A Little Boy Lost

  CHAPTER VIII

  THE FLOWER AND THE SERPENT

  His escape from the horrible black animal made Martin quite happy,in spite of hunger and fatigue, and he pushed on as bravely as ever.But it was slow going and very difficult, even painful in places, onaccount of the rough thorny undergrowth, where he had to push andcrawl through the close bushes, and tread on ground littered with olddead prickly leaves and dead thorny twigs. After going on for aboutan hour in this way, he came to a stream, a branch of the river hehad left, and much shallower, so that he could easily cross fromside to side, and he could also see the bright pebbles under theclear swift current. The stream appeared to run from the east, theway he wished to travel towards the hills, so that he could keep byit, which he wras glad enough to do, as it was nice to get a drinkof water whenever he felt thirsty, and to refresh his tired and sorelittle feet in the stream.

  Following this water he came before very long to a place in theforest where there was little or no underwood, but only low treesand bushes scattered about, and all the ground moist and very greenand fresh like a water-meadow. It was indeed pleasant to feel hisfeet on the soft carpet of grass, and stooping, he put his handsdown on it, and finally lying down he rolled on it so as to have thenice sensation of the warm soft grass all over his body. Soagreeable was it lying and rolling about in that open green placewith the sweet sunshine on him, that he felt no inclination to get upand travel on. It was so sweet to rest after all his strivings andsufferings in that great dark forest! So sweet was it that he prettysoon fell asleep, and no doubt slept a long time, for when he woke,the sun, which had been over his head, was now far down in the west.It was very still, and the air warm and fragrant at that hour, withthe sun shining through the higher branches of the trees on thegreen turf where he was lying. How green it was--the grass, the trees,every tiny blade and every leaf was like a piece of emerald greenglass with the sun shining through it! So wonderful did it seem tohim--the intense greenness, the brilliant sunbeams that shone intohis eyes, and seemed to fill him with brightness, and the stillnessof the forest, that he sat up and stared about him. What did itmean--that brightness and stillness?

  Then, at a little distance away, he caught sight of something on atree of a shining golden yellow colour. Jumping up he ran to the tree,and found that it was half overgrown with a very beautiful climbingplant, with leaves divided like the fingers of a hand, and largeflowers and fruit, both green and ripe. The ripe fruit was as big asa duck's egg, and the same shape, and of a shining yellow colour.Reaching up his hand he began to feel the smooth lovely fruit, when,being very ripe, it came off its stem into his hand. It smelt verynice, and then, in his hunger, he bit through the smooth rind withhis teeth, and it tasted as nice as it looked. He quickly ate it,and then pulled another and ate that, and then another, and stillothers, until he could eat no more. He had not had so delicious ameal for many a long day.

  Not until he had eaten his fill did Martin begin to look closely atthe flowers on the plant. It was the passion-flower, and he hadnever seen it before, and now that he looked well at it he thoughtit the loveliest and strangest flower he had ever beheld; notbrilliant and shining, jewel-like, in the sun, like the scarletverbena of the plains, or some yellow flower, but pale and misty,the petals being of a dim greenish cream-colour, with a large bluecircle in the centre; and the blue, too, was misty like the bluehaze in the distance on a summer day. To see and admire it better hereached out his hand and tried to pluck one of the flowers; then inan instant he dropped his hand, as if he had been pricked by a thorn.But there was no thorn and nothing to hurt him; he dropped his handonly because he felt that he had hurt the flower. Moving a step backhe stared at it, and the flower seemed like a thing alive thatlooked back at him, and asked him why he had hurt it.

  "O, poor flower!" said Martin, and, coming closer he touched itgently with his finger-tips; and then, standing on tiptoe, hetouched its petals with his lips, just as his mother had often andoften kissed his little hand when he had bruised it or pricked itwith a thorn.

  Then, while still standing by the plant, on bringing his eyes downto the ground he spied a great snake lying coiled up on a bed ofmoss on the sunny side of the same tree where the plant was growing.He remembered the dear little snake he had once made a friend of,and he did not feel afraid, for he thought that all snakes must befriendly towards him, although this was a very big one, thicker thanhis arm and of a different colour. It was a pale olive-green, likethe half-dry moss it was lying on, with a pattern of black and brownmottling along its back. It was lying coiled round and round, withits flat arrow-shaped head resting on its coils, and its roundbright eyes fixed on Martin's face. The sun shining on its eyes madethem glint like polished jewels or pieces of glass, and when Martinmoved nearer and stood still, or when he drew back and went to thisside or that, those brilliant glinting eyes were still on his face,and it began to trouble him, until at last he covered his face withhis hands. Then he opened his fingers enough to peep through them,and still those glittering eyes were fixed on him.

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  Martin wondered if the snake was vexed with him for coming there,and why it watched him so steadily with those shining eyes."Will you please look some other way?" he said at last, but thesnake would not, and so he turned from it, and then it seemed to himthat everything was alive and watching him in the same intentway--the passion-flowers, the green leaves, the grass, the trees,the wide sky, the great shining sun. He listened, and there was nosound in the wood, not even the hum of a fly or wild bee, and it wasso still that not a leaf moved. Finally he moved away from that spot,but treading very softly, and holding his breath to listen, for itseemed to him that the forest had something to tell him, and that ifhe listened he would hear the leaves speaking to him. And by-and-byhe did hear a sound: it came from a spot about a hundred yards away,and was like the sound of a person crying. Then came low sobs whichrose and fell and then ceased, and after a silent interval beganagain. Perhaps it was a child, lost there in the forest like himself.Going softly to the spot he discovered that the sobbing sounds camefrom the other side of a low tree with widespread branches, a kindof acacia with thin loose foliage, but he could not see through it,and so he went round the tree to look, and startled a dove which flewoff with a loud clatter of its wings.

  When the dove had flown away it was again very silent. What was heto do? He was too tired now to walk much farther, and the sun wasgetting low, so that all the ground was in shadow. He went on alittle way looking for some nice shelter where he could pass thenight, but could not find one. At length, when the sun had set andthe dark was coming, he came upon an old half-dead tree, where therewas a hollow at the roots, lined with half dry moss, very soft tohis foot, and it seemed a nice place to sleep in. But he had nochoice, for he was afraid of going further in the dark among thetrees; and so, creeping into the hollow among the old roots, hecurled himself up as comfortably as he could, and soon began to getvery drowsy, in spite of having no covering to keep him warm. Butalthough very tired and sleepy, he did not go quite to sleep, for hehad never been all alone in a wood by night before, and it wasdifferent from the open plain where he could see all round, even atnight, and where he had feared nothing. Here the trees looked strangeand made strange black shadows, and he thought that the strangepeople of the wood were perhaps now roaming about and would find himthere. He did not want them to find him fast asleep; it was betterto be awake, so that when they came he could jump up and run awayand hide himself from them. Once or twice a slight rustling soundmade him start and think that at last some one was coming to him,stealing softly so as to catch him unawares, but he could seenothing moving, and when he held his breath to listen there was nosound.

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  Then all at once, just when he had almost dropped off, a great crysounded at a distance, and made him start up wide awake again."O look! look! look!" cried the voice in a tone so deep and strangeand powerful that no one could have heard it without terror, for itseemed to be uttered by some for
est monster twenty times bigger thanan ordinary man. In a moment an answer came from another part of thewood. "What's that?" cried the answering voice; and then anothervoice cried, and then others far and near, all shouting "What's that?"and for only answer the first voice shouted once more, "O look! look!look!"

  Poor Martin, trembling with fright, crouched lower down in his mossybed, thinking that the awful people of the forest must have seen him,and would be upon him in a few moments. But though he stared withwide-open eyes into the gloom he could see nothing but the trees,standing silent and motionless, and no sound of approachingfootsteps could he hear.

  After that it was silent again for a while, and he began to hopethat they had given up looking for him; when suddenly, close by,sounded a loud startling "Who's that?" and he gave himself up forlost. For he was too terrified to jump up and run away, as he hadthought to do: he could only lie still, his teeth chattering, hishair standing up on his head. "Who's that?" exclaimed the terriblevoice once more, and then he saw a big black shape drop down fromthe tree above and settle on a dead branch a few feet above hishiding-place. It was a bird--a great owl, for now he could see it,sharply outlined against the clear starry sky; and the bird had seenand was peering curiously at him. And now all his fear was gone, forhe could not be afraid of an owl; he had been accustomed to see owlsall his life, only they were small, and this owl of the forest wasas big as an eagle, and had a round head and ears like a cat, andgreat cat-like eyes that shone in the dark.

  The owl kept staring at Martin for some time, swaying his body thisway and that, and lowering then raising his head so as to get abetter view. And Martin, on his side, stared back at the owl, and atlast he exclaimed, "O what a great big owl you are! Please say_Who's that_? again."

  But before the owl said anything Martin was fast asleep in his mossybed.