The bird was resting from his labors
when the two first observed him. Though the ooze was soft the bird did
not sink into it. There he stood, his wide-webbed toes supporting him
on the surface of the ooze, and it seemed a long way from his feet up
his blue legs to his black-and-white body. But the oddest thing about
him was his long, curved, and elastic bill turning up at the end. The
bird had not observed them, and presently set to work scooping through
the mud after worms. Then he waded out a little way into the shallow,
where he did not stay long, for, catching sight of Hugo and Humphrey,
he rose a little in the air and flew swiftly away. Farther on they came
upon a wading crane with an unlucky snake in his mouth. And still
farther away they caught sight of a mother duck swimming with her young
brood upon a pool. And every now and then a frog plumped into the
water. But nowhere did they discover, by sight or sound, another human
being beside themselves.
When darkness fell the glow-worms shone once more, the will-o'-the-wisp
danced, and the owls hooted. The fire of dead rushes and reeds, fed by
the patient Humphrey, blazed brightly and shed a grateful warmth upon
their sheltered resting-place under the three scrub trees.
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