Page 69 - Adventures in shadow-land

or coiled-up serpents with forked and fiery-red

tongues; things like dry twigs, which W'ould sud­
denly display many legs and run away. Slow-
crawling, hairy caterpillars, and round, fat, slimy

worms, lay everywhere. Things like insects,

which yet had no life, grew, instead of flowers,
on the thorny sticks which stood among the
stones. One of these things, in shape like a drag­

on-fly, Aster picked; but he immediately dropped
it, and said that it had stung him ; and from that

time Eva thought that he became more and more
perverse, and that he was every day less like the

gentle, affectionate boy she had been so glad to
receive as a companion. She saw, too* that, while

'her own dress retained its spotless whiteness which
nothing seemed to affect, his became every day
more and more soiled and stained.

She missed, too, the low, sweet songs which had
been sung by the flowers. To be sure, she had

not always been able to distinguish their wordsj
but they had been friendly, and had warned her

of every danger before it came; but this was all
over. Every night, as soon as the moon was gone,

creatures like bats, with shining heads, came in