He tried to dive; got tangled in a lily stem in his
fright; came up, flashed under again; and I saw him come up ten feet
away in some grass, where he sat motionless and almost invisible amid
the pads and yellow stems.
How frightened he was! Yet how still he sat! Whenever I took my eyes
from him a moment I had to hunt again, sometimes two or three minutes,
before I could see him there.
Meanwhile the brood went almost to the opposite shore before they
stopped, and the mother, satisfied at last by my quietness, flew over
and lit among them. She had not seen the little one. Through the glass
I saw her flutter round and round them, to be quite sure they were all
there. Then she missed him. I could see it all in her movements. She
must have clucked, I think, for the young suddenly disappeared, and
she came swimming rapidly back over the way they had come, looking,
looking everywhere. Round the canoe she went at a safe distance,
searching among the grass and lily pads, calling him softly to come
out. But he was very near the canoe, and very much frightened; the
only effect of her calls was to make him crouch closer against the
grass stems, while the bright little eyes, grown large with fear, were
fastened on me.
Slowly I backed the canoe away till it was out of sight around the
point, though I could still see the mother bird through the bushes.
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