Page 126 - Adventures in shadow-land

Quiet as the river had at first seemed, it was

not very long before Eva found that it deserved
its name. What she thought was land would very

often prove to be water j and then again places
winch seemed to be a broad expanse of river

would afford her a firm foothold. Here and
there were sheets of what Eva thought at first

was ice, so smooth and glassy did it look, yet
it would not be cold to the touch* The river

had no perceptible banks,—-it was almost impossi­
ble to tell where earth ended and water began.

Yet, walking along, sometimes with the water
splashing above her ankles, Eva’s feet were never

wet. The trees along the river seemed to walk
on, and little green flames, tipped with orange,

danced among them. Once one of these little
flames fell on Eva's dress, and when, fearing it

might burn her, she brushed it off, she found that
it was nothing but a harmless green leaf, with a

golden tip, which had dropped from a tree hang*
m
mg over the river.

Many wonderful things, too, lay on the bottom
of the river, Eva saw them, and remembered

dimly what they were as she caught sight of them