36 THE FAIRY-FOLK OF THE BLUE HILL.

out a pang of conscience at the theft they had
committed.

For a while after the children had disap-
peared, all was still in the woods,—still as far
as the noises made by human beings were con-

erned.

Occasionally a fish jumped in the pond, and
dragon-flies skimmed over its surface, — birds
flew in and out among the trees, and squirrels
ran over the branches. Gradually, however,
the sun sank out of sight, the notes of the birds
grew shorter and more subdued, until their
sleepy voices ceased altogether, and the squir-
rels went fast asleep in their snug nests. A
refreshing coolness spread through the woods,
and the evening air became laden with the
perfumed breath of the forest trees. First one
star and then another appeared, and the round,
full moon rose from behind Blue Hill, and
sailed into the sky, shedding a soft light over
pond and wood and hill.

Then, dear readers, if you had but been
there to see the tiny forms that sprang from
beneath the large stones and from within the
mounds, and that came sliding down from their
homes in the hollow trees.