I'll go far ahead as I
want to be, to start on. Now don't forget to be quiet, and listen hard!"
"I won't forget!" said James Minturn.
"Oh but it will be awful if one doesn't sing to-night!"
"Not at all!" answered Mr. Minturn. "This is a new experience for me; I'll
get the benefit of a sight of the swamp that will pay for the trip, if I
don't even see a bird."
By the boy's sigh of relief the father knew he had quieted his anxiety.
Malcolm went softly ahead a few yards, and stopped, sheltering himself in
a clump of willow and button bushes. His father made himself as
inconspicuous as he could and waited. He studied the trunks of the big
scaly trees, the intermingled branches covered with tufts of tiny spines,
and here and there the green cones nestling upright. The cool water rising
around his feet called his attention to the deep moss bed, silvery green
in the evening light. Here and there on moss mounds at the tree bases he
could see the broad leaves and ripening pods that he thought must be
moccasins seeding.
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