Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Fantasy literature; Nature -- Juvenile fiction; Self-reliance -- Juvenile fiction
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account