of their bone of contention, a cat-like creature, probably an otter, pounced from among the reeds, grabbed the dead eel and vanished. Now the geese declared a truce, but too late! Oh, they have no more sense than, well--geese! Compared with them, we pigeons seem paragons of cleverness. "After they had stopped fighting, the chief goose cried--'Cluck, caw, caw, caw!' That instant all of them paddled hard to gather momentum. A few extra wing-beats and they were in the air. How beautiful they looked now! That soft soughing of vast wings, their necks and bodies like drawings against the sky, making a severe eye-pleasing wedge. I shall never forget it. "But every flock has its straggler. One fellow was left behind, because he was still struggling with a fish. At last he secured it, and flew up in quest of a tree where he could eat it under cover. Suddenly from the empty air an enormous hawk attacked him. The goose rose higher but the indefatigable hawk did not relent. Up and up they circled, screaming and quacking. Suddenly a faint but clear echo of a honk was heard. The chief of the flock was calling the straggler; that distracted him. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he honked back an answer. That instant the fish fell from his mouth. It began to fall like a leaf. The hawk dipped, and just as he was going to pierce it with his talons, down the air came a surge and roar. In a trice an eagle fell as a rock falls down a high precipice. That hawk ran for his life, and that gave me a great deal of pleasure to behold. "Under the eagle's two wings like vast sails, the talons forked out lightning fashion and grabbed the fish--then the monarch of the air in his shining armour of brown gold sailed away, the wind ruffling the feathers above his knees. Far away, the hawk was still running for his life! "I am glad he went very far away, for I had to fly about in quest of a caravan road where I could get some seeds dropped by men. I soon found some and after a tolerably decent meal, I perched on a tree and went to sleep. When I woke it was mid-afternoon. I decided to fly away up, to reach the blessed Lamasery, and visit my friends the swifts. My flight was unattended by any mishap, for I had learned to fly carefully by now. I generally went very far up and looked down, as well as at the horizon. Though I have not as long a neck as a wild goose, yet I turned and took side glances every few minutes in order to make sure that nothing was attacking my rear.