Wood Magic: A Fable
back towards the orchard-gate where was an irresistible attraction. This
was the sportsman's double-barrelled gun, leant there against a tree. He
could scarce keep his hands off it; he walked round it; touched it;
looked about to see if any one was watching, and was just on the point
of taking hold of it, when the old gentleman rushed past, but seeing the
gun, stopped and seized it. Finding, however, that it was not loaded, he
threw it aside, and went on towards the house. In a minute he returned
with the long single-barrelled gun, with which, so many years before, he
had vowed to shoot his rival.
He had heard the magpie returning, and mad with anger--since it was the
magpie's theft which had thus destroyed the happiness of his life, for
all might have been well had he had the letter--he hastened for his
gun. As he came to the orchard-gate, Kapchack, with his followers behind
him, neared the wall. The avenger looked along his gun, pulled the
trigger, and the report echoed from the empty, hollow house. His aim was
uncertain in the agony of his mind, and even then Kapchack almost
escaped, but one single pellet, glancing from the bough of an
apple-tree, struck his head, and he fell with darkness in his eyes.
The old gentleman rushed to the spot, he beat the senseless body with
the butt of his gun till the stock snapped; then he jumped on it, and
stamped the dead bird into a shapeless remnant upon the ground. At this
spectacle Bevis, who, although he was always talking of shooting and
killing, could not bear to see anything really hurt, burst out into a
passion of tears, lamenting the magpie, and gathering up some of the
feathers. Nor could they pacify him till they found him a ripe and
golden King Pippin apple to eat.
CHAPTER XV.
PALACE SECRETS.
Next day Sir Bevis, so soon as ever he could get away after dinner, and
without waiting for the noontide heat to diminish, set out in all haste
for the copse, taking with him his cannon-stick. He was full of
curiosity to know what would happen now that Kapchack was dead, who
would now be king, and everything about it, all of which he knew he
should learn from the squirrel. He took his cannon-stick with him
heavily loaded, and the charge rammed home well, meaning to shoot the
weasel; if the wretch would not come out when called upon to receive the
due punishment of his crimes, he would bang it off into his hole in the
tree, and, perhaps, some of the shot would reach the skulking vagabond.
He went up the field, reached the great oak-tree, and crossed over to
the corner of the wheat-field, but neither the hare nor the dragon-fly
were waiting about to conduct him, as was their duty. He sat down on the
grass to see if they would come to him, but although two dragon-flies
passed over they did not stay to speak, but went on their journey.
Neither of them was his guide, but they both went towards the copse.
Immediately afterwards a humble-bee came along, droning and talking to
himself as he flew. "Where is the hare?" said Bevis; "and where is the
dragon-fly?" "Buzz," said the humble-bee, "the usual course on occasions
like the present--buzz--zz," the sound of his voice died away as he went
past without replying. Three swallows swept by next at a great pace,
chattering as they flew.
"Where's my dragon-fly?" said Bevis, but they were too busy to heed him.
Presently a dove flew over too high to speak to, and then a
missel-thrush, and soon afterwards ten rooks, after whom came a whole
bevy of starlings, and behind these a train of finches. Next a thrush
came along the low hedge, then two blackbirds, all so quick that Bevis
could not make them understand him. A crow too appeared, but catching
sight of Bevis's cannon-stick, he smelt the powder, wheeled round and
went by far to the left hand out of talking distance. Still more
starlings rushed overhead, and Bevis waved his hand to them, but it was
no use. Just afterwards he saw a thrush coming, so he jumped up, pointed
his cannon-stick, and said he would shoot if the thrush did not stop.
Much frightened, the thrush immediately perched on the hedge, and begged
Bevis not to kill him, for he remembered the fate of his relation who
was shot with the same cannon.
"Tell me where the hare is, and where is my dragon-fly," said Bevis;
"and why are all the people hurrying away towards the copse, and why
don't they stop and tell me, and what is all this about?"
"I do not know exactly where the hare is," said the
thrush, "but I suppose she is in the copse too, and I have no doubt at
all the dragon-fly is there, and I am going myself so soon as you will
let me."
"Why are you all going to the copse?" said Bevis. "Is it because
Kapchack is dead?"
"Yes," said the thrush, "it is because the king is dead, and there is
going to be an election, that is if there is time, or if it can be
managed; for it is expected that Choo Hoo will return now Kapchack is
overthrown."
"When did Choo Hoo go, then?" asked Bevis--for he had not yet heard of
the battle. So the thrush told him all about it, and how strange it was
that King Kapchack in the hour of victory should be slain by the very
man who for so many years had protected him. The thrush said that the
news had no doubt reached Choo Hoo very soon afterwards, and everybody
expected that the barbarians would gather together again, and come back
to take vengeance, and so, as they now had no king or leader, they were
all hastening to the copse to take sanctuary from Choo Hoo. The only
doubt was whether the emperor would respect the enclosure hitherto
regarded by all the civilised people as a place where they could meet
without danger. The barbarians knew nothing of these tacit agreements,
which make communication so easy and pleasant among educated people.
Still there was nothing else they could do.
"And what is going on in the copse?" said Bevis, "and who is to be
king?"
"I cannot tell you," said the thrush, "I was just going to see, and if
possible to vote against Ki Ki, who treacherously slew my friend and
relation the ambassador, whom the king sent to Choo Hoo."
"We will go together," said Bevis, "and you can tell me some more about
it as we go along. One thing is quite certain, the weasel will never be
king."
"Before I go with you," said the thrush, "you must please leave off
pointing that dreadful cannon-stick at me, else I shall not be able to
converse freely."
So Bevis left off pointing it, and carried his gun over his shoulder,
just as he had seen his papa carry his. The thrush flew slowly along
beside him, but he could not quite manage to keep at exactly the same
pace; his wings would carry him faster than Bevis walked, so he stopped
on the ground every now and then for Bevis to come up.
"I am sure," he said, "I hope the weasel will not be king, and there is
a rumour going about that he is disabled by some accident he has met
with. But I greatly fear myself that he will be, notwithstanding what
you say, for he is so cunning, and has so terrible a reputation that no
one can prevail against him."
"Pooh!" said Bevis, "don't tell me such stuff and rubbish; I say the
weasel shall not be king, for I am going to shoot him as dead as any
nail; after which Pan shall tear him into twenty pieces."
"But you tried to kill him once before, did you not?" said the thrush.
"You hold your tongue, this minute, you impudent thrush," said Bevis, in
a great rage; and he took his cannon-stick off his shoulder, and looked
so black that the thrush, alarmed for his safety, took advantage of a
hedge being near, and slipped through it in a second.
"I'm very glad you're gone," said Bevis, calling after him, "but I'll
shoot you next time I see you for leaving me without permission."
"And that will just serve him right," said a blackbird, as he hastened
by, "for the thrush is the greediest bird in the world, and is always
poaching about the places that belong to me."
Bevis was now very near the copse, and had not the least difficulty in
finding the little bridge over the ditch, but he stopped before he
crossed it, to listen to the noise there was inside among the trees.
Whenever he had come before in the afternoon it was always so quiet, but
now there was a perfect uproar of talking. Hundreds of starlings were
chattering in the fir-trees, and flying round the branches with
incessant motion. In the thick hedge which enclosed it there were crowds
of greenfinches, goldfinches, chaffinches, yellow-hammers, and sparrows,
who never ceased talking. Up in the elms there were a number of rooks,
who were deliberating in a solemn manner; it was indeed the rook council
who had met there to consider as the safest place, the very council that
Ah Kurroo so much disliked. Two or three dozen wood-pigeons cowered on
the lower branches of some ashes; they were the aliens who dwelt in
Kapchack's kingdom. Rabbits were rushing about in all directions;
dragon-flies darting up and down with messages; humble-bees droning at
every corner; the woodpecker yelled out his views in the midst of the
wood; everything was in confusion.
As Bevis walked into the copse along the green track, with the tall
thistles and the fern on each side of him, he caught little bits here
and there of what they were saying; it was always the same, who was
going to be king, and what would Choo Hoo do? How long would it be
before the emperor's army could be got together again to come sweeping
back and exact a dire vengeance for its defeat? Where was the weasel?
What was the last atrocity Ki Ki had committed? Had anybody heard
anything more of Kauc, the crow? Had Prince Tchack-tchack arrived? Had
the rooks made up their mind?--and so on, till Bevis shook his head and
held his hands to his ears, so tremendous was the din.
Just then he saw his own dragon-fly and beckoned to him; the dragon-fly
came at once. "What is all this?" began Bevis.
"My dear, how are you?" interrupted the dragon-fly. "I am so busy," and
off he went again.
"Well I never!" said Bevis, getting excited like the rest, when the hare
came across the path and stopped to speak to him. "What is going on?"
said Bevis.
"That is just what I want to know," said the hare. "Everybody says that
somebody is going to do something, but what it is they do not themselves
know. There never was such a confusion, and, for aught we know, Choo
Hoo may be here any minute, and there's not a single regiment in
position."
"Dear me!" said Bevis, "why ever don't they begin?"
"I cannot tell you," said the hare. "I don't think anybody knows how:
and the fact is, they are all thinking about who shall be king, and
intriguing for the sovereignty, when they should be thinking of their
country, and providing for its defence."
"And who is to be king?" said Bevis. "The weasel shall not, that is
certain; for I am just this very minute going to shoot into his hole!"
"It is no use to do that," said the hare; "though I am very glad to hear
you say that he shall not be king. But it is no use shooting into his
hole, for he is not there, nor anywhere in his old haunts, and we are
all very suspicious as to what he is about. I think you had better come
and see the squirrel; he is in the raspberries, and the jay is there
too, and there is an immense deal of talking going on."
"So I will," said Bevis; and he followed the hare to the raspberries
(all the fruit was now gone), and found the squirrel, who advanced to
welcome him, and the jay up in the oak. Being hot with walking in the
sun, Bevis sat down on the moss at the foot of the oak, and leaned back
against the tree whose beautiful boughs cast so pleasant a shadow. The
hare came close to him on one side, and the squirrel the other, and the
jay perched just overhead, and they all began to tell him the news at