Fire,
air, earth, and water--they summarised existence; owned and possessed
the endless day; lived it, were one with it. Their leader, who
apparently had swallowed the sun, fused and unified them in this
amazing way with--fire.
And hardly had they passed the line of shy forget-me-nots on the top
of the bank, than they ran against a curious looking object that at
first appeared to be an animated bundle of some kind, but on closer
inspection proved to be a human figure stooping. It was somebody very
busy about the edges of a great clump of bramble bushes. At the sound
of their impetuous approach it straightened up. It had the face of a
man--yellowish, patched with red, breathless and very hot. It was
Come-back Stumper.
He glared at them, furious at being disturbed, yet with an uneasy air,
half comical, half ashamed, as of being--caught. He took on a
truculent, aggressive attitude, as though he knew he would have to
explain himself and did not want to do so. He turned and faced them.
"Mornin'," he grunted fiercely. "It's a lovely day."
But they all agreed so promptly with him that he dropped the offensive
at once.
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