scarcely stirred the water as they glided slowly through its crystal
depths.

The air was fragrant with the odor of new-mown grass and the breath of
wild strawberries that had fallen under the sickle, to make the sweet
hay sweeter with their crimson juices. The whir of the scythes and the
clatter of the mowing machine came from the distant meadows. Field mice
and ground sparrows were aware that it probably was all up with their
little summer residences, for haying time was at its height, and the
Giant, mounted on the Avenging Chariot, would speedily make his
appearance, and buttercups and daisies, tufted grasses and blossoming
weeds, must all bow their heads before him, and if there was anything
more valuable hidden at their roots, so much the worse!

And if a bird or a mouse had been especially far-sighted and had located
his family near a stump fence on a particularly uneven bit of ground,
why there was always a walking Giant going about the edges with a
gleaming scythe, so that it was no wonder, when reflecting on these
matters after a day's palpitation, that the little denizens of the
fields thought it very natural that there should be Nihilists and
Socialists in the world, plotting to overturn monopolies and other
gigantic schemes for crushing the people.

Rags enjoyed the excitement of haying immensely. But then, his life was
one long holiday now anyway, and the close quarters, scanty fare, and
wearisome monotony of Minerva Court only visited his memory dimly when
he was suffering the pangs of indigestion. For in the first few weeks of
his life at the White Farm, before his appetite was satiated, he was
wont to eat all the white cat's food as well as his own; and as this
highway robbery took place in the retirement of the shed, where Samantha