第74章 CHAPTER XV(1)

WHEREIN MRS.COMSTOCK FACES THE ALMIGHTY,AND PHILIP AMMON WRITES A LETTERMrs.Comstock and Elnora were finishing breakfast the following morning when they heard a cheery whistle down the road.Elnora with surprised eyes looked at her mother.

"Could that be Mr.Ammon?"she questioned.

"I did not expect him so soon,"commented Mrs.Comstock.

It was sunrise,but the musician was Philip Ammon.

He appeared stronger than on yesterday.

"I hope I am not too early,"he said."I am consumed with anxiety to learn if we have made a catch.If we have,we should beat the birds to it.I promised Uncle Doc to put on my waders and keep dry for a few days yet,when I go to the woods.Let's hurry!I am afraid of crows.

There might be a rare moth."

The sun was topping the Limberlost when they started.

As they neared the place Philip stopped.

"Now we must use great caution,"he said."The lights and the odours always attract numbers that don't settle on the baited trees.Every bush,shrub,and limb may hide a specimen we want."So they approached with much care.

"There is something,anyway!"cried Philip.

"There are moths!I can see them!"exulted Elnora.

"Those you see are fast enough.It's the ones for which you must search that will escape.The grasses are dripping,and I have boots,so you look beside the path while I take the outside,"suggested Ammon.

Mrs.Comstock wanted to hunt moths,but she was timid about making a wrong movement,so she wisely sat on a log and watched Philip and Elnora to learn how they proceeded.Back in the deep woods a hermit thrush was singing his chant to the rising sun.Orioles were sowing the pure,sweet air with notes of gold,poured out while on wing.The robins were only chirping now,for their morning songs had awakened all the other birds an hour ago.Scolding red-wings tilted on half the bushes.

Excepting late species of haws,tree bloom was almost gone,but wild flowers made the path border and all the wood floor a riot of colour.Elnora,born among such scenes,worked eagerly,but to the city man,recently from a hospital,they seemed too good to miss.He frequently stooped to examine a flower face,paused to listen intently to the thrush or lifted his head to see the gold flash which accompanied the oriole's trailing notes.

So Elnora uttered the first cry,as she softly lifted branches and peered among the grasses.

"My find!"she called."Bring the box,mother!"Philip came hurrying also.When they reached her she stood on the path holding a pair of moths.Her eyes were wide with excitement,her cheeks pink,her red lips parted,and on the hand she held out to them clung a pair of delicate blue-green moths,with white bodies,and touches of lavender and straw colour.

All around her lay flower-brocaded grasses,behind the deep green background of the forest,while the sun slowly sifted gold from heaven to burnish her hair.Mrs.Comstock heard a sharp breath behind her.

"Oh,what a picture!"exulted Philip at her shoulder.

"She is absolutely and altogether lovely!I'd give a small fortune for that faithfully set on canvas!"He picked the box from Mrs.Comstock's fingers and slowly advanced with it.Elnora held down her hand and transferred the moths.Philip closed the box carefully,but the watching mother saw that his eyes were following the girl's face.He was not making the slightest attempt to conceal his admiration.

"I wonder if a woman ever did anything lovelier than to find a pair of Luna moths on a forest path,early on a perfect June morning,"he said to Mrs.Comstock,when he returned the box.

She glanced at Elnora who was intently searching the bushes.

"Look here,young man,"said Mrs.Comstock."You seem to find that girl of mine about right.""I could suggest no improvement,"said Philip."I never saw a more attractive girl anywhere.She seems absolutely perfect to me.""Then suppose you don't start any scheme calculated to spoil her!"proposed Mrs.Comstock dryly."I don't think you can,or that any man could,but I'm not taking any risks.You asked to come here to help in this work.

We are both glad to have you,if you confine yourself to work;but it's the least you can do to leave us as you find us.""I beg your pardon!"said Philip."I intended no offence.

I admire her as I admire any perfect creation.""And nothing in all this world spoils the average girl so quickly and so surely,"said Mrs.Comstock.She raised her voice."Elnora,fasten up that tag of hair over your left ear.These bushes muss you so you remind me of a sheep poking its nose through a hedge fence."Mrs.Comstock started down the path toward the log again,when she reached it she called sharply:"Elnora,come here!I believe I have found something myself."The "something"was a Citheronia Regalis which had emerged from its case on the soft earth under the log.

It climbed up the wood,its stout legs dragging a big pursy body,while it wildly flapped tiny wings the size of a man's thumb-nail.Elnora gave one look and a cry which brought Philip.

"That's the rarest moth in America!"he announced.

"Mrs.Comstock,you've gone up head.You can put that in a box with a screen cover to-night,and attract half a dozen,possibly.""Is it rare,Elnora?"inquired Mrs.Comstock,as if no one else knew.

"It surely is,"answered Elnora."If we can find it a mate to-night,it will lay from two hundred and fifty to three hundred eggs to-morrow.With any luck at all I can raise two hundred caterpillars from them.

I did once before.And they are worth a dollar apiece.""Was the one I killed like that?"

"No.That was a different moth,but its life processes were the same as this.The Bird Woman calls this the King of the Poets.""Why does she?"

"Because it is named for Citheron who was a poet,and regalis refers to a king.You mustn't touch it or you may stunt wing development.You watch and don't let that moth out of sight,or anything touch it.When the wings are expanded and hardened we will put it in a box.""I am afraid it will race itself to death,"objected Mrs.Comstock.