just as the rim of the moon began to rise over the edge of the
eastern forests.





CHAPTER IV


It seemed an interminable wait to Peter, back in the cabin. Jolly
Roger had put out the light, and when the moon came up the glow of
it did not come into the dark room where Peter lay, for the open
door was to the west, and curtains were drawn closely at both
windows. But through the door he could see the first mellowing of
the night, and after that the swift coming of a soft, golden
radiance which swallowed all darkness and filled his world with
the ghostly shadows which seemed alive, yet never made a sound. It
was a big, splendid moon this night, and Peter loved the moon,
though he had seen it only a few times in his three months of
life. It fascinated him more than the sun, for it was always light
when the sun came, and he had never seen the sun eat up darkness,
as the moon did. Its mystery awed him, but did not frighten. He
could not quite understand the strange, still shadows which were
always unreal when he nosed into them, and it puzzled him why the
birds did not fly about in the moon glow, and sing as they did in
the day-time. And something deep in him, many generations older
than himself, made his blood run faster when this thing that ate
up darkness came creeping through the sky, and he was filled with
a yearning to adventure out into the strange glow of it, quietly