The horizon became clearer, field and tree came
more into sight, and somehow with a different
look; the mystery began to drop away from
them. A bird piped suddenly, and was still;
and a light breeze sprang up and set the reeds
and bulrushes rustling. Rat, who was in the
stern of the boat, while Mole sculled, sat up
suddenly and listened with a passionate intent-
ness. Mole, who with gentle strokes was just
keeping the boat moving while he scanned
the banks with care, looked at him with curi-
osity.
"It's gone!" sighed the Rat, sinking back in
his seat again. "So beautiful and strange and
new! Since it was to end so soon, I almost
wish I had never heard it. For it has roused a
longing in me that is pain, and nothing seems
worth while but just to hear that sound once
more and go on listening to it for ever. No!
There it is again!" he cried, alert once more.
Entranced, he was silent for a long space, spell-
bound.
"Now it passes on and I begin to lose it," he said presently. "O Mole! the beauty of it!
