dical journeys to the reed-bed. His
kindred, still living in the burrow where he had been born, were
similarly daunted; while the shrew became the object of such frequent
attack--especially from the bigger of the two salmon, an old male with a
sinister, pig-like countenance and a formidable array of teeth--that
escape from disaster was little short of miraculous.

Having calculated to a nicety his chances of escape, and having decided
to avoid at all times the haunts of the pugnacious fish, Brighteye was
seldom inconvenienced, except that he had to pass further than hitherto
along the bank before taking to the water, and thus had to risk attack
from weasels and owls. But soon, to his dismay, he discovered that the
salmon had shifted their quarters to the shallow close by the reeds. He
was swimming one night as usual into the quiet water by the reed-bed,
and, indeed, had entered a narrow, lane-like opening among the stems,
when he felt a quick, powerful movement in the water, and saw a
mysterious form turn in pursuit of him, and glide swiftly away with a
mighty effort that caused a wave to ripple through the reeds, while the
outer stalks bent and recoiled as if from the force of a powerful blow.
On the following night he was chased almost to the end of the opening
among the reeds, and barely escaped; but this time he recognised his
pursuer. Afterwards, having unexpectedly met the shrew, he crept with
his companion along by the water's edge as far as the ford, and spent
the dark hours in a strange place, till at dawn he crossed the rough
water, and sought his home by a path the further part of which he had
not previously explored.

IV.

SAVED BY AN ENEMY.

The days were dim and the nights long, and thick, drenching mists hung
over the gloomy river. The salmon's family affairs had reached an
important stage; and the "redd," furrowed in the gravel by the mated
fish, contained thousands of newly deposited eggs. And, as many of the
river-folk, from the big trout to the little water-shrew, continually
threatened a raid on the spawn, the salmon guarded each approach to the
shallows with unremitting vigilance.

It happened, unfortunately for Brighteye, that, while the construction
of the "redd" was in progress, some of the eggs--unfertilised and
therefore not heavy enough to sink to the bottom of the water--were
borne slowly by the current to the ford below the pool, just as the
shrew was occupied there in vain att