IN THE WOODS
It was a glorious autumn morning--one of those mornings when the wind
seems to have swept the world very clean, the sky is very blue and
clear of clouds, the sun shines on the red-and-gold leaves, and you
feel happy just to be alive. The boys woke up feeling almost good, but,
remembering the campaign of frightfulness against Miss Prince which
they were determined to carry out, they asked each other what they
should do to-day.
“I’ll tell you what,” said David. “She said she was going to start a
new plan for lessons this morning. It would annoy her awfully if we ran
away all the morning, and she couldn’t start her precious plan! It’s
such a ripping day, why should we sit in a stuffy schoolroom?”
“Right you are!” said Bill. “I vote we go and play wild buffaloes
with Farmer Tomkinson’s calves. He’s just bought a lot of new ones,
and if we let them out on to the heath, we could have some jolly good
sport--especially if we take the dogs and the long carriage whip.”
[Illustration: “Hush,” said David. “Squat down before he sees us.”
[_To face page 23._
]
“I shan’t come with you,” said Nipper. “I have a plan of my own.”
“Out with it, kid!” said Bill, twisting his small brother’s arm till he
started his siren-shriek.
“Let go!” he yelled, “and I’ll tell you. I’m going to explore Prior’s
Wood. Don’t you remember that story she told us? And she said we might
find the Scout if we went in Prior’s Wood.”
“I think,” said Bill, “we’ll leave the calves for to-day, and go to
Prior’s Wood. It’s probably all a pack of lies, but we might as well go
and see.”
And so, after breakfast, before Miss Prince had time to call them for
lessons the three boys ran out across the fields to the wood. They had
not gone far when David stopped short.
“Hush!” he said. “Squat down before he sees us--quick!”
The other two followed his example, and squatted down, peering
cautiously over a clump of bracken.
They had reached a little clearance in the wood, where the ground was
carpeted with soft green moss, and a small stream gurgled noisily
along. On the banks of the stream was a little hut, built of branches
and bracken, between the trunks of three trees.
A little distance from this a bright wood fire burned, sending a steady
column of blue smoke up into the sunny air. A billy-can boiled away,
standing on a thick piece of wood, whilst on a big, moss-covered log
sat a boy. He had bare, brown knees and bare, brown arms and a khaki
shirt, his red neckerchief making a bright splash of colour among
the greens and browns of the wood. He had a knife in his hand, and he
was carving wonderful patterns on a straight ash stick he had cut for
himself. As he worked he whistled softly.
The three boys, squatting in the ferns, watched him. Presently he got
up and added some wood to his fire, and peeped into the boiling pot.
Then he fetched an apple out of his hut, and sat down again on the log.
Suddenly a robin swooped down on to a twig quite close, and stared with
big, bright eyes at this boy who had come to share his own particular
corner of Prior’s Wood.
The boy, just as if he knew the language of robins, began to whistle,
very softly, in little trills. The robin cocked his head on one side
and answered with much the same kind of whistle. Then he swooped down
on to the end of the very log Danny was sitting on, and they went on
with their whistling conversation.
“I believe he can talk to the birds!” whispered Nipper, with round eyes.
Just then an enormous water rat appeared on the opposite bank of the
stream, and began swimming across. Bill’s hand shot out instinctively
for a stone.
“Shut up, you ass!” said David.
“But I could just hit him on the head beautifully,” said Bill.
“Sh--sh! The Scout will kill him, I expect, when he gets nearer. Let’s
see how he does it,” whispered David.
But, strange to say, the Scout, after watching the big rat land, moved
noiselessly across to his hut, and came out with a bit of cheese, a
little piece of which he poked softly across to the bank with the
end of his stick. The rat had vanished. But before long he came out,
fetched the piece of cheese, and ran back to his hole. The Scout put
another crumb, nearer this time. The rat came out and fetched that.
Gradually he came nearer and nearer.
Presently he got so bold that he stayed and ate the crumbs of cheese
quite close to Danny--and then sat up and cleaned his whiskers with his
little pink hands, and seemed to be combing his fur and brushing his
little round ears.
The three boys watched, fascinated. They had never before thought of
making friends with a water rat and watching his habits. Their first
thought had always been to kill the happy little creature, who was out
enjoying the morning sunshine.
Suddenly Nipper could sit still no longer; he stretched his legs, which
broke a rotten twig and made such a noise that Danny looked round and
saw the three heads watching him through the bracken.
“Hullo!” he said. “Come and see my little camp.” He smiled and looked
so friendly that the three boys got up and came half-shyly out into the
open space.