thing that caught up his helpless soul and swung and dandled it,

a powerless but happy infant in a strong sustaining grasp.
In silence Mole rowed steadily, and soon they came to a point

where the river divided, a long backwater branching off to
one side. With a slight movement of his head Rat, who had long

dropped the rudder-lines, directed the rower to take the
backwater. The creeping tide of light gained and gained, and now

they could see the colour of the flowers that gemmed the water's
edge.

`Clearer and nearer still,' cried the Rat joyously" target="_blank" title="ad.快乐地，高兴地">joyously. `Now you
must surely hear it! Ah--at last--I see you do!'

Breathless and transfixed the Mole stopped rowing as the liquid
run of that glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up,

and possessed him utterly. He saw the tears on his comrade's
cheeks, and bowed his head and understood. For a space they hung

there, brushed by the purple loose-strife that fringed the bank;
then the clear imperious summons that marched hand-in-hand with

the intoxicating melody imposed its will on Mole, and
mechanically he bent to his oars again. And the light grew

steadily stronger, but no birds sang as they were wont to do at
the approach of dawn; and but for the heavenly music all was

marvellously still.
On either side of them, as they glided onwards, the rich

meadow-grass seemed that morning of a freshness and a greenness
unsurpassable. Never had they noticed the roses so vivid, the

willow-herb so riotous, the meadow-sweet so odorous and
pervading. Then the murmur of the approaching weir began to hold

the air, and they felt a consciousness that they were nearing the
end, whatever it might be, that surely awaited their expedition.

A wide half-circle of foam and glinting lights and shining
shoulders of green water, the great weir closed the backwater

from bank to bank, troubled all the quiet surface with twirling
eddies and floating foam-streaks, and deadened all other sounds

with its solemn and soothing rumble. In midmost of the stream,
embraced in the weir's shimmering arm-spread, a small island lay

anchored, fringed close with willow and silver birch and alder.
Reserved, shy, but full of significance, it hid whatever it might

hold behind a veil, keeping it till the hour should come, and,
with the hour, those who were called and chosen.

Slowly, but with no doubt or hesitationwhatever, and in
something of a solemn expectancy, the two animals passed through

the broken tumultuous water and moored their boat at the
flowery margin of the island. In silence they landed, and pushed

through the blossom and scented herbage and undergrowth that led
up to the level ground, till they stood on a little lawn of a

marvellous green, set round with Nature's own orchard-trees--
crab-apple, wild cherry, and sloe.

`This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played
to me,' whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. `Here, in this

holy place, here if anywhere, surely we shall find Him!'
Then suddenly the Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him, an awe

that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head, and rooted his
feet to the ground. It was no panic terror--indeed he felt

wonderfully at peace and happy--but it was an awe that smote and
held him and, without seeing, he knew it could only mean that

some august Presence was very, very near. With difficulty he
turned to look for his friend. and saw him at his side cowed,

stricken, and trembling violently. And still there was utter
silence in the populous bird-haunted branches around them; and

still the light grew and grew.
Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that,

though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed
still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death

himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with
mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed,

and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of
the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fulness of

incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he
looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the

backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing
daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that

were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth
broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles

on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand
still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted

lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in
majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between

his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and
contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the

baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and
intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he

lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.
`Rat!' he found breath to whisper, shaking. `Are you afraid?'

`Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable
love. `Afraid! Of HIM? O, never, never! And yet--and yet--

O, Mole, I am afraid!'
Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads

and did worship.
Sudden and magnificent, the sun's broad golden disc showed itself

over the horizon facing them; and the first rays, shooting across
the level water-meadows, took the animals full in the eyes and

dazzled them. When they were able to look once more, the Vision
had vanished, and the air was full of the carol of birds that

hailed the dawn.
As they stared blankly. in dumb misery deepening as they slowly

realised all they had seen and all they had lost, a capricious
little breeze, dancing up from the surface of the water, tossed

the aspens, shook the dewy roses and blew lightly and caressingly
in their faces; and with its soft touch came instant

oblivion. For this is the last best gift that the kindly demi-
god is careful to bestow on those to whom he has revealed himself

in their helping: the gift of forgetfulness. Lest the awful
remembrance should remain and grow, and overshadow mirth and

pleasure, and the great haunting memory should spoil all the
after-lives of little animals helped out of difficulties, in

order that they should be happy and lighthearted as before.
Mole rubbed his eyes and stared at Rat, who was looking about him

in a puzzled sort of way. `I beg your pardon; what did you say,
Rat?' he asked.

`I think I was only remarking,' said Rat slowly, `that this was
the right sort of place, and that here, if anywhere, we should

find him. And look! Why, there he is, the little fellow!' And
with a cry of delight he ran towards the slumbering Portly.

But Mole stood still a moment, held in thought. As one wakened
suddenly from a beautiful dream, who struggles to recall it, and

can re-capture nothing but a dim sense of the beauty of it, the
beauty! Till that, too, fades away in its turn, and the

dreamer bitterly accepts the hard, cold waking and all its
penalties; so Mole, after struggling with his memory for a brief

space, shook his head sadly and followed the Rat.
Portly woke up with a joyoussqueak, and wriggled with pleasure

at the sight of his father's friends, who had played with him so
often in past days. In a moment, however, his face grew blank,

and he fell to hunting round in a circle with pleading whine. As
a child that has fallen happily asleep in its nurse's arms, and

wakes to find itself alone and laid in a strange place, and
searches corners and cupboards, and runs from room to room,

despair growing silently in its heart, even so Portly searched