"Till at last he has under his sway a horde of trained warriors, whose
numbers defy calculation, and he has year by year pushed into Kapchack's
territory till now it seems as if he must utterly overwhelm and destroy
that monarch. This he would doubtless have achieved ere now, but there
is one difficulty which has considerably impeded his advance, as he came
farther and farther from his native province. This difficulty is water.

"For in the winter, when the Long Pond is frozen, and the brook nearly
covered with ice, and all the ponds and ditches likewise, so vast a
horde cannot find enough to satisfy their thirst, and must consequently
disperse. Were it not for this Choo Hoo must ere now have overwhelmed
us. As it is, Kapchack shivers in his claws, and we all dread the
approaching autumn, for Choo Hoo has now approached so near as to be at
our very doors. If he only knew one thing he would have no difficulty
in remaining here and utterly destroying us."

"What is that?" said Bevis.

"Will you promise faithfully not to tell any one?" said the squirrel,
"for my own existence depends upon this horde of barbarians being kept
at bay; for, you see, should they pass over they will devour everything
in the land, and there will certainly be a famine--the most dreadful
that has ever been seen."

"I will promise," said Bevis. "I promise you faithfully."

"Then I will tell you," went on the squirrel. "In this copse of mine
there is a spring of the clearest and sweetest water (you shall see it,
I will take you to it some day) which is a great secret, for it is so
hidden by ferns and fir-trees overhanging it, that no one knows anything
about it, except Kapchack, myself, the weasel, and the fox; I wish the
weasel did not know, for he is so gluttonous for blood, which makes him
thirsty, that he is continually dipping his murderous snout into the
delicious water.

"Now this spring, being so warm in the fern, and coming out of ground
which is, in a manner, warm too, of all the springs in this province
does not freeze, but always runs clear all the winter. If Choo Hoo only
knew it, don't you see, he could stay in Kapchack's country, no matter
how hard the frost, and his enormous army, whose main object is plunder,
would soon starve us altogether. But he does not know of it.

"He has sent several of his spies, the wood-cocks, to search the
country for such a spring, but although they are the most cunning of
birds at that trick, the