"Look! Look up the river!" he shouted as soon as he had come within
hearing. "I was afraid you wouldn't see it. It's an army of squirrels
marching steadily, just like soldiers, millions and millions of them! It
has been like that for hours. I have been watching it since daylight.
The squirrels are trying to cross the river, and thousands and thousands
are already drowned. The water is brown with their bodies."
"The poor little things! What in the world can it mean, David? And look
at the birds! They don't come at all when I call them. What is the
matter with them? I don't see anything to disturb them, yet see how they
look! And hear the waterfowl screaming! And the trees, too. Why do the
leaves droop like that? How can it be so hot in December? It was never
like this before. There isn't a breath of air."
"I have noticed how strange everything seems. The forest is stiller than
I ever saw it, but the wild things that live in it are strangely
restless. I have been watching them all the morning, and I heard them in
the night."
"But what does it mean, dear? Surely some dreadful thing must be going
to happen! I wish Paul would come.
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