she would skip round this walk and look into the
wood and see if there were any rabbits hopping
about. She enjoyed the skipping very much and
when she reached the little gate she opened it and
went through because she heard a low, peculiar
whistling sound and wanted to find out what it
was.

It was a very strange thing indeed. She quite
caught her breath as she stopped to look at it.
A boy was sitting under a tree, with his back
against it, playing on a rough wooden pipe. He
was a funny looking boy about twelve. He looked
very clean and his nose turned up and his cheeks
were as red as poppies and never had Mistress
Mary seen such round and such blue eyes in any
boy's face. And on the trunk of the tree he
leaned against, a brown squirrel was clinging and
watching him, and from behind a bush nearby
a cock pheasant was delicately stretching his neck
to peep out, and quite near him were two rabbits
sitting up and sniffing with tremulous noses -- and
actually it appeared as if they were all drawing
near to watch him and listen to the strange low
little call his pipe seemed to make.

When he saw Mary he held up his hand and
spoke to her in a voice almost as low as and rather
like his piping.

"Don't tha' move," he said. "It'd flight 'em."

[[120]]

p119 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p120w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p121

v?