d not himself know what it meant; it was, however,
something very powerful, and by it they would be led to victory. So
saying, he called 'Koos-takke!' and at once the vast assembly seized the
signal and responded 'Koos-takke!' which mystic syllables are now their
war-cry, their call of defiance, and their welcome to their friends. You
may often hear them shouting these words in the depths of the woods;
Choo Hoo learnt them in the enchanted Forest of Savernake, where, as
every one knows, there are many mighty magicians, and where, perhaps,
the raven is still living in its deep recesses. Now this war-cry
supplied, as doubtless the raven had foreseen, the very link that was
wanting to bind the immense crowd of wood-pigeons together.
Thenceforward they had a common sign and pass-word, and were no longer
scattered.

"In the autumn Choo Hoo crossed the border with a vast horde, and
although Kapchack sent his generals, who inflicted enormous losses, such
as no other nation but the barbarians could have sustained, nothing
could stay the advance of such incredible numbers. After a whole autumn
and winter of severe and continued fighting, Choo Hoo, early in the next
year, found that he had advanced some ten (and in places fifteen) miles,
giving his people room to feed and move. He had really pushed much
farther than that, but he could not hold all the ground he had taken for
the following reason. In the spring, as the soft warm weather came, and
the sun began to shine, and the rain to fall, and the brook to sing more
sweetly, and the wind to breathe gently with delicious perfume, and the
green leaves to come forth, the barbarians began to feel the influence
of love.

"They could no longer endure to fly in the dense column, they no longer
obeyed the voice of their captain. They fell in love, and each marrying
set about to build a nest, free and unmolested in those trees that Choo
Hoo had promised them. Choo Hoo himself retired with his lovely bride to
the ancestral ash, and passed the summer in happy dalliance. With the
autumn the campaign recommenced, and with exactly the same result. After
a second autumn and winter of fighting, Choo Hoo had pushed his frontier
another fifteen miles farther into Kapchack's kingdom. Another summer of
love followed, and so it went on year after year, Choo Hoo's forces
meantime continually increasing in numbers, since there were now no
restrictions as to nest trees, but one and all could marry.