do, he stretched to his full height and drove his strong sharp
beak into the creamy grain. After the stifling swamp hunting,
after the long exciting flight, to rock on this swaying corn and
drink the rich milk of the grain, was to the Cardinal his first
taste of nectar and ambrosia. He lifted his head when he came to
the golden kernel, and chipping it in tiny specks, he tasted and
approved with all the delight of an epicure in a delicious new
dish.

Perhaps there were other treats in the next field. He decided to
fly even farther. But he had gone only a short distance when he
changed his course and turned to the South, for below him was a
long, shining, creeping thing, fringed with willows, while
towering above them were giant sycamore, maple, tulip, and elm
trees that caught and rocked with the wind; and the Cardinal did
not know what it was. Filled with wonder he dropped lower and
lower. Birds were everywhere, many flying over and dipping into
it; but its clear creeping silver was a mystery to the Cardinal.

The beautiful river of poetry and song that the Indians first
discovered, and later with the French, named Ouabache; the
winding shining river that Logan and Me-shin-go-me-sia loved; the
only river that could tempt Wa-ca-co-nah from the Salamonie and
Mississinewa; the river beneath whose silver sycamores and giant
maples Chief Godfrey pitched his campfires, was never more
beautiful than on that perfect autumn day.

With his feathers pressed closely, the Cardinal alighted on a
willow, and leaned to look, quivering with excitement and
uttering explosive "chips"; for there he was, face to face with a