Page:Athletics and Manly Sport (1890).djvu/425

378 The thought of such unbroken melody following the eye into the remote distance was a more delightful music in itself than that which was ravishing the senses. Here the mocking-bird ceased to mock, and poured out its own ecstatic soul. The catbird, discordant no longer, shot its clear joy through the great harmony, and the wren and swamp canary twined their notes like threads of gossamer through the warp and woof of this marvellous tapestry of sound.

I shall have to speak by and by of the noxious and horrible denizens of the swamp. Let me dwell lovingly and gratefully on the pleasure derived from those that were innocent and delightful.

We let the evening fall on us unresistingly, to drink in the sweet thing that was around us. We were miles from our destination, but we could not settle to mere travelling till this incredible vesper song was done. We sat silent, absorbed, witnessing "the deathbed of a day, how beautiful."

The charm was broken by the happy hailing of two colored boys on the towpath, who were driving "Mister" Johnson's team with our baggage, and who had now overtaken us. Then came the thorn of our rose. Moseley's canoe was still leaking, and while he had been floating off with the divine mocking-bird, the water had gained on him