed with +wonderment and delight. Behind the orchard and weedy waste the ground +sloped down to a stream of running water, full of tall rushes with dark +green polished stems, and yellow water-lilies. All along the moist banks +grew other flowers that were never seen in the dry ground above--the +blue star, and scarlet and white verbenas; and sweet-peas of all +colours; and the delicate red vinegar flower, and angel's hair, and the +small fragrant lilies called Mary's-tears, and tall scattered flags, +flaunting their yellow blossoms high above the meadow grass. + +Every day Martin ran down to the stream to gather flowers and shells; +for many curious water-snails were found there with brown purple-striped +shells; and he also liked to watch the small birds that build their +nests in the rushes. + +There were three of these small birds that did not appear to know that +Martin loved them; for no sooner would he present himself at the stream +than forth they would flutter in a great state of mind. One, the +prettiest, was a tiny, green-backed little creature, with a crimson +crest and a velvet-black band across a bright yellow breast: this one +had a soft, low, complaining voice, clear as a silver bell. The second +was a brisk little grey and black fellow, with a loud, indignant chuck, +and a broad tail which he incessantly opened and shut, like a Spanish +lady playing with her fan. The third was a shy, mysterious little brown +bird, peering out of the clustering leaves, and making a sound like the +soft ticking of a clock. They were like three little men, an Italian, a +Dutchman, and a Hindoo, talking together, each in his own language, and +yet well able to understand each other. Martin could not make out what +they said, but suspected that they were talking about him; and he feared +that their remarks were not always of a friendly nature. + +At length he made the discovery that the water of the stream was +perpetually running away. If he dropped a leaf on the surface it would +hasten down stream, and toss about and fret impatiently against anything +that stood in its way, until, making its escape, it would quickly hurry +out of sight. Whither did this rippling, running water go? He was +anxious to find out. At length, losing all fear and fired with the sight +of many new and pretty things he found while following it, he ran along +the banks until, miles from home, he came to a great lake he could +hardly see across, it was so broad. It was a wonderful place, full of +birds; not small, fretful creatures flitting in and out of the rushes, +but great majestic birds that took very little notice of him. Far out on +the blue surface of the water floated numbers of wild fowl, and chief +among them for grace and beauty was a swan, pure white with black head +and neck and crimson bill. There also were stately flamingoes, stalking +along knee-deep in the water, which was shallow; and nearer to the shore +were flocks of rose-coloured spoonbills and solitary big grey herons +standing motionless; also groups of white egrets, and a great multitude +of glossy ibises, with dark green and purple plumage and long +sickle-like beaks. + +The sight of this water with its beds of rushes and tall flowering +reeds, and its great company of birds, filled Martin with delight; and +other joys were soon to follow. Throwing off his shoes, he dashed with a +shout into the water, frightening a number of ibises; up they flew, each +bird uttering a cry repeated many times, that sounded just like his old +father's laugh when he laughed loud and heartily. Then what was Martin's +amazement to hear his own shout and this chorus of bird ha, ha, ha's, +repeated by hundreds of voices all over the lake. At first he thought +that the other birds were mocking the ibises; but presently he shouted +again, and again his shouts were repeated by dozens of voices. This +delighted him so much that he spent the whole day shouting himself +hoarse at the waterside. + +When he related his wonderful experience at home, and heard from his +father that the sounds he had heard were only echoes from the beds of +rushes, he was not a bit wiser than before, so that the echoes remained +to him a continual wonder and source of never-failing pleasure. + +Every day he would take some noisy instrument to the lake to startle the +echoes; a whistle his father made him served for a time; after that he +marched up and down the banks, rattling a tin canister with pebbles in +it; then he got a large frying-pan from the kitchen, and beat on it with +a stick every day for about a fortnight. When he grew tired of all these +sounds, and began casting about for some new thing to wake the echoes +with, he all at once remembered his father's gun--just what he wanted, +for it was the noisiest thing in the world. Watching his opportunity, he +got secretly into the room where it was kept loaded, and succeeded in +carrying it out of the house without being seen; then, full of joyful +anticipations, he ran as fast as the heavy gun would let him to his +favourite haunt. + +When he arrived at the lake three or four spoonbills--those beautiful, +tall, rose-coloured birds--were standing on the bank, quietly dozing in +the hot sunshine. They did not fly away at his approach, for the birds +were now so accustomed to Martin and his harmless noises that they took +very little notice of him. He knelt on one knee and pointed the gun at +them. + +"Now, birdies, you don't know what a fright I'm going to give you--off +you go!" he cried, and pulled the trigger. + +The roar of the loud report travelled all over the wide lake, creating a +great commotion among the feathered people, and they rose up with a +general scream into the air. + +All this was of no benefit to Martin, the recoil of the gun having sent +him flying over, his heels in the air; and before he recovered himself +the echoes were silent, and all the frightened birds were settling on +the water again. But there, just before him, lay one of the spoonbills, +beating its great rose-coloured wings against the ground. + +Martin ran to it, full of keen distress, but was powerless to help; its +life's blood was fast running away from the shot wounds it had received +in its side, staining the grass with crimson. Presently it closed its +beautiful ruby-coloured eyes and the quivering wings grew still. + +Then Martin sat down on the grass by its side and began to cry. Oh, that +great bird, half as tall as himself, and so many times more lovely and +strong and beautiful in its life--he had killed it, and it would never +fly again! He raised it up very tenderly in his arms and kissed +it--kissed its pale green head and rosy wings; then out of his arms it +tumbled back again on to the grass. + +"Oh, poor bird," he cried suddenly, "open your wings and fly away!" + +But it was dead. + +Then Martin got up and stared all round him at the wide landscape, and +everything looked strange and dim and sorrowful. A shadow passed over +the lake, and a murmur came up out of the rushes that was like a voice +saying something that he could not understand. A great cry of pain rose +from his heart and died to a whisper on his lips; he was awed into +silence. Sinking down upon the grass again, he hid his face against the +rosy-breasted bird and began to sob. How warm the dead bird felt against +his cheek--oh, so warm--and it could not live and fly about with the +others. + +At length he sat up and knew the reason of that change that had come +over the earth. A dark cloud had sprung up in the south-west, far off as +yet, and near the horizon; but its fringe already touched and obscured +the low-hanging sun, and a shadow flew far and vast before it. Over the +lake flew that great shadow: the waters looked cold and still, +reflecting as in a polished glass the motionless rushes, the glassy +bank, and Martin, sitting on it, still clasping in his arms the dead +rose-coloured bird. + +Swifter and vaster, following close upon the flying shadow, came the +mighty cloud, changing from black to slaty grey; and then, as the sun +broke forth again under its lower edge, it was all flushed with a +brilliant rose colour. But what a marvellous thing it was, when the +cloud covered a third of the wide heavens, almost touching the horizon +on either side with its wing-like extremities; Martin, gazing steadily +at it, saw that in its form it was like an immense spoonbill flying +through the air! He would gladly have run away then to hide himself from +its sight, but he dared not stir, for it was now directly above him; so, +lying down on the grass and hiding his face against the dead bird, he +waited in fear and trembling. + +He heard the rushing sound of the mighty wings: the wind they created +smote on the waters in a hurricane, so that the reeds were beaten flat +on the surface, and a great cry of terror went up from all the wild +birds. It passed, and when Martin raised his bowed head and looked +again, the sun, just about to touch the horizon with its great red +globe, shone out, shedding a rich radiance over the earth and water; +while far off, on the opposite side of the heavens, the great cloud-bird +was rapidly fading out of sight. + +[Illustration: "OH, POOR BIRD," HE CRIED SUDDENLY, "OPEN YOUR WINGS AND +FLY AWAY!"] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Three_ + +_Chasing a Flying Figure_ + + +After what had happened Martin could never visit the waterside and look +at the great birds wading and swimming there without a feeling that was +like a sudden coldness in the blood of his veins. The rosy spoonbill he +had killed and cried over and the great bird-cloud that had frightened +him were never forgotten. He grew tired of shouting to the echoes: he +discovered that there were even more wonderful things than the marsh +echoes in the world, and that the world was bigger than he had thought +it. When spring with its moist verdure and frail, sweet-smelling flowers +had gone; when the great plain began to turn to a rusty-brown colour, +and the dry hard earth was full of cracks, and the days grew longer and +the heat greater, there came an appearance of water that quivered and +glittered and danced before his wondering sight, and would lead him +miles from home every day in his vain efforts to find out what it was. +He could talk of nothing else, and asked endless questions about it, and +they told him that this strange thing was nothing but the Mirage, but of +course that was not telling him enough, so that he was left to puzzle +his little boy-brains over this new mystery, just as they had puzzled +before over the mystery of the echoes. Now this Mirage was a glittering +whiteness that looked just like water, always shining and dancing before +him and all round him, on the dry level plain where there was no water. +It was never quiet, but perpetually quivering and running into wavelets +that threw up crests and jets of sprays as from a fountain, and showers +of brilliant drops that flashed like molten silver in the sunlight +before they broke and vanished, only to be renewed again. It appeared +every day when the sun was high and the air hot, and it was often called +_The False Water_. And false it was, since it always flew before him as +he ran, so that although he often seemed to be getting nearer to it he +could never quite overtake it. But Martin had a very determined spirit +for a small boy, and although this appearance of water mocked his +efforts a hundred times every day with its vanishing brightness and +beauty, he would not give up the pursuit. + +Now one day when there was not a cloud on the great hot whitey-blue sky, +nor a breath of air stirring, when it was all silent, for not even a +grass-hopper creaked in the dead, yellow, motionless grass, the whole +level earth began to shine and sparkle like a lake of silvery water, as +Martin had never seen it shine before. He had wandered far away from +home--never had he been so far--and still he ran and ran and ran, and +still that whiteness quivered and glittered and flew on before him; and +ever it looked more temptingly near, urging him to fresh exertions. At +length, tired out and overcome with heat, he sat down to rest, and +feeling very much hurt at the way he had been deceived and led on, he +shed one little tear. There was no mistake about that tear; he felt it +running like a small spider down his cheek, and finally he saw it fall. +It fell on to a blade of yellow grass and ran down the blade, then +stopped so as to gather itself into a little round drop before touching +the ground. Just then, out of the roots of the grass beneath it, crept a +tiny dusty black beetle and began drinking the drop, waving its little +horns up and down like donkey's ears, apparently very much pleased at +its good fortune in finding water and having a good drink in such a dry, +thirsty place. Probably it took the tear for a drop of rain just fallen +out of the sky. + +"You _are_ a funny little thing!" exclaimed Martin, feeling now less +like crying than laughing. + +The wee beetle, satisfied and refreshed, climbed up the grass-blade, and +when it reached the tip lifted its dusty black wing-cases just enough to +throw out a pair of fine gauzy wings that had been neatly folded up +beneath them, and flew away. + +Martin, following its flight, had his eyes quite dazzled by the intense +glitter of the False Water, which now seemed to be only a few yards +from him: but the strangest thing was that in it there appeared a +form--a bright beautiful form that vanished when he gazed steadily at +it. Again he got up and began running harder than ever after the flying +mocking Mirage, and every time he stopped he fancied that he could see +the figure again, sometimes like a pale blue shadow on the brightness; +sometimes shining with its own excessive light, and sometimes only seen +in outline, like a figure graved on glass, and always vanishing when +looked at steadily. Perhaps that white water-like glitter of the Mirage +was like a looking-glass, and he was only chasing his own reflection. I +cannot say, but there it was, always before him, a face as of a +beautiful boy, with tumbled hair and laughing lips, its figure clothed +in a fluttering dress of lights and shadows. It also seemed to beckon to +him with its hand, and encourage him to run on after it with its bright +merry glances. + +At length when it was past the hour of noon, Martin sat down under a +small bush that gave just shade enough to cover him and none to spare. +It was only a little spot of shade like an island in a sea of heat and +brightness. He was too hot and tired to run more, too tired even to keep +his eyes open, and so, propping his back against the stem of the small +bush, he closed his tired hot eyes. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Four_ + +_Martin is Found by a Deaf Old Man_ + + +Martin kept his eyes shut for only about a minute, as he thought; but he +must have been asleep some time, for when he opened them the False Water +had vanished, and the sun, looking very large and crimson, was just +about to set. He started up, feeling very thirsty and hungry and +bewildered; for he was far, far from home, and lost on the great plain. +Presently he spied a man coming towards him on horseback. A very +funny-looking old man he proved to be, with a face wrinkled and tanned +by sun and wind, until it resembled a piece of ancient shoe-leather left +lying for years on some neglected spot of ground. A Brazil nut is not +darker nor more wrinkled than was the old man's face. His long matted +beard and hair had once been white, but the sun out of doors and the +smoke in his smoky hut had given them a yellowish tinge, so that they +looked like dry dead grass. He wore big jack-boots, patched all over, +and full of cracks and holes; and a great pea-jacket, rusty and ragged, +fastened with horn buttons big as saucers. His old brimless hat looked +like a dilapidated tea-cosy on his head, and to prevent it from being +carried off by the wind it was kept on with an old flannel shirt-sleeve +tied under his chin. His saddle, too, like his clothes, was old and full +of rents, with wisps of hair and straw-stuffing sticking out in various +places, and his feet were thrust into a pair of big stirrups made of +pieces of wood and rusty iron tied together with string and wire. + +"Boy, what may you being a doing of here?" bawled this old man at the +top of his voice: for he was as deaf as a post, and like a good many +deaf people thought it necessary to speak very loud to make himself +heard. + +"Playing," answered Martin innocently. But he could not make the old man +hear until he stood up on tip-toe and shouted out his answer as loud as +he could. + +"Playing," exclaimed the old man. "Well, I never in all my life! When +there ain't a house 'cepting my own for leagues and leagues, and he says +he's playing! What may you be now?" he shouted again. + +"A little boy," screamed Martin. + +"I knowed that afore I axed," said the other. Then he slapped his legs +and held up his hand with astonishment, and at last began to chuckle. +"Will you come home along o' me?" he shouted. + +"Will you give me something to eat?" asked Martin in return. + +"Haw, haw, haw," guffawed the old fellow. It was a tremendous laugh, so +loud and hollow, it astonished and almost frightened Martin to hear it. +"Well I never!" he said. "He ain't no fool, neither. Now, old Jacob, +just you take your time and think a bit afore you makes your answer to +that." + +This curious old man, whose name was Jacob, had lived so long by himself +that he always thought out loud--louder than other people talk: for, +being deaf, he could not hear himself, and never had a suspicion that he +could be heard by others. + +"He's lost, that's what he is," continued old Jacob aloud to himself. +"And what's more, he's been and gone and forgot all about his own home, +and all he wants is summat to eat. I'll take him and keep him, that's +what I'll do: for he's a stray lamb, and belongs to him that finds him, +like any other lamb I finds. I'll make him believe I'm his old dad; for +he's little and will believe most anything you tells him. I'll learn him +to do things about the house--to boil the kettle, and cook the wittels, +and gather the firewood, and mend the clothes, and do the washing, and +draw the water, and milk the cow, and dig the potatoes, and mind the +sheep and--and--and that's what I'll learn him. Then, Jacob, you can sit +down and smoke your pipe, 'cos you'll have some one to do your work for +you." + +Martin stood quietly listening to all this, not quite understanding the +old man's kind intentions. Then old Jacob, promising to give him +something to eat, pulled him up on to his horse, and started home at a +gallop. + +Soon they arrived at a mud hovel, thatched with rushes, the roof sloping +down so low that one could almost step on to it; it was surrounded with +a ditch, and had a potato patch and a sheep enclosure; for old Jacob was +a shepherd, and had a flock of sheep. There were several big dogs, and +when Martin got down from the horse, they began jumping round him, +barking with delight, as if they knew him, half-smothering him with +their rough caresses. Jacob led him into the hut, which looked extremely +dirty and neglected, and had only one room. In the corners against walls +were piles of sheep-skins that had a strong and rather unpleasant smell: +the thatch above was covered with dusty cobwebs, hanging like old rags, +and the clay floor was littered with bones, sticks, and other rubbish. +The only nice thing to see was a tea-kettle singing and steaming away +merrily on the fire in the grate. Old Jacob set about preparing the +evening meal; and soon they sat down at a small deal table to a supper +of cold mutton and potatoes, and tea which did not taste very nice, as +it was sweetened with moist black sugar. Martin was too hungry to turn +up his nose at anything, and while he ate and drank the old man chuckled +and talked aloud to himself about his good fortune in finding the little +boy to do his work for him. After supper he cleared the table, and put +two mugs of tea on it, and then got out his clay pipe and tobacco. + +"Now, little boy," he cried, "let's have a jolly evening together. Your +very good health, little boy," and here he jingled his mug against +Martin's, and took a sip of tea. + +"Would you like to hear a song, little boy?" he said, after finishing +his pipe. + +"No," said Martin, who was getting sleepy; but Jacob took no to mean +yes, and so he stood up on his legs and sang this song:-- + + "My name is Jacob, that's my name; + And tho' I'm old, the old man's game-- + The air it is so good, d'ye see: + And on the plain my flock I keep, + And sing all day to please my sheep, + And never lose them like Bo-Peep, + Becos the ways of them are known to me. + + "When winter comes and winds do blow, + Unto my sheep so good I go-- + I'm always good to them, d'ye see-- + Ho, sheep, say I, both ram, both ewe, + I've sung you songs all summer through, + Now lend to me a skin or two, + To keep the cold and wet from out o' me." + +This song, accompanied with loud raps on the table, was bellowed forth +in a dreadfully discordant voice; and very soon all the dogs rushed into +the room and began to bark and howl most dismally, which seemed to +please the old man greatly, for to him it was a kind of applause. But +the noise was too much for Martin; so he stopped up his ears, and only +removed his fingers from them when the performance was over. After the +song the old man offered to dance, for he had not yet had amusement +enough. + +"Boy, can you play on this?" he shouted, holding up a frying-pan and a +big stick to beat it with. + +Of course Martin could play on _that_ instrument: he had often enough +played on one like it to startle the echoes on the lake, in other days. +And so, when he had been lifted on to the table, he took the frying-pan +by the handle, and began vigorously beating on it with the stick. He did +not mind the noise now since he was helping to make it. Meanwhile old +Jacob began flinging his arms and legs about in all directions, looking +like a scarecrow made to tumble about by means of springs and wires. He +pounded the clay floor with his ponderous old boots until the room was +filled with a cloud of dust; then in his excitement he kicked over +chairs, pots, kettle, and whatever came in his way, while he kept on +revolving round the table in a kind of crazy fandango. Martin thought it +fine fun, and screamed with laughter, and beat his gong louder than +ever; then to make matters worse old Jacob at intervals uttered whoops +and yells, which the dogs answered with long howls from the door, until +the din was something tremendous. + +At length they both grew tired, and then after resting and sipping some +more cold tea, prepared to go to bed. Some sheep-skins were piled up +in a corner for Martin to sleep on, and old Jacob covered him with a +horse-rug, and tucked him in very carefully. Then the kind old man +withdrew to his own bed on the opposite side of the room. + +[Illustration: GROPING HIS WAY TO THE BUCKET OF COLD WATER--HE MANAGED +TO RAISE IT UP IN HIS ARMS, AND POURED IT OVER THE SLEEPER.] + +About midnight Martin was wakened by loud horrible noises in the room, +and started up on bed trembling with fear. The sounds came from the old +man's nose, and resembled a succession of blasts on a ram's horn, which, +on account of its roughness and twisted shape, makes a very bad trumpet. +As soon as Martin discovered the cause of the noise he crept out of bed +and tried to waken the old snorer by shouting to him, tugging at his +arms and legs, and finally pulling his beard. He refused to wake. Then +Martin had a bright idea, and groping his way to the bucket of cold +water standing beside the fire-place, he managed to raise it up in his +arms, and poured it over the sleeper. + +The snoring changed to cries of loud choking snorts, then ceased. +Martin, well pleased at the success of his experiment, was about to +return to his bed when old Jacob struggled up to a sitting posture. + +"Hullo, wake up, little boy!" he shouted. "My bed's all full o' +water--goodness knows where it comes from." + +"I poured it over you to wake you up. Don't you know you were making a +noise with your nose?" cried Martin at the top of his voice. + +"You--you--you throwed it over me! You--O you most wicked little +villain you! You throwed it over me did you!" and here he poured out +such a torrent of abusive words that Martin was horrified and cried out, +"O what a naughty, wicked, bad old man you are!" + +It was too dark for old Jacob to see him, but he knew his way about the +room, and taking up the wet rug that served him for covering he groped +his way to Martin's bed and began pounding it with the rug, thinking the +naughty little boy was there. + +"You little rascal you--I hope you like that!--and that!--and that!" he +shouted, pounding away. "I'll learn you to throw water over your poor +old dad! And such a--a affectionate father as I've been too, giving him +sich nice wittles--and--and singing and dancing to him to teach him +music. Perhaps you'd like a little more, you takes it so quietly? Well, +then, take that!--and that!--and that! Why, how's this--the young +warmint ain't here arter all! Well, I'm blowed if that don't beat +everythink! What did he go and chuck that water over me for? What a +walloping I'll give him in the morning when it's light! and now, boy, +you may go and sleep on my bed, 'cos it's wet, d'ye see; and I'll sleep +on yourn, 'cos it's dry." + +Then he got into Martin's bed, and muttered and grumbled himself to +sleep. Martin came out from under the table, and after dressing himself +with great secrecy crept to the door to make his escape. It was locked +and the key taken away. But he was determined to make his escape +somehow, and not wait to be whipped; so, by and by, he drew the little +deal table close against the wall, and getting on to it began picking +the rushes one by one out of the lower part of the thatch. After working +for half-an-hour, like a mouse eating his way out of a soft wooden box, +he began to see the light coming through the hole, and in another half +hour it was large enough for him to creep through. When he had got out, +he slipped down to the ground, where the dogs were lying. They seemed +very glad to see him, and began pressing round to lick his face; but he +pushed them off, and ran away over the plain as fast as he could. The +stars were shining, but it was very dark and silent; only in moist +places, where the grass grew tall, he heard the crickets strumming sadly +on their little harps. + +At length, tired with running, he coiled himself in a large tussock of +dry grass and went to sleep, just as if he had been accustomed to sleep +out of doors all his life. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Five_ + +_The People of the Mirage_ + + +In that remote land where Martin was born, with its bright warm climate +and rich soil, no person need go very long hungry--not even a small boy +alone and lost on that great grassy plain. For there is a little useful +plant in that place, with small leaves like clover leaves and a pretty +yellow flower, which bears a wholesome sweet root, about as big as a +pigeon's egg and of a pearly white colour. It is so well known to the +settlers' children in that desert country that they are always wandering +off to the plain to look for it, just as the children in a town are +always running off with their halfpence to the sweet-stuff shop. This +pretty white root is watery, so that it satisfies both hunger and thirst +at the same time. Now when Martin woke next morning, he found a great +many of the little three-leaved plants growing close to the spot where +he had slept, and they supplied him with a nice sweet breakfast. After +he had eaten enough and had amused himself by rolling over and over +several times on the grass, he started once more on his travels, going +towards the sunrise as fast as he could run. He could run well for a +small boy, but he got tired at last and sat down to rest. Then he jumped +up and went on again at a trot: this pace he kept up very steadily, only +pausing from time to time to watch a flock of small white birds that +followed him all the morning out of curiosity. At length he began to +feel so hot and tired that he could only walk. Still he kept on; he +could see no flowers nor anything pretty in that place--why should he +stay in it? He would go on, and on, and on, in spite of the heat, until +he came to something. But it grew hotter as the day advanced, and the +ground about him more dry and barren and desolate, until at last he came +to ground where there was scarcely a blade of grass: it was a great, +barren, level plain, covered with a slight crust of salt crystals that +glittered in the sun so brightly that it dazzled and pained his +eyesight. Here were no sweet watery roots for refreshment, and no +berries; nor could Martin find a bush to give him a little shade and +protection from the burning noonday sun. He saw one large dark object in +the distance, and mistaking it for a bush covered with thick foliage he +ran towards it; but suddenly it started up, when he was near, and waving +its great grey and white wings like sails, fled across the plain. It was +an ostrich! + +Now this hot, shadeless plain seemed to be the very home and +dwelling-place of the False Water. It sparkled and danced all round him +so close that there only appeared to be a small space of dry ground for +him to walk on; only he was always exactly in the centre of the dry +spot; for as he advanced, the glittering whiteness, that looked so like +shiny water, flew mockingly before his steps. But he hoped to get to it +at last, as every time he flagged in the chase the mysterious figure of +the day before appeared again to lure him still further on. At length, +unable to move another step, Martin sat right down on the bare ground: +it was like sitting on the floor of a heated oven, but there was no help +for it, he was so tired. The air was so thick and heavy that he could +hardly breathe, even with his mouth wide open like a little gasping +bird; and the sky looked like metal, heated to a white heat, and so low +down as to make him fancy that if he were to throw up his hands he would +touch it and burn his fingers. + +And the Mirage--oh, how it glistened and quivered here where he had sat +down, half blinding him with its brightness! Now that he could no longer +run after it, nor even walk, it came to him, breaking round and over him +in a thousand fantastic shapes, filling the air with a million white +flakes that whirled about as if driven by a furious wind, although not a +breath was stirring. They looked like whitest snow-flakes, yet stung his +cheeks like sparks of fire. Not only did he see and feel, he could even +_hear_ it now: his ears were filled with a humming sound, growing louder +and louder every minute, like the noise made by a large colony of +bumble-bees when a person carelessly treads on their nest, and they are +angered and thrown into a great commotion and swarm out to defend their +home. Very soon out of this confused murmur louder, clearer sounds began +to rise; and these could be distinguished as the notes of numberless +musical instruments, and voices of people singing, talking, and +laughing. Then, all at once, there appeared running and skipping over +the ground towards him a great company of girls--scores and hundreds of +them scattered over the plain, exceeding in loveliness all lovely things +that he had ever beheld. Their faces were whiter than lilies, and their +loose, fluttering hair looked like a mist of pale shining gold; and +their skirts, that rustled as they ran, were also shining like the wings +of dragon-flies, and were touched with brown reflections and changing, +beautiful tints, such as are seen on soap-bubbles. Each of them carried +a silver pitcher, and as they ran and skipped along they dipped their +fingers in and sprinkled the desert with water. The bright drops they +scattered fell all around in a grateful shower, and flew up again from +the heated earth in the form of a white mist touched with rainbow +colours, filling the air with a refreshing coolness. + +At Martin's side there grew a small plant, its grey-green leaves lying +wilted on the ground, and one of the girls paused to water it, and as +she sprinkled the drops on it she sang:-- + + "Little weed, little weed, + In such need, + Must you pain, ask in vain, + Die for rain, + Never bloom, never seed, + Little weed? + O, no, no, you shall not die, + From the sky + With my pitcher down I fly. + Drink the rain, grow again, + Bloom and seed, + Little weed." + +Martin held up his hot little hands to catch some of the falling drops; +then the girl, raising her pitcher, poured a stream of cool water right +into his face, and laughing at what she had done, went away with a hop, +skip, and jump after her companions. + +The girls with pitchers had all gone, and were succeeded by troops of +boys, just as beautiful, many of them singing and some playing on wind +and stringed instruments; and some were running, others quietly walking, +and still others riding on various animals--ostriches, sheep, goats, +fawns, and small donkeys, all pure white. One boy was riding a ram, and +as he came by, strum-strumming on a little silver-stringed banjo, he +sang a very curious song, which made Martin prick up his ears to listen. +It was about a speckled snake that lived far away on a piece of waste +ground; how day after day he sought for his lost playmate--the little +boy that had left him; how he glided this way and that on his smooth, +bright belly, winding in and out among the tall wild sunflowers; how he +listened for the dear footsteps--listened with his green leaf-shaped, +little head raised high among the leaves. But his playmate was far away +and came no more to feed him from his basin of bread and milk, and +caress his cold, smooth coils with his warm, soft, little hand. + +Close after the boy on the ram marched four other little boys on foot, +holding up long silver trumpets in readiness to blow. One of them +stopped, and putting his trumpet down close to Martin's ear, puffed out +his little, round cheeks, and blew a blast that made him jump. Laughing +at the joke, they passed on, and were succeeded by others and still +others, singing, shouting, twanging their instruments, and some of them +stopping for a few moments to look at Martin or play some pretty little +trick on him. + +But now all at once Martin ceased to listen or even look at them, for +something new and different was coming, something strange which made him +curious and afraid at the same time. It was a sound, very deep and +solemn, of men's voices singing together a song that was like a dirge +and coming nearer and nearer, and it was like the coming of a storm with +wind and rain and thunder. Soon he could see them marching through the +great crowd of people--old men moving in a slow procession, and they had +pale dark faces and their hair and long beards were whiter than snow, +and their long flowing robes were of the silvery dark colour of a +rain-cloud. Then he saw that the leaders of the procession were followed +by others who carried a couch of mother-o'-pearl resting on their +shoulders, that on the couch reposed a pale sweet-looking youth dressed +in silk clothes of a delicate rose-colour. He also wore crimson shoes, +and a tight-fitting apple-green skull cap, which made his head look very +small. His eyes were ruby-red, and he had a long slender nose like a +snipe's bill, only broad and flattened at the tip. And then Martin saw +that he was wounded, for he had one white hand pressed to his side and +it was stained with blood, and drops of blood were trickling through his +fingers. + +He was troubled at the sight, and he gazed at him, and listened to the +words of that solemn song the old men were singing but could not +understand them. Not because he was a child, for no person, however aged +and wise and filled with all learning he might be, could have understood +that strange song about Wonderful Life and Wonderful Death. Yet there +was something in it too which any one who heard it, man or child, could +understand; and he understood it, and it went into his heart to make it +so heavy and sad that he could have put his little face down on the +ground and cried as he had never cried before. But he did not put his +face down and cry, for just then the wounded youth looked down on him as +they carried him past and smiled a very sweet smile: then Martin felt +that he loved him above all the bright and beautiful beings that had +passed before him. + +[Illustration: "THE QUEEN WISHES TO SPEAK TO YOU--STAND UP, LITTLE +BOY."] + +Then, when he was gone from sight; when the solemn sound of the voices +began to grow fainter in the distance like the sound of a storm when it +passes away, his heaviness of heart and sorrow left him, and he began to +listen to the shouts and cries and clanging of noisy instruments of +music swiftly coming nearer and nearer; and then all around and past him +came a vast company of youths and maidens singing and playing and +shouting and dancing as they moved onwards. They were the most beautiful +beings he had ever seen in their shining dresses, some all in white, +others in amber-colour, others in sky-blue, and some in still other +lovely colours. "The Queen! the Queen!" they were shouting. "Stand up, +little boy, and bow to the Queen." + +"The Queen! Kneel to the Queen, little boy," cried others. + +Then many others in the company began crying out together. + +"The Queen! lie down flat on the ground, little boy." + +"The Queen! Shut your eyes and open your mouth, little boy." + +"The Queen! Run away as fast as you can, little boy." + +"Stand on your head to the Queen, little boy!" + +"Crow like a cock and bark like a dog, little boy!" + +Trying to obey all these conflicting commands at one and the same time, +poor Martin made strange noises and tumbled about this way and that and +set them all laughing at him. + +"The Queen wishes to speak to you--stand up, little boy," said one of +the brightest beings, touching Martin on the cheek. + +There before him, surrounded by all that beautiful company, stood the +horses that drew her--great milk-white horses impatiently pawing the +dusty ground with their hoofs and proudly champing their gold bridles, +tossing the white froth from their mouths. But when he lifted his eyes +timidly to the majestic being seated in her chariot before him he was +dazzled and overcome with the sight. Her face had a brightness that was +like that of the Mirage at noon, and the eyes that gazed on him were +like two great opals; she appeared clothed in a white shining mist, and +her hair spread wide on her shoulders looked white--whiter than a lamb's +fleece, and powdered with fine gold that sparkled and quivered and ran +through it like sparks of yellow fire: and on her head she wore a crown +that was like a diamond seen by candle-light, or like a dew-drop in the +sun, and every moment it changed its colour, and by turns was a red +flame, then a green, then a yellow, then a violet. + +"Child, you have followed me far," said the Queen, "and now you are +rewarded, for you have looked on my face and I have refreshed you; and +the Sun, my father, will never more hurt you for my sake." + +"He is a naughty boy and unworthy of your goodness," spoke one of the +bright beings standing near. "He killed the spoonbill." + +"He cried for the poor slain bird," replied the Queen: "He will never +remember it without grief, and I forgive him." + +"He went away from his home and thinks no more of his poor old father +and mother, who cry for him and are seeking for him on the great plain," +continued the voice. + +"I forgive him," returned the Queen. "He is such a little wanderer--he +could not always rest at home." + +"He emptied a bucketful of water over good old Jacob, who found him and +took him in and fed him, and sang to him, and danced to him, and was a +second father to him." + +At that there was great laughter; even the Queen laughed when she said +that she forgave him that too. And Martin when he remembered old Jacob, +and saw that they only made a joke of it, laughed with them. But the +accusing voice still went on: + +"And when the good old shepherd went to sleep a second time, then the +naughty little boy climbed on the table and picked a hole in the thatch +and got out and ran away." + +Another burst of laughter followed; then a youth in a shining, +violet-coloured dress suddenly began twanging on his instrument and +wildly capering about in imitation of old Jacob's dancing, and while he +played and danced he sang-- + + "Ho, sheep whose ways are known to me, + Both ewe and lamb + And horned ram + Wherever can that Martin be? + All day for him I ride + Over the plains so wide, + And on my horn I blow, + Just to let him know + That Jacob's on his track, + And soon will have him back, + I look and look all day, + And when I'm home I say: + He isn't like a mole + To dig himself a hole; + Them little legs he's got + They can't go far, trot, trot, + They can't go far, run run, + Oh no, it is his fun; + I'm sure he's near; + He must be here + A-skulking round the house + Just like a little mouse. + I'll get a mouse-trap in a minute, + And bait with cheese that's smelly + To bring him helter-skelly-- + That little empty belly, + And then I'll have him in it. + Where have he hid, + That little kid, + That good old Jacob was so kind to? + And when a rest I am inclined to + Who'll boil the cow and dig the kittles + And milk the stockings, darn the wittles? + Who mugs of tea + Will drink with me? + When round and round + I pound the ground + With boots of cowhide, boots of thunder, + Who'll help to make the noise, I wonder? + Who'll join the row + Of loud bow-wow + With din of tin and copper clatter + With bang and whang of pan and platter? + O when I find + Him fast I'll bind + And upside down I'll hold him; + And when a-home I gallop late-o + I'll give him no more cold potato, + But cuff him, box him, bang him, scold him, + And drench him with a pail of water, + And fill his mouth with wool and mortar, + Because he don't do things he oughter, + But does the things he ought not to, + Then tell me true, + Both ram and ewe, + Wherever have that Martin got to? + For Jacob's old and deaf and dim + And never knowed the ways of him." + +"I forgive him everything," said the Queen very graciously, when the +song ended, at which they all laughed. "And now let two of you speak and +each bestow a gift on him. He deserves to be rewarded for running so far +after us." + +Then one of those bright beautiful beings came forward and cried out: +"He loves wandering; let him have his will and be a wanderer all his +days on the face of the earth." + +"Well spoken!" cried the Queen. + +"A wanderer he is to be," said another: "let the sea do him no +harm--that is my gift." + +"So be it," said the Queen; "and to your two gifts I shall add a third. +Let all men love him. Go now, Martin, you are well equipped, and satisfy +your heart with the sight of all the strange and beautiful things the +world contains." + +"Kneel and thank the Queen for her gifts," said a voice to Martin. + +He dropped on to his knees, but could speak no word; when he raised his +eyes again the whole glorious company had vanished. + +The air was cool and fragrant, the earth moist as if a shower had just +fallen. He got up and slowly walked onward until near sunset, thinking +of nothing but the beautiful people of the Mirage. He had left the +barren salt plain behind by now; the earth was covered with yellow +grass, and he found and ate some sweet roots and berries. Then feeling +very tired, he stretched himself out on his back and began to wonder if +what he had seen was nothing but a dream. Yes, it was surely a dream, +but then--in his life dreams and realities were so mixed--how was he +always to know one from the other? Which was most strange, the Mirage +that glittered and quivered round him and flew mockingly before him, or +the people of the Mirage he had seen? + +If you are lying quite still with your eyes shut and some one comes +softly up and stands over you, somehow you know it, and open your eyes +to see who it is. Just in that way Martin knew that some one had come +and was standing over him. Still he kept his eyes shut, feeling sure +that it was one of those bright and beautiful beings he had lately seen, +perhaps the Queen herself, and that the sight of her shining countenance +would dazzle his eyes. Then all at once he thought that it might be old +Jacob, who would punish him for running away. He opened his eyes very +quickly then. What do you think he saw? An ostrich--that same big +ostrich he had seen and startled early in the day! It was standing over +him, staring down with its great vacant eyes. Gradually its head came +lower and lower down, until at last it made a sudden peck at a metal +button on his jacket, and gave such a vigorous tug at it that Martin was +almost lifted off the ground. He screamed and gave a jump; but it was +nothing to the jump the ostrich gave when he discovered that the button +belonged to a living boy. He jumped six feet high into the air and came +down with a great flop; then feeling rather ashamed of himself for being +frightened at such an insignificant thing as Martin, he stalked +majestically away, glancing back, first over one shoulder then the +other, and kicking up his heels behind him in a somewhat disdainful +manner. + +Martin laughed, and in the middle of his laugh he fell asleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Six_ + +_Martin Meets With Savages_ + + +When, on waking next morning, Martin took his first peep over the grass, +there, directly before him, loomed the great blue hills, or Sierras as +they are called in that country. He had often seen them, long ago in his +distant home on clear mornings, when they had appeared like a blue cloud +on the horizon. He had even wished to get to them, to tread their +beautiful blue summits that looked as if they would be soft to his +feet--softer than the moist springy turf on the plain; but he wished it +only as one wishes to get to some far-off impossible place--a white +cloud, for instance, or the blue sky itself. Now all at once he +unexpectedly found himself near them, and the sight fired him with a new +desire. The level plain had nothing half so enchanting as the cloud-like +blue airy hills, and very soon he was up on his feet and hurrying +towards them. In spite of hurrying he did not seem to get any nearer; +still it was pleasant to be always going on and on, knowing that he +would get to them at last. He had now left the drier plains behind; the +earth was clothed with green and yellow grass easy to the feet, and +during the day he found many sweet roots to refresh him. He also found +quantities of cam-berries, a round fruit a little less than a cherry in +size, bright yellow in colour, and each berry inside a green case or +sheath shaped like a heart. They were very sweet. At night he slept once +more in the long grass, and when daylight returned he travelled on, +feeling very happy there alone--happy to think that he would get to the +beautiful hills at last. But only in the early morning would they look +distinct and near; later in the day, when the sun grew hot, they would +seem further off, like a cloud resting on the earth, which made him +think sometimes that they moved on as he went towards them. + +On the third day he came to a high piece of ground; and when he got to +the top and looked over to the other side he saw a broad green valley +with a stream of water running in it: on one hand the valley with its +gleaming water stretched away as far as he could see, or until it lost +itself in the distant haze; but on the other hand, on looking up the +valley, there appeared a great forest, looking blue in the distance; and +this was the first forest Martin had ever seen. Close by, down in the +green valley before him, there was something else to attract his +attention, and this was a large group of men and horses. No sooner had +he caught sight of them than he set off at a run towards them, greatly +excited; and as he drew near they all rose up from the grass where they +had been sitting or lying to stare at him, filled with wonder at the +sight of that small boy alone in the desert. There were about twenty men +and women, and several children; the men were very big and tall, and +were dressed only in robes made of the skins of some wild animal; they +had broad, flat faces, and dark copper-coloured skins, and their long +black hair hung down loose on their backs. + +These strange, rude-looking people were savages, and are supposed to be +cruel and wicked, and to take pleasure in torturing and killing any lost +or stray person that falls into their hands; but indeed it is not so, as +you shall shortly find. Poor ignorant, little Martin, who had never read +a book in his life, having always refused to learn his letters, knew +nothing about savages, and feared them no more than he had feared old +Jacob, or the small spotted snake, the very sight of which had made +grown-up people scream and run away. So he marched boldly up and stared +at them, and they in turn stared at him out of their great, dark, savage +eyes. + +They had just been eating their supper of deer's flesh, roasted on the +coals, and after a time one of the savages, as an experiment, took up a +bone of meat and offered it to him. Being very hungry he gladly took it, +and began gnawing the meat off the bone. + +When he had satisfied his hunger, he began to look round him, still +stared at by the others. Then one of the women, who had a good-humoured +face, caught him up, and seating him on her knees, tried to talk to him. + +"Melu-melumia quiltahou papa shani cha silmata," she spoke, gazing very +earnestly into his face. + +They had all been talking among themselves while he was eating; but he +did not know that savages had a language of their own different from +ours, and so thought that they had only been amusing themselves with a +kind of nonsense talk, which meant nothing. Now when the woman addressed +this funny kind of talk to him, he answered her in her own way, as he +imagined, readily enough: "Hey diddle-diddle, the cat's in the fiddle, +fe fo fi fum, chumpty-chumpty-chum, with bings on her ringers, and tells +on her boes." + +They all listened with grave attention, as if he had said something very +important. Then the woman continued: "Huanatopa ana ana quiltahou." + +To which Martin answered, "Theophilus Thistle, the thistle-sifter, +sifted a sieve of unsifted thistles; and if Theophilus--oh, I won't say +any more!" + +Then she said, "Quira-holata silhoa mari changa changa." + +"Cock-a-doodle-do!" cried Martin, getting tired and impatient. "Baa, +baa, black sheep, bow, wow, wow; goosey, goosey gander; see-saw, Mary +Daw; chick-a-dee-dee, will you listen to me. And now let me go!" + +But she held him fast and kept on talking her nonsense language to him, +until becoming vexed he caught hold of her hair and pulled it. She only +laughed and tossed him up into the air and caught him again, just as he +might have tossed and caught a small kitten. At length she released him, +for now they were all beginning to lie down by the fire to sleep, as it +was getting dark; Martin being very tired settled himself down among +them, and as one of the women threw a skin over him he slept very +comfortably. + +Next morning the hills looked nearer than ever just across the river; +but little he cared for hills now, and when the little savage children +went out to hunt for berries and sweet roots he followed and spent the +day agreeably enough in their company. + +On the afternoon of the second day his new play-fellows all threw off +their little skin cloaks and plunged into the stream to bathe; and +Martin, seeing how much they seemed to enjoy being in the water, +undressed himself and went in after them. The water was not too deep in +that place, and it was rare fun splashing about and trying to keep his +legs in the swift current and clambering over slippery rocks, he went +out some distance from the bank. All at once he discovered that the +others had left him, and looking back he saw that they were all +scrambling out on to the bank and fighting over his clothes. Back he +dashed in haste to rescue his property, but by the time he reached the +spot they had finished dividing the spoil, and jumping up they ran away +and scattered in all directions, one wearing his jacket, another his +knickerbockers, another his shirt and one sock, another his cap and +shoes, and the last the one remaining sock only. In vain he pursued and +called for them; and at last he was compelled to follow them unclothed +to the camping ground, where he presented himself crying piteously; but +the women who had been so kind to him would not help him now, and only +laughed to see how white his skin looked by contrast with the dark +copper-coloured skins of the other children. At length one of them +compassionately gave him a small soft-furred skin of some wild animal, +and fastened it on him like a cloak; and this he was compelled to wear +with shame and grief, feeling very strange and uncomfortable in it. But +the feeling of discomfort in that new savage dress was nothing to the +sense of injury that stung him, and in his secret heart he was +determined not to lose his own clothes. + +When the children went out next day he followed them, watching and +waiting for a chance to recover anything that belonged to him; and at +last, seeing the little boy who wore his cap off his guard, he made a +sudden rush, and snatching it off the young savage's head, put it firmly +upon his own. But the little savage now regarded that cap as his very +own: he had taken it by force or stratagem, and had worn it on his head +since the day before, and that made it his property; and so at Martin he +went, and they fought stoutly together, and being nearly of a size, he +could not conquer the little white boy. Then he cried out to the others +to help him, and they came and overthrew Martin, and deprived him not +only of his cap, but of his little skin cloak as well, and then punished +him until he screamed aloud with pain. Leaving him crying on the ground, +they ran back to the camp. He followed shortly afterwards, but got no +sympathy, for, as a rule, grown-up savages do not trouble themselves +very much about these little matters: they leave their children to +settle their own disputes. + +During the rest of that day Martin sulked by himself behind a great +tussock of grass, refusing to eat with the others, and when one of the +women went to him and offered him a piece of meat he struck it +vindictively out of her hand. She only laughed a little and left him. + +Now when the sun was setting, and he was beginning to feel very cold and +miserable in his nakedness, the men were seen returning from the hunt; +but instead of riding slowly to the camp as on other days, they came +riding furiously and shouting. The moment they were seen and their +shouts heard the women jumped up and began hastily packing the skins and +all their belongings into bundles; and in less than ten minutes the +whole company was mounted on horseback and ready for flight. One of the +men picked Martin up and placed him on the horse's back before him, and +then they all started at a swift canter up the valley towards that great +blue forest in the distance. + +In about an hour they came to it: it was then quite dark, the sky +powdered with numberless stars; but when they got among the trees the +blue, dusky sky and brilliant stars disappeared from sight, as if a +black cloud had come over them, so dark was it in the forest. For the +trees were very tall and mingled their branches overhead; but they had +got into a narrow path known to them, and moving slowly in single file, +they kept on for about two hours longer, then stopped and dismounted +under the great trees, and lying down all close together, went to sleep. +Martin, lying among them, crept under the edge of one of the large skin +robes and, feeling warm, he soon fell fast asleep and did not wake till +daylight. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Seven_ + +_Alone in the Great Forest_ + + +Imagine to yourself one accustomed to live in the great treeless plain, +accustomed to open his eyes each morning to the wide blue sky and the +brilliant sunlight, now for the first time opening them in that vast +gloomy forest, where neither wind nor sunlight came, and no sound was +heard, and twilight lasted all day long! All round him were trees with +straight, tall grey trunks, and behind and beyond them yet other +trees--trees everywhere that stood motionless like pillars of stone +supporting the dim green roof of foliage far above. It was like a vast +gloomy prison in which he had been shut, and he longed to make his +escape to where he could see the rising sun and feel the fanning wind on +his cheeks. He looked round at the others: they were all stretched on +the ground still in a deep sleep, and it frightened him a little to +look at their great, broad, dark faces framed in masses of black hair. +He felt that he hated them, for they had treated him badly: the children +had taken his clothes, compelling him to go naked, and had beaten and +bruised him, and he had not been pitied and helped by their elders. By +and by, very quietly and cautiously he crept away from among them, and +made his escape into the gloomy wood. On one side the forest shadows +looked less dark than the other, and on that side he went, for it was +the side on which the sun rose, and the direction he had been travelling +when he first met with the savages. On and on he went, over the thick +bed of dark decaying leaves, which made no rustling sound, looking like +a little white ghost of a boy in that great gloomy wood. But he came to +no open place, nor did he find anything to eat when hunger pressed him; +for there were no sweet roots and berries there, nor any plant that he +had ever seen before. It was all strange and gloomy, and very silent. +Not a leaf trembled; for if one had trembled near him he would have +heard it whisper in that profound stillness that made him hold his +breath to listen. But sometimes at long intervals the silence would be +broken by a sound that made him start and stand still and wonder what +had caused it. For the rare sounds in the forest were unlike any sounds +he had heard before. Three or four times during the day a burst of loud, +hollow, confused laughter sounded high up among the trees; but he saw +nothing, although most likely the creature that had laughed saw him +plainly enough from its hiding-place in the deep shadows as it ran up +the trunks of the trees. + +At length he came to a river about thirty or forty yards wide; and this +was the same river that he had bathed in many leagues further down in +the open valley. It is called by the savages Co-viota-co-chamanga, which +means that it runs partly in the dark and partly in the light. Here it +was in the dark. The trees grew thick and tall on its banks, and their +wide branches met and intermingled above its waters that flowed on +without a ripple, black to the eye as a river of ink. How strange it +seemed when, holding on to a twig, he bent over and saw himself +reflected--a white, naked child with a scared face--in that black +mirror! Overcome by thirst, he ventured to creep down and dip his hand +in the stream, and was astonished to see that the black water looked as +clear as crystal in his hollow hand. After quenching his thirst he went +on, following the river now, for it had made him turn aside; but after +walking for an hour or more he came to a great tree that had fallen +across the stream, and climbing on to the slippery trunk, he crept +cautiously over and then went gladly on in the old direction. + +[Illustration: HOW STRANGE IT SEEMED WHEN, HOLDING ON TO A TWIG, HE BENT +OVER AND SAW HIMSELF REFLECTED IN THAT BLACK MIRROR.] + +Now, after he had crossed the river and walked a long distance, he came +to a more open part; but though it was nice to feel the sunshine on him +again, the underwood and grass and creepers trailing over the ground +made it difficult and tiring to walk, and in this place a curious thing +happened. Picking his way through the tangled herbage, an animal his +footsteps had startled scuttled away in great fear, and as it went he +caught a glimpse of it. It was a kind of weasel, but very large--larger +than a big tom-cat, and all over as black as the blackest cat. Looking +down he discovered that this strange animal had been feasting on eggs. +The eggs were nearly as large as fowls', of a deep green colour, with +polished shells. There had been about a dozen in the nest, which was +only a small hollow in the ground lined with dry grass, but most of them +had been broken, and the contents devoured by the weasel. Only two +remained entire, and these he took, and tempted by his hunger, soon +broke the shells at the small end and sucked them clean. They were raw, +but never had eggs, boiled, fried, or poached, tasted so nice before! He +had just finished his meal, and was wishing that a third egg had +remained in the ruined nest, when a slight sound like the buzzing of an +insect made him look round, and there, within a few feet of him, was the +big black weasel once more, looking strangely bold and savage-tempered. +It kept staring fixedly at Martin out of its small, wicked, beady black +eyes, and snarling so as to show its white sharp teeth; and very white +they looked by contrast with the black lips, and nose, and hair. Martin +stared back at it, but it kept moving and coming nearer, now sitting +straight up, then dropping its fore-feet and gathering its legs in a +bunch as if about to spring, and finally stretching itself straight out +towards him again, its round flat head and long smooth body making it +look like a great black snake crawling towards him. And all the time it +kept on snarling and clicking its sharp teeth and uttering its low, +buzzing growl. Martin grew more and more afraid, it looked so strong and +angry, so unspeakably fierce. The creature looked as if he was speaking +to Martin, saying something very easy to understand, and very dreadful +to hear. This is what it seemed to be saying:-- + +"Ha, you came on me unawares, and startled me away from the nest I +found! You have eaten the last two eggs; and I found them, and they were +mine! Must I go hungry for you--starveling, robber! A miserable little +boy alone and lost in the forest, naked, all scratched and bleeding with +thorns, with no courage in his heart, no strength in his hands! Look at +me! I am not weak, but strong and black and fierce; I live here--this is +my home; I fear nothing; I am like a serpent, and like brass and +tempered steel--nothing can bruise or break me: my teeth are like fine +daggers; when I strike them into the flesh of any creature I never loose +my hold till I have sucked out all the blood in his heart. But you, weak +little wretch, I hate you! I thirst for your blood for stealing my food +from me! What can you do to save yourself? Down, down on the ground, +chicken-heart, where I can get hold of you! You shall pay me for the +eggs with your life! I shall hold you fast by the throat, and drink and +drink until I see your glassy eyes close, and your cheeks turn whiter +than ashes, and I feel your heart flutter like a leaf in your bosom! +Down, down!" + +It was terrible to watch him and seem to hear such words. He was nearer +now--scarcely a yard away, still with his beady glaring eyes fixed on +Martin's face: and Martin was powerless to fly from him--powerless even +to stir a step or to lift a hand. His heart jumped so that it choked +him, his hair stood up on his head, and he trembled so that he was ready +to fall. And at last, when about to fall to the ground, in the extremity +of his terror, he uttered a great scream of despair; and the sudden +scream so startled the weasel, that he jumped and scuttled away as fast +as he could through the creepers and bushes, making a great rustling +over the dead leaves and twigs; and Martin, recovering his strength, +listened to that retreating sound as it passed away into the deep +shadows, until it ceased altogether. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Eight_ + +_The Flower and the Serpent_ + + +His escape from the horrible black animal made Martin quite happy, in +spite of hunger and fatigue, and he pushed on as bravely as ever. But it +was slow going and very difficult, even painful in places, on account of +the rough thorny undergrowth, where he had to push and crawl through the +close bushes, and tread on ground littered with old dead prickly leaves +and dead thorny twigs. After going on for about an hour in this way, he +came to a stream, a branch of the river he had left, and much shallower, +so that he could easily cross from side to side, and he could also see +the bright pebbles under the clear swift current. The stream appeared to +run from the east, the way he wished to travel towards the hills, so +that he could keep by it, which he was glad enough to do, as it was nice +to get a drink of water whenever he felt thirsty, and to refresh his +tired and sore little feet in the stream. + +Following this water he came before very long to a place in the forest +where there was little or no underwood, but only low trees and bushes +scattered about, and all the ground moist and very green and fresh like +a water-meadow. It was indeed pleasant to feel his feet on the soft +carpet of grass, and stooping, he put his hands down on it, and finally +lying down he rolled on it so as to have the nice sensation of the warm +soft grass all over his body. So agreeable was it lying and rolling +about in that open green place with the sweet sunshine on him, that he +felt no inclination to get up and travel on. It was so sweet to rest +after all his strivings and sufferings in that great dark forest! So +sweet was it that he pretty soon fell asleep, and no doubt slept a long +time, for when he woke, the sun, which had been over his head, was now +far down in the west. It was very still, and the air warm and fragrant +at that hour, with the sun shining through the higher branches of the +trees on the green turf where he was lying. How green it was--the grass, +the trees, every tiny blade and every leaf was like a piece of emerald +green glass with the sun shining through it! So wonderful did it seem to +him--the intense greenness, the brilliant sunbeams that shone into his +eyes, and seemed to fill him with brightness, and the stillness of the +forest, that he sat up and stared about him. What did it mean--that +brightness and stillness? + +Then, at a little distance away, he caught sight of something on a tree +of a shining golden yellow colour. Jumping up he ran to the tree, and +found that it was half overgrown with a very beautiful climbing plant, +with leaves divided like the fingers of a hand, and large flowers and +fruit, both green and ripe. The ripe fruit was as big as a duck's egg, +and the same shape, and of a shining yellow colour. Reaching up his hand +he began to feel the smooth lovely fruit, when, being very ripe, it came +off its stem into his hand. It smelt very nice, and then, in his hunger, +he bit through the smooth rind with his teeth, and it tasted as nice as +it looked. He quickly ate it, and then pulled another and ate that, and +then another, and still others, until he could eat no more. He had not +had so delicious a meal for many a long day. + +Not until he had eaten his fill did Martin begin to look closely at the +flowers on the plant. It was the passion-flower, and he had never seen +it before, and now that he looked well at it he thought it the loveliest +and strangest flower he had ever beheld; not brilliant and shining, +jewel-like, in the sun, like the scarlet verbena of the plains, or some +yellow flower, but pale and misty, the petals being of a dim greenish +cream-colour, with a large blue circle in the centre; and the blue, too, +was misty like the blue haze in the distance on a summer day. To see and +admire it better he reached out his hand and tried to pluck one of the +flowers; then in an instant he dropped his hand, as if he had been +pricked by a thorn. But there was no thorn and nothing to hurt him; +he dropped his hand only because he felt that he had hurt the flower. +Moving a step back he stared at it, and the flower seemed like a thing +alive that looked back at him, and asked him why he had hurt it. + +[Illustration: HE QUICKLY ATE IT, AND THEN PULLED ANOTHER AND ATE THAT, +AND THEN ANOTHER, AND STILL OTHERS, UNTIL HE COULD EAT NO MORE.] + +"O, poor flower!" said Martin, and, coming closer he touched it gently +with his finger-tips; and then, standing on tip-toe, he touched its +petals with his lips, just as his mother had often and often kissed his +little hand when he had bruised it or pricked it with a thorn. + +Then, while still standing by the plant, on bringing his eyes down to +the ground he spied a great snake lying coiled up on a bed of moss on +the sunny side of the same tree where the plant was growing. He +remembered the dear little snake he had once made a friend of, and he +did not feel afraid, for he thought that all snakes must be friendly +towards him, although this was a very big one, thicker than his arm and +of a different colour. It was a pale olive-green, like the half-dry moss +it was lying on, with a pattern of black and brown mottling along its +back. It was lying coiled round and round, with its flat arrow-shaped +head resting on its coils, and its round bright eyes fixed on Martin's +face. The sun shining on its eyes made them glint like polished jewels +or pieces of glass, and when Martin moved nearer and stood still, or +when he drew back and went to this side or that, those brilliant +glinting eyes were still on his face, and it began to trouble him, until +at last he covered his face with his hands. Then he opened his fingers +enough to peep through them, and still those glittering eyes were fixed +on him. + +Martin wondered if the snake was vexed with him for coming there, and +why it watched him so steadily with those shining eyes. "Will you please +look some other way?" he said at last, but the snake would not, and so +he turned from it, and then it seemed to him that everything was alive +and watching him in the same intent way--the passion-flowers, the green +leaves, the grass, the trees, the wide sky, the great shining sun. He +listened, and there was no sound in the wood, not even the hum of a fly +or a wild bee, and it was so still that not a leaf moved. Finally he +moved away from that spot, but treading very softly, and holding his +breath to listen, for it seemed to him that the forest had something to +tell him, and that if he listened he would hear the leaves speaking to +him. And by-and-by he did hear a sound: it came from a spot about a +hundred yards away, and was like the sound of a person crying. Then came +low sobs which rose and fell and then ceased, and after a silent +interval began again. Perhaps it was a child, lost there in the forest +like himself. Going softly to the spot he discovered that the sobbing +sounds came from the other side of a low tree with wide-spread branches, +a kind of acacia with thin loose foliage, but he could not see through +it, and so he went round the tree to look, and startled a dove which +flew off with a loud clatter of its wings. + +When the dove had flown away it was again very silent. What was he to +do? He was too tired now to walk much farther, and the sun was getting +low, so that all the ground was in shadow. He went on a little way +looking for some nice shelter where he could pass the night, but could +not find one. At length, when the sun had set and the dark was coming, +he came upon an old half-dead tree, where there was a hollow at the +roots, lined with half-dry moss, very soft to his foot, and it seemed a +nice place to sleep in. But he had no choice, for he was afraid of going +further in the dark among the trees; and so, creeping into the hollow +among the old roots, he curled himself up as comfortably as he could, +and soon began to get very drowsy, in spite of having no covering to +keep him warm. But although very tired and sleepy, he did not go quite +to sleep, for he had never been all alone in a wood by night before, and +it was different from the open plain where he could see all round, even +at night, and where he had feared nothing. Here the trees looked strange +and made strange black shadows, and he thought that the strange people +of the wood were perhaps now roaming about and would find him there. He +did not want them to find him fast asleep; it was better to be awake, so +that when they came he could jump up and run away and hide himself from +them. Once or twice a slight rustling sound made him start and think +that at last some one was coming to him, stealing softly so as to catch +him unawares, but he could see nothing moving, and when he held his +breath to listen there was no sound. + +Then all at once, just when he had almost dropped off, a great cry +sounded at a distance, and made him start up wide awake again. "Oh look! +look! look!" cried the voice in a tone so deep and strange and powerful +that no one could have heard it without terror, for it seemed to be +uttered by some forest monster twenty times bigger than an ordinary man. +In a moment an answer came from another part of the wood. "What's that?" +cried the answering voice; and then another voice cried, and then others +far and near, all shouting "What's that?" and for only answer the first +voice shouted once more, "O Look! Look! Look!" + +Poor Martin, trembling with fright, crouched lower down in his mossy +bed, thinking that the awful people of the forest must have seen him, +and would be upon him in a few moments. But though he stared with +wide-open eyes into the gloom he could see nothing but the trees, +standing silent and motionless, and no sound of approaching footsteps +could he hear. + +After that it was silent again for a while, and he began to hope that +they had given up looking for him; when suddenly, close by, sounded a +loud startling "Who's that?" and he gave himself up for lost. For he was +too terrified to jump up and run away, as he had thought to do: he could +only lie still, his teeth chattering, his hair standing up on his head. +"Who's that?" exclaimed the terrible voice once more, and then he saw a +big black shape drop down from the tree above and settle on a dead +branch a few feet above his hiding-place. It was a bird--a great owl, +for now he could see it, sharply outlined against the clear starry sky; +and the bird had seen and was peering curiously at him. And now all his +fear was gone, for he could not be afraid of an owl; he had been +accustomed to see owls all his life, only they were small, and this owl +of the forest was as big as an eagle, and had a round head and ears like +a cat, and great cat-like eyes that shone in the dark. + +The owl kept staring at Martin for some time, swaying his body this way +and that, and lowering then raising his head so as to get a better view. +And Martin, on his side, stared back at the owl, and at last he +exclaimed, "O what a great big owl you are! Please say _Who's that?_ +again." + +But before the owl said anything Martin was fast asleep in his mossy +bed. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Nine_ + +_The Black People of the Sky_ + + +Whether or not the great owl went on shouting _O look! look! look!_ and +asking _What's that?_ and _Who's that?_ all night, Martin did not know. +He was fast asleep until the morning sun shone on his face and woke him, +and as he had no clothes and shoes to put on he was soon up and out. +First he took a drink of water, then, feeling very hungry he went back +to the place where he had found the ripe fruit and made a very good +breakfast. After that he set out once more through the wood towards +sunrise, still following the stream. Before long the wood became still +more open, and at last to his great joy he found that he had got clear +of it, and was once more on the great open plain. And now the hills were +once more in sight--those great blue hills where he wished to be, +looking nearer and larger than before, but they still looked blue like +great banks of cloud and were a long distance away. But he was +determined to get to them, to climb up their steep sides, and by and by +when he found the stream bent away to the south, he left it so as to go +on straight as he could to the hills. Away from the waterside the +ground was higher, and very flat and covered with dry yellow grass. Over +this yellow plain he walked for hours, resting at times, but finding no +water and no sweet roots to quench his thirst, until he was too tired to +walk any further, and so he sat down on the dry grass under that wide +blue sky. There was not a cloud on it--nothing but the great globe of +the sun above him; and there was no wind and no motion in the yellow +grass blades, and no sight or sound of any living creature. + +Martin lying on his back gazed up at the blue sky, keeping his eyes from +the sun, which was too bright for them, and after a time he did see +something moving--a small black spot no bigger than a fly moving in a +circle. But he knew it was something big, but at so great a height from +the earth as to look like a fly. And then he caught sight of a second +black speck, then another and another, until he could make out a dozen +or twenty, or more, all moving in wide circles at that vast height. + +Martin thought they must be the black people of the sky; he wondered why +they were black and not white, like white birds, or blue, and of other +brilliant colours like the people of the Mirage. + +Now it was impossible for Martin to lie like that, following those +small black spots on the hot blue sky as they wheeled round and round +continuously, without giving his eyes a little rest by shutting them at +intervals. By-and-by he kept them shut a little too long; he fell +asleep, and when he woke he didn't wake fully in a moment; he remained +lying motionless just as before, with eyes still closed, but the lids +just raised enough to enable him to see about him. And the sight that +met his eyes was very curious. He was no longer alone in that solitary +place. There were people all round him, dozens and scores of little +black men about two feet in height, of a very singular appearance. They +had bald heads and thin hatchet faces, wrinkled and warty, and long +noses; and they all wore black silk clothes--coat, waistcoat and +knickerbockers, but without shoes and stockings; their thin black legs +and feet were bare; nor did they have anything on their bald heads. They +were gathered round Martin in a circle, but a very wide circle quite +twenty to thirty feet away from him, and some were walking about, others +standing alone or in groups, talking together, and all looking at +Martin. Only one who appeared to be the most important person of the +company kept inside the circle, and whenever one or more of the others +came forward a few steps he held up his hand and begged them to go back +a little. + +"We must not be in a hurry," he said. "We must wait." + +"Wait for what?" asked one. + +"For what may happen," said the important one. "I must ask you again to +leave it to me to decide when it is time to begin." Then he strutted up +and down in the open space, turning now towards his fellows and again to +Martin, moving his head about to get a better sight of his face. Then, +putting his hand down between his coat and waistcoat he drew out a knife +with a long shining blade, and holding it from him looked attentively at +it. By and by he breathed gently on the bright blade, then pulling out a +black silk pocket handkerchief wiped off the stain of his breath, and +turning the blade about made it glitter in the sun. Then he put it back +under his coat and resumed his walk up and down. + +"We are getting very hungry," said one of the others at length. + +"Very hungry indeed!" cried another. "Some of us have not tasted food +these three days." + +"It certainly does seem hard," said yet another, "to see our dinner +before us and not be allowed to touch it." + +"Not so fast, my friends, I beg," exclaimed the man with the knife. "I +have already explained the case, and I do think you are a little unfair +in pressing me as you do." + +Thus rebuked they consulted together, then one of them spoke. "If, sir, +you consider us unfair, or that we have not full confidence in you, +would it not be as well to get some other person to take your place?" + +"Yes, I am ready to do that," returned the important one promptly; and +here, drawing forth the knife once more, he held it out towards them. +But instead of coming forward to take it they all recoiled some steps, +showing considerable alarm. And then they all began protesting that they +were not complaining of him, that they were satisfied with their choice, +and could not have put the matter in abler hands. + +"I am pleased at your good opinion," said the important one. "I may tell +you that I am no chicken. I first saw the light in September, 1739, and, +as you know, we are now within seven months and thirteen days of the end +of the first decade of the second half of the nineteenth century. You +may infer from this that I have had a pretty extensive experience, and I +promise you that when I come to cut the body up you will not be able to +say that I have made an unfair distribution, or that any one has been +left without his portion." + +All murmured approval, and then one of the company asked if he would be +allowed to bespeak the liver for his share. + +"No, sir, certainly not," replied the other. "Such matters must be left +to my discretion entirely, and I must also remind you that there is such +a thing as the _carver's privilege_, and it is possible that in this +instance he may think fit to retain the liver for his own consumption." + +After thus asserting himself he began to examine the blade of his knife +which he still held in his hand, and to breathe gently on it, and wipe +it with his handkerchief to make it shine brighter in the sun. Finally, +raising his arm, he flourished it and then made two or three stabs and +lunges in the air, then walking on tip-toe he advanced to Martin lying +so still on the yellow grass in the midst of that black-robed company, +the hot sun shining on his naked white body. + +The others all immediately pressed forward, craning their necks and +looking highly excited: they were expecting great things; but when the +man with a knife had got quite close to Martin he was seized with fear +and made two or three long jumps back to where the others were; and +then, recovering from his alarm, he quietly put back the knife under his +coat. + +"We really thought you were going to begin," said one of the crowd. + +"Oh, no; no indeed; not just yet," said the other. + +"It is very disappointing," remarked one. + +The man with the knife turned on him and replied with dignity, "I am +really surprised at such a remark after all I have said on the subject. +I do wish you would consider the circumstances of the case. They are +peculiar, for this person--this Martin--is not an ordinary person. We +have been keeping our eyes on him for some time past, and have witnessed +some remarkable actions on his part, to put it mildly. Let us keep in +mind the boldness, the resource, the dangerous violence he has displayed +on so many occasions since he took to his present vagabond way of life." + +"It appears to me," said one of the others, "that if Martin is dead we +need not concern ourselves about his character and desperate deeds in +the past." + +"_If_ he is dead!" exclaimed the other sharply. "That is the very +point,--_is_ he dead? Can you confidently say that he is not in a sound +sleep, or in a dead faint, or shamming and ready at the first touch of +the knife to leap up and seize his assailant--I mean his carver--by the +throat and perhaps murder him as he once murdered a spoonbill?" + +"That would be very dreadful," said one. + +"But surely," said another, "there are means of telling whether a person +is dead or not? One simple and effectual method, which I have heard, is +to place a hand over the heart to feel if it still beats." + +"Yes, I know, I have also heard of that plan. Very simple, as you say; +but who is to try it? I invite the person who makes the suggestion to +put it in practice." + +"With pleasure," said the other, coming forward with a tripping gait and +an air of not being in the least afraid. But on coming near the supposed +corpse he paused to look round at the others, then pulling out his black +silk handkerchief he wiped his black wrinkled forehead and bald head. +"Whew!" he exclaimed, "it's very hot today." + +"I don't find it so," said the man with the knife. "It is sometimes a +matter of nerves." + +It was not a very nice remark, but it had the effect of bracing the +other up, and moving forward a little more he began anxiously +scrutinizing Martin's face. The others now began to press forward, but +were warned by the man with a knife not to come too near. Then the bold +person who had undertaken to feel Martin's heart doubled back the silk +sleeve of his coat, and after some further preparation extended his arm +and made two or three preliminary passes with his trembling hand at a +distance of a foot or so from the breast of the corpse. Then he +approached it a little nearer, but before it came to the touching point +a sudden fear made him start back. + +"What is it? What did you see?" cried the others. + +"I'm not sure there wasn't a twitch of the eyelid," he replied. + +"Never mind the eyelid--feel his heart," said one. + +"That's all very well," he returned, "but how would you like it +yourself? Will _you_ come and do it?" + +"No, no!" they all cried. "You have undertaken this, and must go through +with it." + +Thus encouraged, he once more turned to the corpse, and again anxiously +began to examine the face. Now Martin had been watching them through the +slits of his not quite closed eyes all the time, and listening to their +talk. Being hungry himself he could not help feeling for them, and not +thinking that it would hurt him to be cut up in pieces and devoured, he +had begun to wish that they would really begin on him. He was both +amused and annoyed at their nervousness, and at last opening wide his +eyes very suddenly he cried, "Feel my heart!" + +It was as if a gun had been fired among them; for a moment they were +struck still with terror, and then all together turned and fled, going +away with three very long hops, and then opening wide their great wings +they launched themselves on the air. + +For they were not little black men in black silk clothes as it had +seemed, but vultures--those great, high-soaring, black-plumaged birds +which he had watched circling in the sky, looking no bigger than bees or +flies at that vast distance above the earth. And when he was watching +them they were watching him, and after he had fallen asleep they +continued moving round and round in the sky for hours, and seeing him +lying so still on the plain they at last imagined that he was dead, and +one by one they closed or half-closed their wings and dropped, gliding +downwards, growing larger in appearance as they neared the ground, until +the small black spots no bigger than flies were seen to be great black +birds as big as turkeys. + +But you see Martin was not dead after all, and so they had to go away +without their dinner. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Ten_ + +_A Troop of Wild Horses_ + + +It seemed so lonely to Martin when the vultures had gone up out of sight +in the sky, so silent and solitary on that immense level plain, that he +could not help wishing them back for the sake of company. They were an +amusing people when they were walking round him, conversing together, +and trying without coming too near to discover whether he was dead or +only sleeping. + +All that day it was just as lonely, for though he went on as far as he +could before night, he was still on that great level plain of dry yellow +grass which appeared to have no end, and the blue hills looked no nearer +than when he had started in the morning. He was hungry and thirsty that +evening, and very cold too when he nestled down on the ground with +nothing to cover him but the little heap of dry grass he had gathered +for his bed. + +It was better next day, for after walking two or three hours he came to +the end of that yellow plain to higher ground, where the earth was sandy +and barren, with a few scattered bushes growing on it--dark, prickly +bushes like butcher's broom. When he got to the highest part of this +barren ground he saw a green valley beyond, stretching away as far as he +could see on either hand. But it was nice to see a green place again, +and going down into the valley he managed to find some sweet roots to +stay his hunger and thirst; then, after a rest, he went on again, and +when he got to the top of the high ground beyond the valley, he saw +another valley before him, just like the one he had left behind. Again +he rested in that green place, and then slowly went up the high land +beyond, where it was barren and sandy with the dark stiff prickly bushes +growing here and there, and when he got to the top he looked down, and +behold! there was yet another green valley stretching away to the right +and left as far as he could see. + +Would they never end--these high barren ridges and the long green +valleys between! + +When he toiled slowly up out of this last green resting-place it was +growing late in the day, and he was very tired. Then he came to the top +of another ridge like the others, only higher and more barren, and when +he could see the country beyond, lo! another valley, greener and broader +than those he had left behind, and a river flowing in it, looking like +a band of silver lying along the green earth--a river too broad for him +to cross, stretching away north and south as far as he could see. How +then should he ever be able to get to the hills, still far, far away +beyond that water? + +Martin stared at the scene before him for some time; then, feeling very +tired and weak, he sat down on the sandy ground beside a scanty dark +bush. Tears came to his eyes: he felt them running down his cheeks; and +all at once he remembered how long before when his wandering began, he +had dropped a tear, and a small dusty beetle had refreshed himself by +drinking it. He bent down and let a tear drop, and watched it as it sank +into the ground, but no small beetle came out to drink it, and he felt +more lonely and miserable than ever. He began to think of all the queer +creatures and people he had met in the desert, and to wish for them. +Some of them had not been very kind, but he did not remember that now, +it was so sad to be quite alone in the world without even a small beetle +to visit him. He remembered the beautiful people of the Mirage and the +black people of the sky; and the ostrich, and old Jacob, and the +savages, and the serpent, and the black weasel in the forest. He stood +up and stared all round to see if anything was coming, but he could see +nothing and hear nothing. + +By-and-by, in that deep silence, there was a sound; it seemed to come +from a great distance, it was so faint. Then it grew louder and nearer; +and far away he saw a little cloud of dust, and then, even through the +dust, dark forms coming swiftly towards him. The sound he heard was like +a long halloo, a cry like the cry of a man, but wild and shrill, like a +bird's cry; and whenever that cry was uttered, it was followed by a +strange confused noise as of the neighing of many horses. They were, in +truth, horses that were coming swiftly towards him--a herd of sixty or +seventy wild horses. He could see and hear them only too plainly now, +looking very terrible in their strength and speed, and the flowing black +manes that covered them like a black cloud, as they came thundering on, +intending perhaps to sweep over him and trample him to death with their +iron-hard hoofs. + +All at once, when they were within fifty yards of Martin, the long, +shrill, wild cry went up again, and the horses swerved to one side, and +went sweeping round him in a wide circle. Then, as they galloped by, he +caught sight of the strangest-looking being he had ever seen, a man, on +the back of one of the horses; naked and hairy, he looked like a baboon +as he crouched, doubled up, gripping the shoulders and neck of the horse +with his knees, clinging with his hands to the mane, and craning his +neck like a flying bird. It was this strange rider who had uttered the +long piercing man-and-bird-like cries; and now changing his voice to a +whinnying sound the horses came to a stop, and gathering together in a +crowd they stood tossing their manes and staring at Martin with their +wild, startled eyes. + +In another moment the wild rider came bounding out from among them, and +moving now erect, now on all fours, came sideling up to Martin, flinging +his arms and legs about, wagging his head, grimacing and uttering +whinnying and other curious noises. Never had Martin looked upon so +strange a man! He was long and lean so that you could have counted his +ribs, and he was stark naked, except for the hair of his head and face, +which half covered him. His skin was of a yellowish brown colour, and +the hair the colour of old dead grass; and it was coarse and tangled, +falling over his shoulders and back and covering his forehead like a +thatch, his big brown nose standing out beneath it like a beak. The face +was covered with the beard which was tangled too, and grew down to his +waist. After staring at Martin for some time with his big, yellow, +goat-like eyes, he pranced up to him and began to sniff round him, then +touched him with his nose on his face, arms, and shoulders. + +"Who are you?" said Martin in astonishment. + +For only answer the other squealed and whinnied, grimacing and kicking +his legs up at the same time. Then the horses advanced to them, and +gathering round in a close crowd began touching Martin with their noses. +He liked it--the softness of their sensitive skins, which were like +velvet, and putting up his hands he began to stroke their noses. Then +one by one, after smelling him, and being touched by his hand, they +turned away, and going down into the valley were soon scattered about, +most of them grazing, some rolling, others lying stretched out on the +grass as if to sleep; while the young foals in the troop, leaving their +dams, began playing about and challenging one another to run a race. + +Martin, following and watching them, almost wished that he too could go +on four legs to join them in their games. He trusted those wild horses, +but he was still puzzled by that strange man, who had also left him now +and was going quietly round on all fours, smelling at the grass. +By-and-by he found something to his liking in a small patch of tender +green clover, which he began nosing and tearing it up with his teeth, +then turning his head round he stared back at Martin, his jaws working +vigorously all the time, the stems and leaves of the clover he was +eating sticking out from his mouth and hanging about his beard. All at +once he jumped up, and flying back at Martin, snatched him up from the +ground, carried him to the clover patch, and set him upon it, face down, +on all fours; then when Martin sat up he grasped him by the head and +forced it down until his nose was on the grass so as to make him smell +it and know that it was good. But smell it he would not, and finally the +other seized him roughly again and opening his mouth, forced a bunch of +grass into it. + +"It's grass, and I sha'n't eat it!" screamed Martin, crying with anger +at being so treated, and spewing the green stuff out of his mouth. + +Then the man released him, and withdrawing a space of two or three +yards, sat down on his haunches, and, planting his bony elbows on his +knees thrust his great brown fingers in his tangled hair, and stared at +Martin with his big yellow goat's eyes for a long time. + +Suddenly a wild excited look came into his eyes, and, leaping up with a +shrill cry, which caused all the horses to look round at him, he once +more snatched Martin up, and holding him firmly gripped to his ribby +side by his arm, bounded off to where a mare was standing giving suck to +her young foal. With a vigorous kick he sent the foal away, and forced +Martin to take his place, and, to make it easier for him, pressed the +teat into his mouth. Martin was not accustomed to feed in that way, and +he not only refused to suck, but continued to cry with indignation at +such treatment, and to struggle with all his little might to free +himself. His striving was all in vain; and by-and-by the man, seeing +that he would not suck, had a fresh idea, and, gripping Martin more +firmly than ever, with one hand forced and held his mouth open, and with +the other drew a stream of milk into it. After choking and spluttering +and crying more than ever for a while, Martin began to grow quiet, and +to swallow the milk with some satisfaction, for he was very hungry and +thirsty, and it tasted very good. By-and-by, when no more milk could be +drawn from the teats, he was taken to a second mare, from which the foal +was kicked away with as little ceremony as the first one, and then he +had as much more milk as he wanted, and began to like being fed in this +amusing way. + +Of what happened after that Martin did not know much, except that the +man seemed very happy after feeding him. He set Martin on the back of a +horse, then jumped and danced round him, making funny chuckling noises, +after which he rolled horse-like on the grass, his arms and legs up in +the air, and finally, pulling Martin down, he made him roll too. + +But the little fellow was too tired to keep his eyes any longer open, +and when he next opened them it was morning, and he found himself lying +wedged in between a mare and her young foal lying side by side close +together. There too was the wild man, coiled up like a sleeping dog, his +head pillowed on the foal's neck, and the hair of his great shaggy beard +thrown like a blanket over Martin. + +He very soon grew accustomed to the new strange manner of life, and even +liked it. Those big, noble-looking wild horses, with their shining +coats, brown and bay and black and sorrel and chestnut, and their black +manes and tails that swept the grass when they moved, were so friendly +to him that he could not help loving them. As he went about among them +when they grazed, every horse he approached would raise his head and +touch his face and arms with his nose. "O you dear horse!" Martin would +exclaim, rubbing the warm, velvet-soft, sensitive nose with his hand. + +[Illustration: THEN THE WILD MAN, CATCHING MARTIN UP, LEAPED UPON THE +BACK OF ONE OF THE HORSES.] + +He soon discovered that they were just as fond of play as he was, and +that he too was to take part in their games. Having fed as long as they +wanted that morning, they all at once began to gather together, +coming at a gallop, neighing shrilly; then the wild man, catching Martin +up, leaped upon the back of one of the horses, and away went the whole +troop at a furious pace to the great open dry plain, where Martin had +met with them on the previous day. Now it was very terrifying for him at +first to be in the midst of that flying crowd, as the animals went +tearing over the plain, which seemed to shake beneath their thundering +hoofs, while their human leader cheered them on with his shrill, +repeated cries. But in a little while he too caught the excitement, and, +losing all his fear, was as wildly happy as the others, crying out at +the top of his voice in imitation of the wild man. + +After an hour's run they returned to the valley, and then Martin, +without being compelled to do so, rolled about on the grass, and went +after the young foals when they came out to challenge one another to a +game. He tried to do as they did, prancing and throwing up his heels and +snorting, but when they ran from him they soon left him hopelessly +behind. Meanwhile the wild man kept watch over him, feeding him with +mare's milk, and inviting him from time to time to smell and taste the +tender grass. Best of all was, when they went for another run in the +evening, and when Martin was no longer held with a tight grip against +the man's side, but was taught or allowed to hold on, clinging with his +legs to the man's body and clasping him round the neck with his arms, +his fingers tightly holding on to the great shaggy beard. + +Three days passed in this way, and if his time had been much longer with +the wild horses he would have become one of the troop, and would perhaps +have eaten grass too, and forgotten his human speech, or that he was a +little boy born to a very different kind of life. But it was not to be, +and in the end he was separated from the troop by accident. + +At the end of the third day, when the sun was setting, and all the +horses were scattered about in the valley, quietly grazing, something +disturbed them. It might have been a sight or sound of some feared +object, or perhaps the wind had brought the smell of their enemies and +hunters from a great distance to their nostrils. Suddenly they were all +in a wild commotion, galloping from all sides toward their leader, and +he, picking Martin up, was quickly on a horse, and off they went full +speed, but not towards the plain where they were accustomed to go for +their runs. Now they fled in the opposite direction down to the river: +into it they went, into that wide, deep, dangerous current, leaping from +the bank, each horse, as he fell into the water with a tremendous +splash, disappearing from sight; but in another moment the head and +upper part of the neck was seen to rise above the surface, until the +whole lot were in, and appeared to Martin like a troop of horses' heads +swimming without bodies over the river. He, clinging to the neck and +beard of the wild man, had the upper half of his body out of the cold, +rushing water, and in this way they all got safely across and up the +opposite bank. No sooner were they out, than, without even pausing to +shake the water from their skins, they set off at full speed across the +valley towards the distant hills. Now on this side, at a distance of a +mile or so from the river, there were vast reed-beds standing on low +land, dried to a hard crust by the summer heat, and right into the reeds +the horses rushed and struggled to force their way through. The reeds +were dead and dry, so tall that they rose high above the horses' heads, +and growing so close together that it was hard to struggle through them. +Then when they were in the midst of this difficult place, the dry crust +that covered the low ground began to yield to the heavy hoofs, and the +horses, sinking to their knees, were thrown down and plunged about in +the most desperate way, and in the midst of this confusion Martin was +struck and thrown from his place, falling amongst the reeds. Luckily he +was not trampled upon, but he was left behind, and then what a dreadful +situation was his, when the whole troop had at last succeeded in +fighting their way through, and had gone away leaving him in that dark, +solitary place! He listened until the sound of heavy hoofs and the long +cries of the man had died away in the distance; then the silence and +darkness terrified him, and he struggled to get out, but the reeds grew +so close together that before he had pushed a dozen yards through them +he sank down, unable to do more. + +The air was hot and close and still down there on the ground, but by +leaning his head back, and staring straight up he could see the pale +night sky sprinkled with stars in the openings between the dry leaves +and spikes of the reeds. Poor Martin could do nothing but gaze up at the +little he could see of the sky in that close, black place, until his +neck ached with the strain; but at last, to make him hope, he heard a +sound--the now familiar long shrill cry of the wild man. Then, as it +came nearer, the sound of tramping hoofs and neighing of the horses was +heard, and the cries and hoof-beats grew louder and then fainter in +turns, and sounded now on this side, now on that, and he knew that they +were looking for him. "I'm here, I'm here," he cried; "oh, dear horses, +come and take me away!" But they could not hear him, and at last the +sound of their neighing and the wild long cries died away altogether, +and Martin was left alone in that black silent place. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Eleven_ + +_The Lady of the Hills_ + + +No escape was possible for poor little Martin so long as it was dark, +and there he had to stay all night, but morning brought him comfort; for +now he could see the reed-stems that hemmed him in all round, and by +using his hands to bend them from him on either side he could push +through them. By-and-by the sunlight touched the tops of the tall +plants, and working his way towards the side from which the light came +he soon made his escape from that prison, and came into a place where he +could walk without trouble, and could see the earth and sky again. +Further on, in a grassy part of the valley, he found some sweet roots +which greatly refreshed him, and at last, leaving the valley, he came +out on a high grassy plain, and saw the hills before him looking very +much nearer than he had ever seen them look before. Up till now they +had appeared like masses of dark blue banked up cloud resting on the +earth, now he could see that they were indeed stone--blue stone piled up +in huge cliffs and crags high above the green world; he could see the +roughness of the heaped up rocks, the fissures and crevices in the sides +of the hills, and here and there the patches of green colour where trees +and bushes had taken root. How wonderful it seemed to Martin that +evening standing there in the wide green plain, the level sun at his +back shining on his naked body, making him look like a statue of a small +boy carved in whitest marble or alabaster. Then, to make the sight he +gazed on still more enchanting, just as the sun went down the colour of +the hills changed from stone blue to a purple that was like the purple +of ripe plums and grapes, only more beautiful and bright. In a few +minutes the purple colour faded away and the hills grew shadowy and +dark. It was too late in the day, and he was too tired to walk further. +He was very hungry and thirsty too, and so when he had found a few small +white partridge-berries and had made a poor supper on them, he gathered +some dry grass into a little heap, and lying down in it, was soon in a +sound sleep. + +It was not until the late afternoon next day that Martin at last got to +the foot of the hill, or mountain, and looking up he saw it like a great +wall of stone above him, with trees and bushes and trailing vines +growing out of the crevices and on the narrow ledges of the rock. Going +some distance he came to a place where he could ascend, and here he +began slowly walking upwards. At first he could hardly contain his +delight where everything looked new and strange, and here he found some +very beautiful flowers; but as he toiled on he grew more tired and +hungry at every step, and then, to make matters worse, his legs began to +pain so that he could hardly lift them. It was a curious pain which he +had never felt in his sturdy little legs before in all his wanderings. + +Then a cloud came over the sun, and a sharp wind sprang up that made him +shiver with cold: then followed a shower of rain; and now Martin, +feeling sore and miserable, crept into a cavity beneath a pile of +overhanging rocks for shelter. He was out of the rain there, but the +wind blew in on him until it made his teeth chatter with cold. He began +to think of his mother, and of all the comforts of his lost home--the +bread and milk when he was hungry, the warm clothing, and the soft +little bed with its snowy white coverlid in which he had slept so +sweetly every night. + +"O mother, mother!" he cried, but his mother was too far off to hear his +piteous cry. + +When the shower was over he crept out of his shelter again, and with his +little feet already bleeding from the sharp rocks, tried to climb on. In +one spot he found some small, creeping, myrtle plants covered with ripe +white berries, and although they had a very pungent taste he ate his +fill of them, he was so very hungry. Then feeling that he could climb no +higher, he began to look round for a dry, sheltered spot to pass the +night in. In a little while he came to a great, smooth, flat stone that +looked like a floor in a room, and was about forty yards wide: nothing +grew on it except some small tufts of grey lichen; but on the further +side, at the foot of a steep, rocky precipice, there was a thick bed of +tall green and yellow ferns, and among the ferns he hoped to find a +place to lie down in. Very slowly he limped across the open space, +crying with the pain he felt at every step; but when he reached the bed +of ferns he all at once saw, sitting among the tall fronds on a stone, a +strange-looking woman in a green dress, who was gazing very steadily at +him with eyes full of love and compassion. At her side there crouched a +big yellow beast, covered all over with black, eye-like spots, with a +big round head, and looking just like a cat, but a hundred times larger +than the biggest cat he had ever seen. The animal rose up with a low +sound like a growl, and glared at Martin with its wide, yellow, fiery +eyes, which so terrified him that he dared not move another step until +the woman, speaking very gently to him, told him not to fear. She +caressed the great beast, making him lie down again; then coming forward +and taking Martin by the hand, she drew him up to her knees. + +"What is your name, poor little suffering child?" she asked, bending +down to him, and speaking softly. + +"Martin--what's yours?" he returned, still half sobbing, and rubbing his +eyes with his little fists. + +"I am called the Lady of the Hills, and I live here alone in the +mountain. Tell me, why do you cry, Martin?" + +"Because I'm so cold, and--and my legs hurt so, and--and because I want +to go back to my mother. She's over there," said he, with another sob, +pointing vaguely to the great plain beneath their feet, extending far, +far away into the blue distance, where the crimson sun was now setting. + +"I will be your mother, and you shall live with me here on the +mountain," she said, caressing his little cold hands with hers. "Will +you call me mother?" + +"You are _not_ my mother," he returned warmly. "I don't want to call you +mother." + +"When I love you so much, dear child?" she pleaded, bending down until +her lips were close to his averted face. + +"How that great spotted cat stares at me!" he suddenly said. "Do you +think it will kill me?" + +"No, no, he only wants to play with you. Will you not even look at me, +Martin?" + +He still resisted her, but her hand felt very warm and comforting--it +was such a large, warm, protecting hand. So pleasant did it feel that +after a little while he began to move his hand up her beautiful, soft, +white arm until it touched her hair. For her hair was unbound and loose; +it was dark, and finer than the finest spun silk, and fell all over her +shoulders and down her back to the stone she sat on. He let his fingers +stray in and out among it; and it felt like the soft, warm down that +lines a little bird's nest to his skin. Finally, he touched her neck and +allowed his hand to rest there, it was such a soft, warm neck. At +length, but reluctantly, for his little rebellious heart was not yet +wholly subdued, he raised his eyes to her face. Oh, how beautiful she +was! Her love and eager desire to win him had flushed her clear olive +skin with rich red colour; out of her sweet red lips, half parted, came +her warm breath on his cheek, more fragrant than wild flowers; and her +large dark eyes were gazing down into his with such a tenderness in them +that Martin, seeing it, felt a strange little shudder pass through him, +and scarcely knew whether to think it pleasant or painful. "Dear child, +I love you so much," she spoke, "will you not call me mother?" + +Dropping his eyes and with trembling lips, feeling a little ashamed at +being conquered at last, he whispered "Mother." + +She raised him in her arms and pressed him to her bosom, wrapping her +hair like a warm mantle round him; and in less than one minute, overcome +by fatigue, he fell fast asleep in her arms. + +[Illustration] + +[Illustration: SHE RAISED HIM IN HER ARMS AND PRESSED HIM TO HER BOSOM, +WRAPPING HER HAIR LIKE A WARM MANTLE AROUND HIM.] + + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Twelve_ + +_The Little People Underground_ + + +When he awoke Martin found himself lying on a soft downy bed in a dim +stone chamber, and feeling silky hair over his cheek and neck and arms, +he knew that he was still with his new strange mother, the beautiful +Lady of the Mountain. She, seeing him awake, took him up in her arms, +and holding him against her bosom, carried him through a long winding +stone passage, and out into the bright morning sunlight. There by a +small spring of clearest water that gushed from the rock she washed his +scratched and bruised skin, and rubbed it with sweet-smelling unguents, +and gave him food and drink. The great spotted beast sat by them all the +time, purring like a cat, and at intervals he tried to entice Martin to +leave the woman's lap and play with him. But she would not let him out +of her arms: all day she nursed and fondled him as if he had been a +helpless babe instead of the sturdy little run-away and adventurer he +had proved himself to be. She also made him tell her the story of how he +had got lost and of all the wonderful things that had happened to him in +his wanderings in the wilderness--the people of the Mirage, and old +Jacob and the savages, the great forest, the serpent, the owl, the wild +horses and wild man, and the black people of the sky. But it was of the +Mirage and the procession of lovely beings about which he spoke most and +questioned her. + +"Do you think it was all a dream?" he kept asking her, "the Queen and +all those people?" + +She was vexed at the question, and turning her face away, refused to +answer him. For though at all other times, and when he spoke of other +things, she was gentle and loving in her manner, the moment he spoke of +the Queen of the Mirage and the gifts she had bestowed on him, she +became impatient, and rebuked him for saying such foolish things. + +At length she spoke and told him that it was a dream, a very very idle +dream, a dream that was not worth dreaming; that he must never speak of +it again, never think of it, but forget it, just as he had forgotten all +the other vain silly dreams he had ever had. And having said this much a +little sharply, she smiled again and fondled him, and promised that when +he next slept he should have a good dream, one worth the dreaming, and +worth remembering and talking about. + +She held him away from her, seating him on her knees, to look at his +face, and said, "For oh, dear little Martin, you are lovely and sweet to +look at, and you are mine, my own sweet child, and so long as you live +with me on the hills, and love me and call me mother, you shall be +happy, and everything you see, sleeping and walking, shall seem strange +and beautiful." + +It was quite true that he was sweet to look at, very pretty with his +rosy-white skin deepening to red on his cheeks; and his hair curling all +over his head was of a bright golden chestnut colour; and his eyes were +a very bright blue, and looked keen and straight at you just like a +bird's eyes, that seem to be thinking of nothing, and yet seeing +everything. + +After this Martin was eager to go to sleep at once and have the promised +dream, but his very eagerness kept him wide awake all day, and even +after going to bed in that dim chamber in the heart of the hill, it was +a long time before he dropped off. But he did not know that he had +fallen asleep: it seemed to him that he was very wide awake, and that he +heard a voice speaking in the chamber, and that he started up to listen +to it. + +"Do you not know that there are things just as strange underground as +above it?" said the voice. + +Martin could not see the speaker, but he answered quite boldly: +"No--there's nothing underground except earth and worms and roots. I've +seen it when they've been digging." + +"Oh, but there is!" said the voice. "You can see for yourself. All +you've got to do is to find a path leading down, and to follow it. +There's a path over there just in front of you; you can see the opening +from where you are lying." + +He looked, and sure enough there _was_ an opening, and a dim passage +running down through the solid rock. Up he jumped, fired at the prospect +of seeing new and wonderful things, and without looking any more to see +who had spoken to him, he ran over to it. The passage had a smooth floor +of stone, and sloped downward into the earth, and went round and round +in an immense spiral; but the circles were so wide that Martin scarcely +knew that he was not travelling in a straight line. Have you by chance +ever seen a buzzard, or stork, or vulture, or some other great bird, +soaring upwards into the sky in wide circles, each circle taking it +higher above the earth, until it looked like a mere black speck in the +vast blue heavens, and at length disappeared altogether? Just in that +way, going round and round in just such wide circles, lightly running +all the time, with never a pause to rest, and without feeling in the +least tired, Martin went on, only down and down and further down, +instead of up and up like the soaring bird, until he was as far under +the mountain as ever any buzzard or crane or eagle soared above it. + +[Illustration: FOR A MOMENT OR TWO HE WAS TEMPTED TO TURN AND RUN BACK +INTO THE PASSAGE THROUGH WHICH HE HAD COME.] + +Thus running he came at last out of the passage to an open room or space +so wide that, look which way he would, he could see no end to it. The +stone roof of this place was held up by huge stone pillars standing +scattered about like groups of great rough-barked trees, many times +bigger round than hogsheads. Here and there in the roof, or the stone +overhead, were immense black caverns which almost frightened him to gaze +up at them, they were so vast and black. And no light or sun or moon +came down into that deep part of the earth: the light was from big +fires, and they were fires of smithies burning all about him, sending up +great flames and clouds of black smoke, which rose and floated upwards +through those big black caverns in the roof. Crowds of people were +gathered around the smithies, all very busy heating metal and hammering +on anvils like blacksmiths. Never had he seen so many people, nor ever +had he seen such busy men as these, rushing about here and there +shouting and colliding with one another, bringing and carrying huge +loads in baskets on their backs, and altogether the sight of them, and +the racket and the smoke and dust, and the blazing fires, was almost too +much for Martin; and for a moment or two he was tempted to turn and run +back into the passage through which he had come. But the strangeness of +it all kept him there, and then he began to look more closely at the +people, for these were the little men that live under the earth, and +they were unlike anything he had seen on its surface. They were very +stout, strong-looking little men, dressed in coarse dark clothes, +covered with dust and grime, and they had dark faces, and long hair, and +rough, unkempt beards; they had very long arms and big hands, like +baboons, and there was not one among them who looked taller than Martin +himself. After looking at them he did not feel at all afraid of them; +he only wanted very much to know who they were, and what they were +doing, and why they were so excited and noisy over their work. So he +thrust himself among them, going to the smithies where they were in +crowds, and peering curiously at them. Then he began to notice that his +coming among them created a great commotion, for no sooner would he +appear than all work would be instantly suspended; down would go their +baskets and loads of wood, their hammers and implements of all kinds, +and they would stare and point at him, all jabbering together, so that +the noise was as if a thousand cockatoos and parrots and paroquets were +all screaming at once. What it was all about he could not tell, as he +could not make out what they said; he could only see, and plainly +enough, that his presence astonished and upset them, for as he went +about among them they fell back before him, crowding together, and all +staring and pointing at him. + +But at length he began to make out what they were saying; they were all +exclaiming and talking about him. "Look at him! look at him!" they +cried. "Who is he? What, Martin--this Martin? Never. No, no, no! Yes, +yes, yes! Martin himself--Martin with nothing on! Not a shred--not a +thread! Impossible--it cannot be! Nothing so strange has ever happened! +_Naked_--do you say that Martin is naked? Oh, dreadful--from the crown +of his head to his toes, naked as he was born! No clothes--no +clothes--oh no, it can't be Martin. It is, it is!" And so on and on, +until Martin could not endure it longer, for he had been naked for days +and days, and had ceased to think about it, and in fact did not know +that he was naked. And now hearing their remarks, and seeing how they +were disturbed, he looked down at himself and saw that it was indeed +so--that he had nothing on, and he grew ashamed and frightened, and +thought he would run and hide himself from them in some hole in the +ground. But there was no place to hide in, for now they had gathered all +round him in a vast crowd, so that whichever way he turned there before +him they appeared--hundreds and hundreds of dark, excited faces, +hundreds of grimy hands all pointing at him. Then, all at once, he +caught sight of an old rag of a garment lying on the ground among the +ashes and cinders, and he thought he would cover himself with it, and +picking it hastily up was just going to put it round him when a great +roar of "No!" burst out from the crowd; he was almost deafened with the +sound, so that he stood trembling with the old dirty rag of cloth in his +hand. Then one of the little men came up to him, and snatching the rag +from his hand, flung it angrily down upon the floor; then as if afraid +of remaining so near Martin, he backed away into the crowd again. + +Just then Martin heard a very low voice close to his ear speaking to +him, but when he looked round he could see no person near him. He knew +it was the same voice which had spoken to him in the cave where he +slept, and had told him to go down into that place underground. + +"Do not fear," said the gentle voice to Martin. "Say to the little men +that you have lost your clothes, and ask them for something to put on." + +Then Martin, who had covered his face with his hands to shut out the +sight of the angry crowd, took courage, and looking at them, said, half +sobbing, "O, Little Men, I've lost my clothes--won't you give me +something to put on?" + +This speech had a wonderful effect: instantly there was a mighty rush, +all the Little Men hurrying away in all directions, shouting and +tumbling over each other in their haste to get away, and by-and-by it +looked to Martin as if they were having a great struggle or contest over +something. They were all struggling to get possession of a small closed +basket, and it was like a game of football with hundreds of persons all +playing, all fighting for possession of the ball. At length one of them +succeeded in getting hold of the basket and escaping from all the others +who opposed him, and running to Martin he threw it down at his feet, and +lifting the lid displayed to his sight a bundle of the most beautiful +clothes ever seen by child or man. With a glad cry Martin pulled them +out, but the next moment a very important-looking Little Man, with a +great white beard, sprang forward and snatched them out of his hand. + +"No, no," he shouted. "These are not fit for Martin to wear! They will +soil!" Saying which, he flung them down on that dusty floor with its +litter of cinders and dirt, and began to trample on them as if in a +great passion. Then he snatched them up again and shook them, and all +could see that they were unsoiled and just as bright and beautiful as +before. Then Martin tried to take them from him, but the other would not +let him. + +"Never shall Martin wear such poor clothes," shouted the old man. "They +will not even keep out the wet," and with that he thrust them into a +great tub of water, and jumping in began treading them down with his +feet. But when he pulled them out again and shook them before their +faces, all saw that they were as dry and bright as before. + +"Give them to me!" cried Martin, thinking that it was all right now. + +"Never shall Martin wear such poor clothes--they will not resist fire," +cried the old man, and into the flames he flung them. + +Martin now gave up all hopes of possessing them, and was ready to burst +into tears at their loss, when out of the fire they were pulled again, +and it was seen that the flames had not injured or tarnished them in the +least. Once more Martin put out his arms and this time he was allowed to +take those beautiful clothes, and then just as he clasped them to him +with a cry of delight he woke! + +His head was lying on his new mother's arm, and she was awake watching +him. + +"O, mother, what a nice dream I had! O such pretty clothes--why did I +wake so soon?" + +She laughed and touched his arms, showing him that they were still +clasping that beautiful suit of clothes to his breast--the very clothes +of his wonderful dream! + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Thirteen_ + +_The Great Blue Water_ + + +There was not in all that land, nor perhaps in all the wide world, a +happier little boy than Martin, when after waking from his sleep and +dream he dressed himself for the first time in that new suit, and went +out from the cave into the morning sunlight. He then felt the comfort of +such clothes, for they were softer than the finest, softest down or silk +to his skin, and kept him warm when it was cold, and cool when it was +hot, and dry when it rained on him, and the earth could not soil them, +nor the thorns tear them; and above everything they were the most +beautiful clothes ever seen. Their colour was a deep moss green, or so +it looked at a little distance, or when seen in the shade, but in the +sunshine it sparkled as if small, shining, many-coloured beads had been +sewn in the cloth; only there were no beads; it was only the shining +threads that made it sparkle so, like clean sand in the sun. When you +looked closely at the cloth, you could see the lovely pattern woven in +it--small leaf and flower, the leaves like moss leaves, and the flowers +like the pimpernel, but not half so big, and they were yellow and red +and blue and violet in colour. + +But there were many, many things besides the lovely clothes to make him +contented and happy. First, the beautiful woman of the hills who loved +and cherished him and made him call her by the sweet name of "mother" so +many times every day that he well nigh forgot she was not his real +mother. Then there was the great stony hillside on which he now lived +for a playground, where he could wander all day among the rocks, +overgrown with creepers and strange sweet-smelling flowers he had never +seen on the plain below. The birds and butterflies he saw there were +different from those he had always seen; so were the snakes which he +often found sleepily coiled up on the rocks, and the little swift +lizards. Even the water looked strange and more beautiful than the water +in the plain, for here it gushed out of the living rock, sparkling like +crystal in the sun, and was always cold when he dipped his hands in it +even on the hottest days. Perhaps the most wonderful thing was the +immense distance he could see, when he looked away from the hillside +across the plain and saw the great dark forest where he had been, and +the earth stretching far, far away beyond. + +Then there was his playmate, the great yellow-spotted cat, who followed +him about and was always ready for a frolic, playing in a very curious +way. Whenever Martin would prepare to take a running leap, or a swift +run down a slope, the animal, stealing quietly up behind, would put out +a claw from his big soft foot--a great white claw as big as an owl's +beak--and pull him suddenly back. At last Martin would lose his temper, +and picking up a stick would turn on his playmate; and away the animal +would fly, pretending to be afraid, and going over bushes and big stones +with tremendous leaps to disappear from sight on the mountain side. But +very soon he would steal secretly back by some other way to spring upon +Martin unawares and roll him over and over on the ground, growling as if +angry, and making believe to worry him with his great white teeth, +although never really hurting him in the least. He played with Martin +just as a cat plays with its kitten when it pretends to punish it. + +When ever Martin began to show the least sign of weariness the Lady of +the Hills would call him to her. Then, lying back among the ferns, she +would unbind her long silky tresses to let him play with them, for this +was always a delight to him. Then she would gather her hair up again and +dress it with yellow flowers and glossy dark green leaves to make +herself look more lovely than ever. At other times, taking him on her +shoulders, she would bound nimbly as a wild goat up the steepest places, +springing from crag to crag, and dancing gaily along the narrow ledges +of rock, where it made him dizzy to look down. Then when the sun was +near setting, when long shadows from rocks and trees began to creep over +the mountain, and he had eaten the fruits and honey and other wild +delicacies she provided, she would make him lie on her bosom. Playing +with her loose hair and listening to her singing as she rocked herself +on a stone, he would presently fall asleep. + +In the morning on waking he would always find himself lying still +clasped to her breast in that great dim cavern; and almost always when +he woke he would find her crying. Sometimes on opening his eyes he would +find her asleep, but with traces of tears on her face, showing that she +had been awake and crying. + +One afternoon, seeing him tired of play and hard to amuse, she took him +in her arms and carried him right up the side of the mountain, where it +grew so steep that even the big cat could not follow them. Finally she +brought him out on the extreme summit, and looking round he seemed to +see the whole world spread out beneath him. Below, half-way down, there +were some wild cattle feeding on the mountain side, and they looked at +that distance no bigger than mice. Looking eastwards he beheld just +beyond the plain a vast expanse of blue water extending leagues and +leagues away until it faded into the blue sky. He shouted with joy when +he saw it, and could not take his eyes from this wonderful world of +water. + +"Take me there--take me there!" he cried. + +She only shook her head and tried to laugh him out of such a wish; but +by-and-by when she attempted to carry him back down the mountain he +refused to move from the spot; nor would he speak to her nor look up +into her pleading face, but kept his eyes fixed on that distant blue +ocean which had so enchanted him. For it seemed to Martin the most +wonderful thing he had ever beheld. + +At length it began to grow cold on the summit; then with gentle +caressing words she made him turn and look to the opposite side of the +heavens, where the sun was just setting behind a great mass of +clouds--dark purple and crimson, rising into peaks that were like hills +of rose-coloured pearl, and all the heavens beyond them a pale +primrose-coloured flame. Filled with wonder at all this rich and varied +colour he forgot the ocean for a moment, and uttered an exclamation of +delight. + +"Do you know, dear Martin," said she, "what we should find there, where +it all looks so bright and beautiful, if I had wings and could fly with +you, clinging to my bosom like a little bat clinging to its mother when +she flies abroad in the twilight?" + +"What?" asked Martin. + +"Only dark dark clouds full of rain and cutting hail and thunder and +lightning. That is how it is with the sea, Martin: it makes you love it +when you see it at a distance; but oh, it is cruel and treacherous, and +when it has once got you in its power then it is more terrible than the +thunder and lightning in the cloud. Do you remember, when you first came +to me, naked, shivering with cold, with your little bare feet blistered +and bleeding from the sharp stones, how I comforted you with my love, +and you found it warm and pleasant lying on my breast? The sea will not +comfort you in that way; it will clasp you to a cold, cold breast, and +kiss you with bitter salt lips, and carry you down where it is always +dark, where you will never never see the blue sky and sunshine and +flowers again." + +Martin shivered and nestled closer to her; and then while the shadows of +evening were gathering round them, she sat rocking herself to and fro on +a stone, murmuring many tender, sweet words to him, until the music of +her voice and the warmth of her bosom made him sleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Fourteen_ + +_The Wonders of the Hills_ + + +Now, although Martin had gone very comfortably to sleep in her arms and +found it sweet to be watched over so tenderly, he was not the happy +little boy he had been before the sight of the distant ocean. And she +knew it, and was troubled in her mind, and anxious to do something to +make him forget that great blue water. She could do many things, and +above all she could show him new and wonderful things in the hills where +she wished to keep him always with her. To caress him, to feed and watch +over him by day, and hold him in her arms when he slept at night--all +that was less to him than the sight of something new and strange; she +knew this well, and therefore determined to satisfy his desire and make +his life so full that he would always be more than contented with it. + +In the morning he went out on the hillside, wandering listlessly among +the rocks, and when the big cat found him there and tried to tempt him +to a game he refused to play, for he had not yet got over his +disappointment, and could think of nothing but the sea. But the cat did +not know that anything was the matter with him, and was more determined +to play than ever; crouching now here, now there among the stones and +bushes, he would spring out upon Martin and pull him down with its big +paws, and this so enraged him that picking up a stick he struck +furiously at his tormentor. But the cat was too quick for him; he dodged +the blows, then knocked the stick out of his hand, and finally Martin, +to escape from him, crept into a crevice in a rock where the cat could +not reach him, and refused to come out even when the Lady of the Hills +came to look for him and begged him to come to her. When at last, +compelled by hunger, he returned to her, he was silent and sullen and +would not be caressed. + +He saw no more of the cat, and when next day he asked her where it was, +she said that it had gone from them and would return no more--that she +had sent it away because it had vexed him. This made Martin sulk, and he +would have gone away and hidden himself from her had she not caught him +up in her arms. He struggled to free himself, but could not, and she +then carried him away a long distance down the mountainside until they +came to a small dell, green with creepers and bushes, with a deep +carpet of dry moss on the ground, and here she sat down and began to +talk to him. + +"The cat was a very beautiful beast with his spotted hide," she said; +"and you liked to play with him sometimes, but in a little while you +will be glad that he has gone from you." + +He asked her why. + +"Because though he was fond of you and liked to follow you about and +play with you, he is very fierce and powerful, and all the other beasts +are afraid of him. So long as he was with us they would not come, but +now he has gone they will come to you and let you go to them." + +"Where are they?" said Martin, his curiosity greatly excited. + +"Let us wait here," she said, "and perhaps we shall see one by-and-by." + +So they waited and were silent, and as nothing came and nothing +happened, Martin sitting on the mossy ground began to feel a strange +drowsiness stealing over him. He rubbed his eyes and looked round; he +wanted to keep very wide awake and alert, so as not to miss the sight of +anything that might come. He was vexed with himself for feeling drowsy, +and wondered why it was; then listening to the low continuous hum of the +bees, he concluded that it was that low, soft, humming sound that made +him sleepy. He began to look at the bees, and saw that they were unlike +other wild bees he knew, that they were like bumble-bees in shape but +much smaller, and were all of a golden brown colour: they were in +scores and hundreds coming and going, and had their home or nest in the +rock a few feet above his head. He got up, and climbing from his +mother's knee to her shoulder, and standing on it, he looked into the +crevice into which the bees were streaming, and saw their nest full of +clusters of small round objects that looked like white berries. + +Then he came down and told her what he had seen, and wanted to know all +about it, and when she answered that the little round fruit-like objects +he had seen were cells full of purple honey that tasted sweet and salt, +he wanted her to get him some. + +"Not now--not today," she replied, "for now you love me and are +contented to be with me, and you are my own darling child. When you are +naughty, and try to grieve me all you can, and would like to go away and +never see me more, you shall taste the purple honey." + +He looked up into her face wondering and troubled at her words, and she +smiled down so sweetly on his upturned face, looking very beautiful and +tender, that it almost made him cry to think how wilful and passionate +he had been, and climbing on to her knees he put his little face against +her cheek. + +[Illustration: THE DOE--TIMIDLY SMELT AT HIS HAND, THEN LICKED IT WITH +HER LONG PINK TONGUE.] + +Then, while he was still caressing her, light tripping steps were heard +over the stony path, and through the bushes came two beautiful wild +animals--a doe with her fawn! Martin had often seen the wild deer on the +plains, but always at a great distance and running; now that he had +them standing before him he could see just what they were like, and of +all the four-footed creatures he had ever looked on they were +undoubtedly the most lovely. They were of a slim shape, and of a very +bright reddish fawn-colour, the young one with dappled sides; and both +had large trumpet-like ears, which they held up as if listening, while +they gazed fixedly at Martin's face with their large, dark, soft eyes. +Enchanted with the sight of them, he slipped down from his mother's lap, +and stretched out his arms towards them, and the doe, coming a little +nearer, timidly smelt at his hand, then licked it with her long, pink +tongue. + +In a few minutes the doe and fawn went away and they saw them no more; +but they left Martin with a heart filled with happy excitement; and they +were but the first of many strange and beautiful wild animals he was now +made acquainted with, so that for days he could think of nothing else +and wished for nothing better. + +But one day when she had taken him a good way up on the hillside, Martin +suddenly recognized a huge rocky precipice before him as the one up +which she had taken him, and from the top of which he had seen the great +blue water. Instantly he demanded to be taken up again, and when she +refused he rebelled against her, and was first passionate and then +sullen. Finding that he would not listen to anything she could say, she +sat down on a rock and left him to himself. He could not climb up that +precipice, and so he rambled away to some distance, thinking to hide +himself from her, because he thought her unreasonable and unkind not to +allow him to see the blue water once more. But presently he caught sight +of a snake lying motionless on a bed of moss at the foot of a rock, with +the sun on it, lighting up its polished scales so that they shone like +gems or coloured glass. Resting his elbows on the stone and holding his +face between his hands he fell to watching the snake, for though it +seemed fast asleep in the sun its gem-like eyes were wide open. + +All at once he felt his mother's hand on his head: "Martin," she said, +"would you like to know what the snake feels when it lies with eyes open +in the bright hot sun? Shall I make you feel just how he feels?" + +"Yes," said Martin eagerly, forgetting his quarrel with her; then taking +him up in her strong arms she walked rapidly away, and brought him to +that very spot where he had seen the doe and fawn. + +She sat him down, and instantly his ears were filled with the murmur of +the bees; and in a moment she put her hand in the crevice and pulled out +a cluster of white cells, and gave them to Martin. Breaking one of the +cells he saw that it was full of thick honey, of a violet colour, and +tasting it he found it was like very sweet honey in which a little salt +had been mixed. He liked it and he didn't like it; still, it was not the +same in all the cells; in some it was scarcely salt at all; and he +began to suck the honey of cell after cell, trying to find one that was +not salt; and by-and-by he dropped the cluster of cells from his hand, +and stooping to pick it up forgot to do so, and laying his head down and +stretching himself out on the mossy ground looked up into his mother's +face with drowsy, happy eyes. How sweet it seemed, lying there in the +sun, with the sun shining right into his eyes, and filling his whole +being with its delicious heat! He wished for nothing now--not even for +the sight of new wonderful things; he forgot the blue water, the +strange, beautiful wild animals, and his only thought, if he had a +thought, was that it was very nice to lie there, not sleeping, but +feeling the sun in him, and seeing it above him; and seeing all +things--the blue sky, the grey rocks and green bushes and moss, and the +woman in her green dress and her loose black hair--and hearing, too, the +soft, low, continuous murmur of the yellow bees. + +For hours he lay there in that drowsy condition, his mother keeping +watch over him, and when it passed off, and he got up again, his temper +appeared changed; he was more gentle and affectionate with his mother, +and obeyed her every wish. And when in his rambles on the hill he found +a snake lying in the sun he would steal softly near it and watch it +steadily for a long time, half wishing to taste that strange purple +honey again, so that he might lie in the sun, feeling what the snake +feels. But there were more wonderful things yet for Martin to see and +know in the hills, so that in a little while he ceased to have that +desire. + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Fifteen_ + +_Martin's Eyes Are Opened_ + + +One morning when they went up into a wild rocky place very high up on +the hillside a number of big birds were seen coming over the mountain at +a great height in the air, travelling in a northerly direction. They +were big hawks almost as big as eagles, with very broad rounded wings, +and instead of travelling straight like other birds they moved in wide +circles, so that they progressed very slowly. + +[Illustration: THROWING UP HER ARMS, SHE CRIED A LONG CALL, AND THE +BIRDS BEGAN TO COME LOWER AND LOWER DOWN.] + +They sat down on a stone to watch the birds, and whenever one flying +lower than the others came pretty near them Martin gazed delightedly at +it, and wished it would come still nearer so that he might see it +better. Then the woman stood up on the stone, and, gazing skywards and +throwing up her arms, she uttered a long call, and the birds began to +come lower and lower down, still sweeping round in wide circles, and +by-and-by one came quite down and pitched on a stone a few yards from +them. Then another came and lighted on another stone, then another, and +others followed, until they were all round him in scores, sitting on the +rocks, great brown birds with black bars on their wings and tails, and +buff-coloured breasts with rust-red spots and stripes. It was a +wonderful sight, those eagle-like hawks, with their blue hooked beaks +and deep-set dark piercing eyes, sitting in numbers on the rocks, and +others and still others dropping down from the sky to increase the +gathering. + +Then the woman sat down by Martin's side, and after a while one of the +hawks spread his great wings and rose up into the air to resume his +flight. After an interval of a minute or so another rose, then another, +but it was an hour before they were all gone. + +"O the dear birds--they are all gone!" cried Martin. "Mother, where are +they going?" + +She told him of a far-away land in the south, from which, when autumn +comes, the birds migrate north to a warmer country hundreds of leagues +away, and that birds of all kinds were now travelling north, and would +be travelling through the sky above them for many days to come. + +Martin looked up at the sky, and said he could see no birds now that the +buzzards were all gone. + +"I can see them," she returned, looking up and glancing about the sky. + +"O mother, I wish I could see them!" he cried. "Why can't I see them +when you can?" + +"Because your eyes are not like mine. Look, can you see this?" and she +held up a small stone phial which she took from her bosom. + +He took it in his hand and unstopped and smelt at it. "Is it honey? Can +I taste it?" he asked. + +She laughed. "It is better than honey, but you can't eat it!" she said. +"Do you remember how the honey made you feel like a snake? This would +make you see what I see if I put some of it on your eyes." + +He begged her to do so, and she consenting poured a little into the palm +of her hand. It was thick and white as milk; then taking some on her +finger tip, she made him hold his eyes wide open while she rubbed it on +the eye-balls. It made his eyes smart, and everything at first looked +like a blue mist when he tried to see; then slowly the mist faded away +and the air had a new marvellous clearness, and when he looked away over +the plain beneath them he shouted for joy, so far could he see and so +distinct did distant objects appear. At one point where nothing but the +grey haze that obscured the distance had been visible, a herd of wild +cattle now appeared, scattered about, some grazing, others lying down +ruminating, and in the midst of the herd a very noble-looking, +tawny-coloured bull was standing. + +"O mother, do you see that bull?" cried Martin in delight. + +"Yes, I see him," she returned. "Sometimes he brings his herd to feed on +the hillside, and when I see him here another time I shall take you to +him, and put you on his back. But look now at the sky, Martin." + +He looked up, and was astonished to see numbers of great birds flying +north, where no birds had appeared before. They were miles high, and +invisible to ordinary sight, but he could see them so distinctly, their +shape and colours, that all the birds he knew were easily recognized. +There were swans, shining white, with black heads and necks, flying in +wedge-shaped flocks, and rose-coloured spoonbills, and flamingoes with +scarlet wings tipped with black, and ibises, and ducks of different +colours, and many other birds, both water and land, appeared, flock +after flock, all flying as fast as their wings could bear them towards +the north. + +He continued watching them until it was past noon, and then he saw fewer +and fewer, only very big birds, appearing; and then these were seen less +and less until there were none. Then he turned his eyes on the plain and +tried to find the herd of wild cattle, but they were no longer visible; +it was as he had seen it in the morning with the pale blue haze over all +the distant earth. He was told that the power to see all distant things +with a vision equal to his mother's was now exhausted, and when he +grieved at the loss she comforted him with the promise that it would be +renewed at some other time. + +Now one day when they were out together Martin was greatly surprised +and disturbed at a change in his mother. When he spoke to her she was +silent; and by-and-by, drawing a little away, he looked at her with a +fear which increased to a kind of terror, so strangely altered did she +seem, standing motionless, gazing fixedly with wide-open eyes at the +plain beneath them, her whole face white and drawn with a look of rage. +He had an impulse to fly from her and hide himself in some hole in the +rocks from the sight of that pale, wrathful face, but when he looked +round him he was afraid to move from her, for the hill itself seemed +changed, and now looked black and angry even as she did. The ground he +stood on, the grey old stones covered with silvery-white and yellow +lichen and pretty flowery, creeping plants, so beautiful to look at in +the bright sunlight a few moments ago, now were covered with a dull mist +which appeared to be rising from them, making the air around them dark +and strange. And the air, too, had become sultry and close, and the sky +was growing dark above them. Then suddenly remembering all her love and +kindness he flew to her, and clinging to her dress sobbed out, "O +mother, mother, what is it?" + +She put her hand on him, then drew him up to her side, with his feet on +the stone she was standing by. "Would you like to see what I see, +Martin?" she asked, and taking the phial from her bosom she rubbed the +white thick liquid on his eye-balls, and in a little while, when the +mistiness passed off, she pointed with her hand and told him to look +there. + +He looked, and as on the former occasion, all distant things were +clearly visible, for although that mist and blackness given off by the +hill had wrapped them round so that they seemed to be standing in the +midst of a black cloud, yet away on the plain beneath the sun was +shining brightly, and all that was there could be seen by him. Where he +had once seen a herd of wild cattle he now saw mounted men, to the +number of about a dozen, slowly riding towards the hill, and though they +were miles away he could see them very distinctly. They were dark, +black-bearded men, strangely dressed, some with fawn-coloured cloaks +with broad stripes, others in a scarlet uniform, and they wore +cone-shaped scarlet caps. Some carried lances, others carbines; and they +all wore swords--he could see the steel scabbards shining in the sun. As +he watched them they drew rein and some of them got off their horses, +and they stood for some time as if talking excitedly, pointing towards +the hill and using emphatic gestures. + +What were they talking about so excitedly? thought Martin. He wanted to +know, and he would have asked her, but when he looked up at her she was +still gazing fixedly at them with the same pale face and terrible stern +expression, and he could but dimly see her face in that black cloud +which had closed around them. He trembled with fear and could only +murmur, "Mother! mother!" Then her arm was put round him, and she drew +him close against her side, and at that moment--O how terrible it +was!--the black cloud and the whole universe was lit up with a sudden +flash that seemed to blind and scorch him, and the hill and the world +was shaken and seemed to be shattered by an awful thunder crash. It was +more than he could endure: he ceased to feel or know anything, and was +like one dead, and when he came to himself and opened his eyes he was +lying in her lap with her face smiling very tenderly, bending over him. + +"O poor little Martin," she said, "what a poor weak little boy you are +to lose your senses at the lightning and thunder! I was angry when I saw +them coming to the hill, for they are wicked, cruel men, stained with +blood, and I made the storm to drive them away. They are gone, and the +storm is over now, and it is late--come, let us go to our cave;" and she +took him up and carried him in her arms. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Sixteen_ + +_The People of the Mist_ + + +When Martin first came to the hills it was at the end of the long, hot, +dry summer of that distant land: it was autumn now, and the autumn was +like a second summer, only not so hot and dry as the first. But +sometimes at this season a wet mist came up from the sea by night and +spread over all the country, covering it like a cloud; to a soaring bird +looking down from the sky it must have appeared like another sea of a +pale or pearly grey colour, with the hills rising like islands from it. +When the sun rose in the morning, if the sky was clear so that it could +shine, then the sea-fog would drift and break up and melt away or float +up in the form of thin white clouds. Now, whenever this sea-mist was out +over the world the Lady of the Hills, without coming out of her chamber, +knew of it, and she would prevent Martin from leaving the bed and going +out. He loved to be out on the hillside, to watch the sun come up, and +she would say to him, "You cannot see the sun because of the mist; and +it is cold and wet on the hill; wait until the mist has gone and then +you shall go out." + +But now a new idea came into her mind. She had succeeded in making him +happy during the last few days; but she wished to do more--she wished to +make him fear and hate the sea so that he would never grow discontented +with his life on the hills nor wish to leave her. So now, one morning, +when the mist was out over the land, she said to Martin when he woke, +"Get up and go out on to the hill and see the mist; and when you feel +its coldness and taste its salt on your lips, and see how it dims and +saddens the earth, you will know better than to wish for that great +water it comes from." + +So Martin got up and went out on the hill, and it was as she had said: +there was no blue sky above, no wide green earth before him: the mist +had blotted all out; he could hardly see the rocks and bushes a dozen +yards from him; the leaves and flowers were heavy laden with the grey +wet; and it felt clammy and cold on his face, and he tasted its salt on +his lips. It seemed thickest and darkest when he looked down and +lightest when he looked up, and the lightness led him to climb up among +the dripping, slippery rocks; and slipping and stumbling he went on and +on, the light increasing as he went, until at last to his delight he got +above the mist. There was an immense crag there which stood boldly up +on the hillside, and on to this he managed to climb, and standing on it +he looked down upon that vast moving sea of grey mist that covered the +earth, and saw the sun, a large crimson disc, rising from it. + +[Illustration: ONE OF THE MIST PEOPLE--HELD THE SHELL TO MARTIN'S +EAR--AND MARTIN KNEW--THAT IT WAS THE VOICE OF THE SEA.] + +It was a great thing to see, and made him cry out aloud for joy: and +then as the sun rose higher into the pure, blue sky the grey mist +changed to silvery white, and the white changed in places to shining +gold: and it drifted faster and faster away before the sun, and began to +break up, and when a cloud of mist swept by the rock on which he stood +it beat like a fine rain upon his face, and covered his bright clothes +with a grey beady moisture. + +Now, looking abroad over the earth, it appeared to Martin that the +thousands and tens and hundreds of thousands of fragments of mist, had +the shapes of men, and were like an innumerable multitude of gigantic +men with shining white faces and shining golden hair and long cloud-like +robes of a pearly grey colour, that trailed on the earth as they moved. +They were like a vast army covering the whole earth, all with their +faces set towards the west, all moving swiftly and smoothly on towards +the west. And he saw that every one held his robes to his breast with +his left hand, and that in his right hand, raised to the level of his +head, he carried a strange object. This object was a shell--a big +sea-shell of a golden yellow colour with curved pink lips; and very soon +one of the mist people came near him, and as he passed by the rock he +held the shell to Martin's ear, and it sounded in his ear--a low, deep +murmur as of waves breaking on a long shingled beach, and Martin knew, +though no word was spoken to him, that it was the sound of the sea, and +tears of delight came to his eyes, and at the same time his heart was +sick and sad with longing for the sea. + +Again and again, until the whole vast multitude of the mist people had +gone by, a shell was held to his ear; and when they were all gone, when +he had watched them fade like a white cloud over the plain, and float +away and disappear in the blue sky, he sat down on the rock and cried +with the desire that was in him. + +When his mother found him with traces of tears on his cheeks; and he was +silent when she spoke to him, and had a strange look in his eyes as if +they were gazing at some distant object, she was angrier than ever with +the sea, for she knew that the thought of it had returned to him and +that it would be harder than ever to keep him. + +One morning on waking he found her still asleep, although the traces of +tears on her cheeks showed that she had been awake and crying during the +night. + +"Ah, now I know why she cries every morning," thought Martin; "it is +because I must go away and leave her alone on the hills." + +He was out of her arms and dressed in a very few moments, moving very +softly lest she should wake; but though he knew that if she awoke she +would not let him go, he could not leave her without saying good-bye. +And so coming near he stooped over her and very gently kissed her soft +cheek and sweet mouth and murmured, "Good-bye, sweet mother." Then, very +cautiously, like a shy, little wild animal he stole out of the cavern. +Once outside, in the early morning light, he started running as fast as +he could, jumping from stone to stone in the rough places, and +scrambling through the dew-laden bushes and creepers, until, hot and +panting, he arrived down at the very foot of the hill. + +Then it was easier walking, and he went on a little until he heard a +voice crying, "Martin! Martin!" and, looking back, he saw the Lady of +the Hills standing on a great stone near the foot of the mountain, +gazing sadly after him. "Martin, oh, my child, come back to me," she +called, stretching out her arms towards him. "Oh, Martin, I cannot leave +the hills to follow you and shield you from harm and save you from +death. Where will you go? Oh, me, what shall I do without you?" + +For a little while he stood still, listening with tears in his eyes to +her words, and wavering in his mind; but very soon he thought of the +great blue water once more and could not go back, but began to run +again, and went on and on for a long distance before stopping to rest. +Then he looked back, but he could no longer see her form standing there +on the stone. + +All that day he journeyed on towards the ocean over a great plain. There +were no trees and no rocks nor hills, only grass on the level earth, in +some places so tall that the spikes, looking like great white ostrich +plumes, waved high above his head. But it was easy walking, as the grass +grew in tussocks or bunches, and underneath the ground was bare and +smooth so that he could walk easily between the bunches. + +He wondered that he did not get to the sea, but it was still far off, +and so the long summer day wore to an end, and he was so tired that he +could scarcely lift his legs to walk. Then, as he went slowly on in the +fading light, where the grass was short and the evening primroses were +opening and filling the desert air with their sweet perfume, he all at +once saw a little grey old man not above six inches in height standing +on the ground right before him, and staring fixedly at him with great, +round, yellow eyes. + +"You bad boy!" exclaimed this curious little, old man; whereupon Martin +stopped in his walk and stood still, gazing in the greatest surprise at +him. + +"You bad boy!" repeated the strange little man. + +The more Martin stared at him the harder he stared back at Martin, +always with the same unbending severity in his small, round, grey face. +He began to feel a little afraid, and was almost inclined to run away; +then he thought it would be funny to run from such a very small man as +this, so he stared bravely back once more and cried out, "Go away!" + +"You bad boy!" answered the little grey man without moving. + +"Perhaps he's deaf, just like that other old man," said Martin to +himself, and throwing out his arms he shouted at the top of his voice, +"Go away!" + +And away with a scream he went, for it was only a little grey burrowing +owl after all! Martin laughed a little at his own foolishness in +mistaking that common bird he was accustomed to see every day for a +little old man. + +By-and-by, feeling very tired, he sat down to rest, and just where he +sat grew a plant with long white flowers like tall thin goblets in +shape. Sitting on the grass he could see right into one of the +flower-tubes, and presently he noticed a little, old, grey, shrivelled +woman in it, very, very small, for she was not longer than the nail of +his little finger. She wore a grey shawl that dragged behind her, and +kept getting under her feet and tripping her up. She was most active, +whisking about this way and that inside the flower; and at intervals she +turned to stare at Martin, who kept getting nearer and nearer to watch +her until his face nearly touched the flower; and whenever she looked at +him she wore an exceedingly severe expression on her small dried-up +countenance. It seemed to Martin that she was very angry with him for +some reason. Then she would turn her back on him, and tumble about in +the tube of the flower, and gathering up the ends of her shawl in her +arms begin dusting with great energy; then hurrying out once more she +would shake the dust from her big, funny shawl in his eyes. At last he +carefully raised a hand and was just going to take hold of the queer, +little, old dame with his forefinger and thumb when up she flew. It was +only a small, grey, twilight moth! + +Very much puzzled and confused, and perhaps a little frightened at these +curious deceptions, he laid himself down on the grass and shut his eyes +so as to go to sleep; but no sooner had he shut his eyes than he heard a +soft, soft little voice calling, "Martin! Martin!" + +He started up and listened. It was only a field cricket singing in the +grass. But often as he lay down and closed his eyes the small voice +called again, plainly as possible, and oh, so sadly, "Martin! Martin!" + +It made him remember his beautiful mother, now perhaps crying alone in +the cave on the mountain, no little Martin resting on her bosom, and he +cried to think of it. And still the small voice went on, calling, +"Martin! Martin!" sadder than ever, until, unable to endure it longer, +he jumped up and ran away a good distance, and at last, too tired to go +any further, he crept into a tussock of tall grass and went to sleep. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Seventeen_ + +_The Old Man of the Sea_ + + +Next day Martin journeyed on in the old way, jumping up and taking a +good long run, then dropping into a trot, then a walk, and finally +sitting down to rest. Then up again and another run, and so on. But +although feeling hungry and thirsty, he was so full of the thought of +the great blue water he was going to see, so eager to look upon it at +last after wishing for it so long, that he hardly gave himself any time +to hunt for food. Nor did he think of his mother of the hills, alone +today, and grieving at his loss, so excited was he at the prospect of +what lay before him. + +A little past noon he began to hear a low murmuring sound that seemed in +the earth beneath him, and all about him, and in the air above him; but +he did not know that it was the sound of the sea. At length he came to a +place where the earth rose up in long ridges of yellow sand, on which +nothing grew but scattered tufts of stiff, yellow grass. As he toiled +over the loose sand, sometimes sinking ankle-deep in it, the curious +deep murmuring sound he had heard for so long grew louder and louder, +until it was like the sound of a mighty wind in a wood, but deeper and +hoarser, rising and falling, and at intervals broken by great throbs, as +of thunder echoed and re-echoed among the distant hills. At length he +had toiled over the last ridge of sand; and then all at once the +world--his world of solid earth at all events--came to an abrupt end; +for no more ground on which to set a foot was before him, but only the +ocean--that ocean which he had wanted so badly, and had loved at a +distance more than the plains and hills, and all they contained to +delight him! How wide, how vast it was, stretching away to where it +melted into the low sky, its immense grey-blue surface broken into ten +thousand thousand waves, lit with white crests that came in sight and +vanished like lightning flashes! How tremendous, how terrible it was in +its agitation--O the world had nothing to compare with it, nothing to +hold his heart after it; and it was well that the earth was silent, that +it only gazed upon it with the sun and moon and stars, listening day and +night for ever to the great voice of the sea! + +Only by lying flat on his chest could Martin look down over the edge of +the awful cliff, which is one of the highest in the world; and then the +sight of the sea swirling and beating at the foot of that stupendous +black precipice, sending up great clouds of spray in its fury, made him +shudder, it was so awful to look upon. But he could not stir from that +spot; there he stayed lying flat on his chest, gazing and gazing, +feeling neither hunger nor thirst, forgetful of the beautiful woman he +had called mother, and of everything besides. And as he gazed, little by +little, that great tumult of the waves grew less; they no longer lifted +themselves up, wave following wave, to beat upon the cliff, and make it +tremble; but sank lower and lower; and at last drew off from the +precipice, leaving at its foot a long narrow strip of sand and shingle +exposed to sight. A solemn calm fell upon the waste of waters; only near +the shore it continued to move a little, rising and falling like the +chest of a sleeping giant, while along the margin small waves continued +to form and break in white foam on the shingle with a perpetual low, +moaning sound. Further out it was quite calm, its surface everywhere +flushed with changing violet, green, and rosy tints: in a little while +these lovely colours faded as from a sunset cloud, and it was all deep +dark blue: for the sun had gone, and the shadows of evening were over +land and sea. Then Martin, his little heart filled with a great awe and +a great joy, crept away a few yards from the edge of the cliff and +coiled himself up to sleep in a hollow in the soft warm sand. + +On the following morning, after satisfying his hunger and thirst with +some roots which he had not to go very far to find, he returned to watch +the sea once more, and there he remained, never removing his eyes from +the wonderful scene until the sun was directly over his head; then, +when the sea was calm once more, he got up and started to walk along the +cliff. + +Keeping close to the edge, occasionally stopping to lie down on his +chest and peer over, he went on and on for hours, until the afternoon +tide once more covered the strip of shingled beach, and the waves rising +high began to beat with a sound like thunder against the tremendous +cliff, making the earth tremble under him. At length he came to a spot +where there was a great gap in the line of the cliff, where in past +times a portion of it had tumbled down, and the stupendous masses of +rock had rolled far out into the sea, and now formed islands of black +jagged rock, standing high above the water. Here among the rocks the sea +boiled and roared its loudest, churning its waters into masses of white +froth. Here a fresh wonder met his sight: a number of big animals unlike +any creature he had ever seen before were lying prone on the rocks just +out of reach of the waves that beat round them. At first they looked +like cows, then he saw that they had neither horns nor legs, that their +heads were like dog's but without ears, and that they had two great +flapper-shaped feet on their chests with which they walked or crawled +upon the rocks whenever a wave broke on them, causing them to move a +little higher. + +They were sea-lions, a very big sort of seal, but Martin had never heard +of such a creature, and being anxious to look more closely at them he +went into the gap, and began cautiously climbing down over the broken +masses of rock and clay until he got quite near the sea. Lying there on +a flat rock he became absorbed in watching these strange dog-headed +legless cattle of the sea; for he now had them near, and they could see +him, and occasionally one would lift his head and gaze earnestly at him +out of large dark eyes that were soft and beautiful like the eyes of the +doe that came to him on the hills. O how glad he was to know that the +sea, the mighty waters roaring so loud as if in wrath, had its big +beasts too for him to love, like the hills and plains with their cattle +and deer and horses! + +But the tide was still rising, and very soon the biggest waves began to +come quite over the rocks, rolling the big beasts over and even washing +them off, and it angered them when the waves struck them, and they +roared aloud, and by-and-by they began to go away, some disappearing +beneath the water, others with heads above the surface swimming away out +into the open sea, until all were gone. Martin was sorry to lose them, +but the sight of the sea tumbling and foaming on the rocks still held +him there, until all the rocks but one had been covered by the waters, +and this one was a great black jagged rock close to the shore, not above +twenty or thirty yards from him. Against this mass of rock the waves +continued to dash themselves with a mighty noise, sending up a cloud of +white foam and spray at every blow. The sight and sound fascinated him. +The sea appeared to be talking, whispering, and murmuring, and crying +out aloud to him in such a manner that he actually began trying to make +out what it was saying. Then up would come a great green wave rushing +and moaning, to dash itself to pieces right before his face; and each +time it broke against the rock, and rose high up it took a fantastic +shape that began to look more and more the shape of a man. Yes, it was +unmistakably like a monstrous grey old man, with a vast snow-white +beard, and a world of disordered white hair floating over and around its +head. At all events it was white for a moment, then it looked green--a +great green beard which the old man took with his two hands and twisted +just as a washerwoman twists a blanket or counterpane, so as to wring +the water out of it. + +Martin stared at this strange uncouth visitor from the sea; while he in +turn, leaning over the rock, stared back into Martin's face with his +immense fishy eyes. Every time a fresh wave broke over him, lifting up +his hair and garments, which were of brown seaweed and all rags and +tatters, it seemed to annoy him somewhat; but he never stirred; and when +the wave retired he would wring the water out once more and blow a cloud +of sea-spray from his beard. At length, holding out his mighty arms +towards Martin, he opened his great, cod-fish mouth, and burst into a +hoarse laugh, which sounded like the deep laughter-like cries of the +big, black-backed gulls. Still, Martin did not feel at all afraid of +him, for he looked good-natured and friendly. + +"Who are you?" shouted Martin at last. + +"Who be I?" returned the man-shaped monster in a hoarse, sea-like +voice. "Ho, ho, ho,--now I calls that a good un! Why, little Martin, +that I've knowed all along, I be Bill. Leastways, that's what they +called me afore: but I got promotion, and in consekence I'm called the +Old Man of the Sea." + +"And how did you know I was Martin?" + +"How did I know as you was Martin? Why, bless your innocent heart, I +knowed it all along of course. How d'ye think I wouldn't know that? Why, +I no sooner saw you there among them rocks than I says to myself, +'Hullo,' says I, bless my eyes if that ain't Martin looking at my cows, +as I calls 'em. Of course I knowed as you was Martin." + +"And what made you go and live in the sea, Old--Bill?" questioned +Martin, "and why did you grow so big?" + +"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the giant, blowing a great cloud of spray from his +lips. "I don't mind telling you that. You see, Martin, I ain't pressed +for time. Them blessed bells is nothing to me now, not being in the +foc'sle trying to git a bit of a snooze. Well, to begin, I were born +longer ago than I can tell in a old town by the sea, and my father he +were a sailor man, and was drowned when I were very small; then my +mother she died just becoz every man that belonged to her was drowned. +For those as lives by the sea, Martin, mostly dies in the sea. Being a +orphan I were brought up by Granny. I were very small then, and used to +go and play all day in the marshes, and I loved the cows and water-rats +and all the little beasties, same as you, Martin. When I were a bit +growed Granny says to me one day, 'Bill, you go to sea and be a +sailor-boy,' she says, 'becoz I've had a dream,' she says, 'and it's +wrote that you'll never git drowned.' For you see, Martin, my Granny +were a wise woman. So to the sea I goes, and boy and man, I was on a +many voyages to Turkey and Injy and the Cape and the West Coast and +Ameriky, and all round the world forty times over. Many and many's the +time I was ship-wrecked and overboard, but I never got drowned. At last, +when I were gitting a old man, and not much use by reason of the +rheumatiz and stiffness in the jints, there was a mutiny in our ship +when we was off the Cape; and the captain and mate they was killed. Then +comes my turn, becoz I went again the men, d'ye see, and they wasn't +a-going for to pardon me that. So out they had me on deck and began to +talk about how they'd finish me--rope, knife, or bullet. 'Mates,' says +I, 'shoot me if you like and I'll dies comfortably; or run a knife into +me, which is better still; or string me up to the yard-arm, which is the +most comforble thing I know. But don't you go and put me into the sea,' +says I, 'becoz it's wrote that I ain't never going to git drowned, and +you'll have all your trouble for nothing,' says I. That made 'em larf a +most tremenjous larf. 'Old Bill,' says they, 'will have his little +joke.' Then they brings up some iron stowed in the hold, and with ropes +and chains they ties well-nigh half a ton of it to my legs and arms, +then lowers me over the side. Down I went, in course, which made 'em +larf louder than afore; and I were fathoms and fathoms under water +afore I stopped hearing them larf. At last I comes down to the bottom of +the sea, and glad I were to git there, becoz now I couldn't go no +further. There I lies doubled up like a old sea-sarpint along of the +rocks, but warm and comfortable like. Last of all, the ropes and chains +they got busted off becoz of my growing so big and strong down there, +and up I comes to blow like a grampus, for I were full of water by +reason that it had soaked into me. So that's how I got to be the Old Man +of the Sea, hundreds and hundreds of years ago." + +"And do you like to be always in the sea, Old Bill?" asked Martin. + +"Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the monster. "That's a good un, little Martin! Do +I like it? Well, it's better than being a sailor man in a ship, I can +tell 'ee. That were a hard life, with nothing good except perhaps the +baccy. I were very fond of baccy once before the sea put out my pipe. +Likewise of rum. Many's the time I've been picked up on shore that +drunk, Martin, you wouldn't believe it, I were that fond of rum. +Sometimes, down here, when I remember how good it tasted, I open my +mouth wide and takes down a big gulp of sea water, enough to fill a +hogshead; then I comes up and blows it all out again just like a old +grampus." + +And having said this, he opened his vast cavernous mouth and roared out +his hoarse ho, ho, ho! louder than before, and at the same time he rose +up higher above the water and the black rock he had been leaning on, +until he stood like a stupendous tower above Martin--a man-shaped tower +of water and spray, and white froth and brown seaweed. Then he slowly +fell backwards out upon the sea, and falling upon the sea caused so +mighty a wave that it went high over the black rock and washed the face +of the cliff, sweeping Martin back among the rocks. + +When the great wave retired, and Martin, half-choked with water and +half-dazed, struggled on to his feet, he saw that it was night, and a +cloudy, black sky was above, and the black sea beneath him. He had not +seen the light fade, and had perhaps fallen asleep and seen and talked +with that old sea monster in a dream. But now he could not escape from +his position down in the gap, just above the roaring waves. There he had +to stay, sheltered in a cavity in the rock, and lying there, half +sleeping and half waking, he had that great voice of the sea in his ears +all night. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +_Chapter Eighteen_ + +_Martin Plays With the Waves_ + + +After a night spent in the roar of the sea, a drenched and bruised +prisoner among the rocks, it was nice to see the dawn again. No sooner +was it light than Martin set about trying to make his escape. He had +been washed by that big wave into a deep cleft among the rocks and +masses of hard clay, and shut in there he could not see the water nor +anything excepting a patch of sky above him. Now he began climbing over +the stones and crawling and forcing himself through crevices and other +small openings, making a little progress, for he was sore from his +bruises and very weak from his long fast, and at intervals, tired and +beaten, he would drop down crying with pain and misery. But Martin was +by nature a very resolute little boy, and after two or three minutes' +rest his tears would cease, and he would be up struggling on +determinedly as before. He was like some little wild animal when it +finds itself captive in a cage or box or room, who tries without ceasing +to find a way out. There may be no way, but it will not give up trying +to find one. And at last, after so trying, Martin's efforts were +rewarded: he succeeded in getting into the steep passage by which he had +come down to the sea on the previous day, and in the end got to the top +of the cliff once more. It was a great relief, and after resting a +little while he began to feel glad and happy at the sight before him: +there was the glorious sea again, not as he had seen it before, its wide +surface roughened by the wind and flecked with foam; for now the water +was smooth, but not still; it rose and fell in vast rollers, or long +waves that were like ridges, wave following wave in a very grand and +ordered manner. And as he gazed, the clouds broke and floated away, and +the sky grew clear and bright, and then all at once the great red sun +came up out of the waters! + +But it was impossible for him to stay there longer when there was +nothing to eat; his extreme hunger compelled him to get up and leave the +cliff and the sandy hills behind it; and then for an hour or two he +walked feebly about searching for sweet roots, but finding none. It +would have gone hard with him then if he had not seen some low, +dark-looking bushes at a distance on the dry, yellow plain, and gone to +them. They looked like yew-bushes, and when he got to them he found that +they were thickly covered with small berries; on some bushes they were +purple-black, on others crimson, but all were ripe, and many small +birds were there feasting on them. The berries were pleasant to the +taste, and he feasted with the little birds on them until his hunger was +satisfied; and then, with his mouth and fingers stained purple with the +juice, he went to sleep in the shade of one of the bushes. There, too, +he spent the whole of that day and the night, hearing the low murmur of +the sea when waking, and when morning came he was strong and happy once +more, and, after filling himself with the fruit, set off to the sea +again. + +Arrived at the cliff, he began walking along the edge, and in about an +hour's time came to the end of it, for there it sloped down to the +water, and before him, far as he could see, there was a wide, shingled +beach with low sand-hills behind it. With a shout of joy he ran down to +the margin, and the rest of that day he spent dabbling in the water, +gathering beautiful shells and seaweed and strangely-painted pebbles +into heaps, then going on and on again, still picking up more beautiful +riffraff on the margin, only to leave it all behind him at last. Never +had he spent a happier day, and when it came to an end he found a +sheltered spot not far from the sea, so that when he woke in the night +he would still hear the deep, low murmur of the waves on the beach. + +Many happy days he spent in the same way, with no living thing to keep +him company, except the little white and grey sanderlings that piped so +shrill and clear as they flitted along the margin before him; and the +great sea-gulls that uttered hoarse, laughter-like cries as they soared +and hovered above his head. "Oh, happy birds!" exclaimed Martin, +clapping his hands, and shouting in answer to their cries. + +Every day Martin grew more familiar with the sea, and loved it more, and +it was his companion and playmate. He was bolder than the little +restless sanderlings that ran and flitted before the advancing waves, +and so never got their pretty white and grey plumage wet: often he would +turn to meet the coming wave, and let it break round and rush past him, +and then in a moment he would be standing knee-deep in the midst of a +great sheet of dazzling white foam, until with a long hiss as it fled +back, drawing the round pebbles with it, it would be gone, and he would +laugh and shout with glee. What a grand old play-fellow the sea was! And +it loved him, like the big spotted cat of the hills, and only pretended +to be angry with him when it wanted to play, and would do him no harm. +And still he was not satisfied, but grew bolder and bolder, putting +himself in its power and trusting to its mercy. He could play better +with his clothes off; and one day, chasing a great receding wave as far +as it would go, he stood up bravely to encounter the succeeding wave, +but it was greater than the last, and lifting him in its great green +arms it carried him high up till it broke with a mighty roar on the +beach; then instead of leaving him stranded there it rushed back still +bearing him in its arms out into the deep. Further and further from the +shore it carried him, until he became terrified, and throwing out his +little arms towards the land, he cried aloud, "Mother! Mother!" + +He was not calling to his own mother far away on the great plain; he had +forgotten her. Now he only thought of the beautiful woman of the Hills, +who was so strong, and loved him and made him call her "Mother"; and to +her he cried in his need for help. Now he remembered her warm, +protecting bosom, and how she had cried every night at the fear of +losing him; how when he ran from her she followed him, calling to him to +return. Ah, how cold was the sea's bosom, how bitter its lips! + +Struggling still with the great wave, struggling in vain, blinded and +half-choked with salt water, he was driven violently against a great +black object tumbling about in the surf, and with all the strength of +his little hands he clung to it. The water rolled over him, and beat +against him, but he would not lose his hold; and at last there came a +bigger wave and lifted him up and cast him right on to the object he was +clinging to. It was as if some enormous monster of the sea had caught +him up and put him in that place, just as the Lady of the Hills had +often snatched him up from the edge of some perilous precipice to set +him down in a safe place. + +There he lay exhausted, stretched out at full length, so tossed about on +the billows that he had a sensation of being in a swing; but the sea +grew quiet at last, and when he looked up it was dark, the stars +glittering in the dim blue vault above, and the smooth, black water +reflecting them all round him, so that he seemed to be floating +suspended between two vast, starry skies, one immeasurably far above, +the other below him. All night, with only the twinkling, trembling stars +for company, he lay there, naked, wet, and cold, thirsty with the bitter +taste of sea-salt in his mouth, never daring to stir, listening to the +continual lapping sound of the water. + +Morning dawned at last; the sea was green once more, the sky blue, and +beautiful with the young fresh light. He was lying on an old raft of +black, water-logged spars and planks lashed together with chains and +rotting ropes. But alas! there was no shore in sight, for all night long +he had been drifting, drifting further and further away from land. + +A strange habitation for Martin, the child of the plain, was that old +raft! It had been made by ship-wrecked mariners, long, long ago, and had +floated about the sea until it had become of the sea, like a +half-submerged floating island; brown and many-coloured seaweeds had +attached themselves to it; strange creatures, half plant and half +animal, grew on it; and little shell-fish and numberless slimy, creeping +things of the sea made it their dwelling-place. It was about as big as +the floor of a large room, all rough, black and slippery, with the +seaweed floating like ragged hair many yards long around it, and right +in the middle of the raft there was a large hole where the wood had +rotted away. Now, it was very curious that when Martin looked over the +side of the raft he could see down into the clear, green water a few +fathoms only; but when he crept to the edge of the hole and looked into +the water there, he was able to see ten times further down. Looking in +this hole, he saw far down a strange, fish-shaped creature, striped like +a zebra, with long spines on its back, moving about to and fro. It +disappeared, and then, very much further down, something moved, first +like a shadow, then like a great, dark form; and as it came up higher it +took the shape of a man, but dim and vast like a man-shaped cloud or +shadow that floated in the green translucent water. The shoulders and +head appeared; then it changed its position and the face was towards him +with the vast eyes, that had a dim, greyish light in them, gazing up +into his. Martin trembled as he gazed, not exactly with fear, but with +excitement, because he recognized in this huge water-monster under him +that Old Man of the Sea who had appeared and talked to him in his dream +when he fell asleep among the rocks. Could it be, although he was asleep +at the time, that the Old Man really had appeared before him, and that +his eyes had been open just enough to see him? + +By-and-by the cloud-like face disappeared, and did not return though he +watched for it a long time. Then sitting on the black, rotten wood and +brown seaweed he gazed over the ocean, a vast green, sunlit expanse with +no shore and no living thing upon it. But after a while he began to +think that there was some living thing in it, which was always near him +though he could not see what it was. From time to time the surface of +the sea was broken just as if some huge fish had risen to the surface +and then sunk again without showing itself. It was something very big, +judging from the commotion it made in the water; and at last he did see +it or a part of it--a vast brown object which looked like a gigantic +man's shoulder, but it might have been the back of a whale. It was no +sooner seen than gone, but in a very short time after its appearance +cries as of birds were heard at a great distance. The cries came from +various directions, growing louder and louder, and before long Martin +saw many birds flying towards him. + +On arrival they began to soar and circle round above him, all screaming +excitedly. They were white birds with long wings and long sharp beaks, +and were very much like gulls, except that they had an easier and +swifter flight. + +Martin rejoiced at seeing them, for he had been in the greatest terror +at the strangeness and loneliness of the sea now that there was no land +in sight. Sitting on the black raft he was constantly thinking of the +warning words his mother of the hills had spoken--that the sea would +kiss him with cold salt lips and take him down into the depths where he +would never see the light again. O how strange the sea was to him now, +how lonely, how terrible! But birds that with their wings could range +over the whole world were of the land, and now seemed to bring the land +near him with their white forms and wild cries. How could they help him? +He did not know, he did not ask; but he was not alone now that they had +come to him, and his terror was less. + +And still more birds kept coming; and as the morning wore on the crowd +of birds increased until they were in hundreds, then in thousands, +perpetually wheeling and swooping and rising and hovering over him in a +great white cloud. And they were of many kinds, mostly white, some grey, +others sooty brown or mottled, and some wholly black. Then in the midst +of the crowd of birds he saw one of great size wheeling about like a +king or giant among the others, with wings of amazing length, wild eyes +of a glittering yellow, and a yellow beak half as long as Martin's arm, +with a huge vulture-like hook at the end. Now when this mighty bird +swooped close down over his head, fanning him with its immense wings, +Martin again began to be alarmed at its formidable appearance; and as +more and more birds came, with more of the big kind, and the wild outcry +they made increased, his fear and astonishment grew; then all at once +these feelings rose to extreme terror and amazement at the sight of a +new bird-like creature a thousand times bigger than the largest one in +the circling crowd above, coming swiftly towards him. He saw that it was +not flying but swimming or gliding over the surface of the sea; and its +body was black, and above the body were many immense white wings of +various shapes, which stood up like a white cloud. + +Overcome with terror he fell flat on the raft, hiding his face in the +brown seaweed that covered it; then in a few minutes the sea became +agitated and rocked him in his raft, and a wave came over him which +almost swept him into the sea. At the same time the outcry of the birds +were redoubled until he was nearly deafened by their screams, and the +screams seemed to shape themselves into words. "Martin! Martin!" the +birds seemed to be screaming. "Look up, Martin, look up, look up!" The +whole air above and about him seemed to be full of the cries, and every +cry said to him, "Martin! Martin! look up! look up!" + +Although dazed with the awful din and almost fainting with terror and +weakness, he could not resist the command. Pressing his hands on the +raft he at last struggled up to his knees, and saw that the feared +bird-like monster had passed him by: he saw that it was a ship with a +black hull, its white sails spread, and that the motion of the water and +the wave that swept over him had been created by the ship as it came +close to the raft. It was now rapidly gliding from him, but still very +near, and he saw a crowd of strange-looking rough men, with sun-browned +faces and long hair and shaggy beards, leaning over the bulwarks staring +at him. They had seen with astonishment the corpse, as they thought, of +a little naked white boy lying on the old black raft, with a multitude +of sea-birds gathered to feed on him; now when they saw him get up on +his knees and look at them, they uttered a great cry, and began rushing +excitedly hither and thither, to pull at ropes and lower a boat. Martin +did not know what they were doing; he only knew that they were men in a +ship, but he was now too weak and worn-out to look at or think of more +than one thing at a time, and what he was looking at now was the birds. +For no sooner had he looked up and seen the ship than their wild cries +ceased, and they rose up and up like a white cloud to scatter far and +wide over sky and sea. For some moments he continued watching them, +listening to their changed voices, which now had a very soft and +pleasant sound, as if they were satisfied and happy. It made him happy +to hear them, and he lifted his hands up and smiled; then, relieved of +his terror and overcome with weariness, he closed his eyes and dropped +once more full length upon his bed of wet seaweed. At that the men +stared into each other's face, a very strange startled look coming into +their eyes. And no wonder! For long, long months, running to years, they +had been cruising in those lonely desolate seas, thousands of miles from +home, seeing no land nor any green thing, nor dear face of woman or +child: and now by some strange chance a child had come to them, and even +while they were making all haste to rescue it, putting their arms out to +take it from the sea, its life had seemingly been snatched from them! + +But he was only sleeping. + +[Illustration] + + + + +_Note_ + + +_When I arranged with Mr. Hudson for the publication of an American +Edition of_ A Little Boy Lost, _I asked him to write a special foreword +to his American readers. He replied with a characteristic letter, and, +taking him at his word I am printing it on the following pages._ + + +ALFRED A. KNOPF. + +_Dear Mr. Knopf:_ + +Your request for a Foreword to insert in the American reprint of the +little book worries me. A critic on this side has said that my Prefaces +to reprints of my earlier works are of the nature of parting kicks, and +I have no desire just now to kick this poor innocent. That evil-tempered +old woman, Mother Nature, in one of her worst tantrums, has been +inflicting so many cuffs and blows on me that she has left me no energy +or disposition to kick anything--even myself. + +The trouble is that I know so little about it. Did I write this book? +What then made me do it? + +In reading a volume of Fors Clavigera I once came upon a passage which +sounded well but left me in a mist, and it relieved me to find a +footnote to it in which the author says: "This passage was written many +years ago and what I was thinking about at the time has quite escaped my +memory. At all events, though I let it stand, I can find no meaning in +it now." + +Little men may admire but must not try to imitate these gestures of the +giants. And as a result of a little quiet thinking it over I seem able +to recover the idea I had in my mind when I composed this child's story +and found a title for it in Blake. Something too of the semi-wild spirit +of the child hero in the lines: + + "Naught loves another as itself.... + And, father, how can I love you + Or any of my brothers more? + I love you like the little birds + That pick up crumbs about the door." + +There nature is, after picking up the crumbs to fly away. + +A long time ago I formed a small collection of children's books of the +early years of the nineteenth century; and looking through them, wishing +that some of them had fallen into my hands when I was a child I recalled +the books I had read at that time--especially two or three. Like any +normal child I delighted in such stories as the Swiss Family Robinson, +but they were not the books I prized most; they omitted the very quality +I liked best--the little thrills that nature itself gave me, which half +frightened and fascinated at the same time, the wonder and mystery +of it all. Once in a while I got a book with something of this rare +element in it, contained perhaps in some perfectly absurd narrative of +animals taking human shape or using human speech, with such like +transformations and vagaries; they could never be too extravagant, +fantastic and incredible, so long as they expressed anything of the +feeling I myself experienced when out of sight and sound of my fellow +beings, whether out on the great level plain, with a glitter of illusory +water all round me, or among the shadowy trees with their bird and +insect sounds, or by the waterside and bed of tall dark bull-rushes +murmuring in the wind. + +These ancient memories put it in my mind to write a book which, I +imagined, would have suited my peculiar taste of that early period, the +impossible story to be founded on my own childish impressions and +adventures, with a few dreams and fancies thrown in and two or three +native legends and myths, such as the one of the Lady of the Hills, the +incarnate spirit of the rocky Sierras on the great plains, about which I +heard from my gaucho comrades when on the spot--the strange woman seldom +viewed by human eyes who is jealous of man's presence and is able to +create sudden violent tempests to frighten them from her sacred haunts. + +That's the story of my story, and to the question in your publisher's +practical mind, I'm sorry to have to say I don't know. I have no way of +finding out, since children are not accustomed to write to authors to +tell them what they think of their books. And after all these excuses it +just occurs to me that children do not read forewords and introductions; +they have to be addressed to adults who do not read children's books, +so that in any case it would be thrown away. Still if a foreword you +must have, and from me, I think you will have to get it out of this +letter. + +I remain, + + Yours cordially, + W. H. HUDSON. + +November 14, 1917. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Obvious punctuation and typographical errors have been corrected. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE BOY LOST*** + + +******* This file should be named 38421.txt or 38421.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/8/4/2/38421 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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