THERE was a great marsh around a set-back leading off the still water
near Lost River camp. There the children had seen many cranes, and they
did not forget that certain of them had stood upon one leg. After supper
that evening they sat together whispering awhile and presently stole
away. There was a trail for frog-hunters that led to their destination.
They ran, eagerly, and, just as the sun was going down, stopped on a
high bank overlooking the marshes. It was a broad flat covered with
pools and tall grasses and bogs, crowned with leaves of the sweet-flag
and with cattails and pussy-willows. Now it was still and hazy. The
pools were like mirrors with the golden glow of the sky and soft, dark
shadows in them.
Far out on the marsh they discovered a crane strolling leisurely among
the bogs, and began to chatter about him.
They looked and listened until the sun had gone below the tops of the
trees. Then cranes came flying homeward out of the four skies, and, one
by one, lighted on the edge of a bog some two or three hundred feet
from the children. Sue uttered a little cry of joy. The cranes stood
motionless with heads up.
"They're listening," Socky assured his sister.
Bull-frogs had begun croaking and a mud-hen was making a sound like that
of a rusty pump. The children now sat on the side of the bank and leaned
forward straining their eyes and ears.
Soon the far, shrill cry of some little animal rang above the chorus
of the marsh. The children took it to be a baby, and seemed almost
to writhe with suppressed laughter mingled with hopeful and whispered
comment. In his excitement Socky slipped off his perch and came near
rolling down the side of the bank. One of the cranes began to shuffle
about, his wings half open, like an awkward dancer. Soon the whole group
of birds seemed to be imitating him, and each shuffled on his long legs
as if trying to be most ridiculous. The dusk was thickening, and the
children could only just discern them. They sat close together and
held each other's hands tightly, and looked out upon the marsh and were
silent with awe and expectation. Suddenly the cranes scattered into the
bushes and the sedge. Socky and Sue were now watching to see them fly.
It was almost dark and a big moon seemed to be peering through the tops
of the trees. Soon the great birds strode slowly in single file past the
wonder-stricken two.
"See the babies! See the babies!" Sue cried out.
They squirmed and shivered with awe, their lips and eyes wide with
amazement. In the dim light they imagined that a baby sat on the back
of each crane. Sue had no sooner cried out than there came a flapping
of wings that seemed to fill the sky. The feathered caravan had taken to
the air and were swinging in a wide circle around the edge of the marsh.
They quickly disappeared in the gloom.
"Gone to find mothers for 'em," said Socky, in a trembling whisper.
The children had suddenly become aware that it was quite dark, but
neither dared speak of it. They still sat looking out upon the marsh and
clinging hand to hand. Soon a procession of grotesque and evil creatures
began to pass them: the great bear of the woods who had swallowed alive
all the little runaways, and who, having made them prisoners, only let
them come out now and then to ride upon his back; the big panther-bird
who lured children from their homes with berries and flowers and nuts
and, maybe, raisins, and who, when they were in some lonely place,
dropped stones upon their heads and slew them; odd, indescribable
shapes, some having long, hairy necks and heads like cocoa-nuts; and,
lastly, came that awful horned creature, with cloven hoofs and the body
of a man, who carried a pitchfork and who, soon or late, flung all the
bad children into a lake of fire. Socky and Sue covered their faces with
their hands. Suddenly a prudent thought entered the mind of the boy.
"I'm going to be good," said he, in a loud but timid voice. "I love God
best of every one." His sister gave a little start.
In half a moment she suggested, her eyes covered with her hands, "You
don't love God better than Uncle Silas?"
Socky hesitated. Prudence and affection struggled for the mastery.
"Yes," he managed to say, although with some difficulty. "Don't you?"
Sue hesitated.