Chapter XX

"I Shall Live Forever -- and Ever -- and Ever!"

But they were obliged to wait more than a
week because first there came some very
windy days and then Colin was threatened with
a cold, which two things happening one after the
other would no doubt have thrown him into a
rage but that there was so much careful and mysterious
planning to do and almost every day
Dickon came in, if only for a few minutes, to talk
about what was happening on the moor and in
the lanes and hedges and on the borders of
streams. The things he had to tell about otters'
and badgers' and water-rats' houses, not to mention
birds' nests and field-mice and their burrows,
were enough to make you almost tremble with
excitement when you heard all the intimate details
from an animal charmer and realized with
what thrilling eagerness and anxiety the whole
busy underworld was working.

"They're same as us," said Dickon, "only they
have to build their homes every year. An' it

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