“Holes and corners, quick, quick, quick, wheet, whee-et,” cried both parents again in dismay at the folly of their eldest; and all four crept up the shaly ledge and hid themselves under tufts of grass and bits of stick. It was none too soon, for the footsteps were now heard again, and the creaking of a gate as the angler got over it. And this time he was not alone; another human creature was with him. They came up to the spot, glanced at the frightened parents with admiration, and then looked for the young ones. “Well, this is provoking,” said the one who had been there before; “if they haven’t gone and hid themselves away! Here have I dragged you from your comfortable pipe for nothing at all! They’re not far off, though, or the old birds would not be here.” And stooping down, he examined the ground carefully. At that moment that perverse eldest chick, conscious that his right leg was sticking out into the sunshine, instinctively drew it in under him, and doing so, he again caught the angler’s eye. And he had to be pulled out of his hiding-place with rather more force than he liked. The angler put him into his friend’s hands, and for a moment the audacious chick was frightened. But he was soon down in his cover again safe and sound; and then the rest were found and admired, and the big creatures turned to go away. “Wait a minute, though,” said the angler, pausing; “let us sit down a bit and see what they will do. My dears,” (addressing the old birds,) “you must put up with a little more anxiety, and then you shall be happy for ever afterwards, if you can.” So the two human beings sat down on the stones and watched, while the old birds flew round piping, perching here and there and bowing, and giving them such pictures of grace and beauty as they were not likely soon to see again. And neither of them can ever forget the charm of that quarter of an hour; the music of the river, the fragrance of the scented fern, the outlines of the rocky hills against the sky, and the gentle grace of the pair of little grey fairies that flew around them piping, less timid now that they saw no chance of harm to their brood. At last, urged by some signal from the parents, the little birds all came out of their holes and corners, and trotted along one after another, the eldest leading, right under the very eyes of the two men. Piping faintly as if to call attention to their beauty, and moving tails and bodies like their parents, they passed along the shaly bank till they reached the roots of an old battered thorn-bush, where they disappeared into a hole and were seen no more by the human eyes.