and that his fox and his crow and his squirrels and
his lamb were so near to him and his friendliness
that they seemed almost to be part of himself.
Colin had never talked to a boy in his life and he
was so overwhelmed by his own pleasure and curiosity
that he did not even think of speaking.

But Dickon did not feel the least shy or awkward.
He had not felt embarrassed because the
crow had not known his language and had only
stared and had not spoken to him the first time
they met. Creatures were always like that until
they found out about you. He walked over to
Colin's sofa and put the new-born lamb quietly on
his lap, and immediately the little creature turned
to the warm velvet dressing-gown and began to
nuzzle and nuzzle into its folds and butt its
tight-curled head with soft impatience against his
side. Of course no boy could have helped speaking
then.

"What is it doing?" cried Colin. "What
does it want?"

"It wants its mother," said Dickon, smiling
more and more. "I brought it to thee a bit hungry
because I knowed tha'd like to see it feed."

He knelt down by the sofa and took a feeding-bottle
from his pocket.

"Come on, little 'un," he said, turning the small
woolly white head with a gentle brown hand.

[[252]]

p251 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p252w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p253

v?