They made a vast kite, which they caused to be flown over the centre spot
of the incursion. The kite was shaped like a great hawk; and the moment
it rose into the air the birds began to cower and seek protection--and
then to disappear. So long as that kite was flying overhead the birds
lay low and the crop was saved. Accordingly Caswall ordered his men to
construct an immense kite, adhering as well as they could to the lines of
a hawk. Then he and his men, with a sufficiency of cord, began to fly it
high overhead. The experience of China was repeated. The moment the
kite rose, the birds hid or sought shelter. The following morning, the
kite was still flying high, no bird was to be seen as far as the eye
could reach from Castra Regis. But there followed in turn what proved
even a worse evil. All the birds were cowed; their sounds stopped.
Neither song nor chirp was heard--silence seemed to have taken the place
of the normal voices of bird life. But that was not all. The silence
spread to all animals.

The fear and restraint which brooded amongst the denizens of the air
began to affect all life. Not only did the birds cease song or chirp,
but the lowing of the cattle ceased in the fields and the varied sounds
of life died away. In place of these things was only a soundless gloom,
more dreadful, more disheartening, more soul-killing than any concourse
of sounds, no matter how full of fear and dread. Pious individuals put
up constant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude. After a
little there were signs of universal depression which those who ran might
read. One and all, the faces of men and women seemed bereft of vitality,
of interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope. Men seemed to have
lost the power of expression of their thoughts. The soundless air seemed
to have the same effect as the universal darkness when men gnawed their
tongues with pain.