But even while he was wondering, they heard
a strange whispering noise, high in the air,
coming through the night. And the animals all
stopped saying Good-by and listened.
The noise grew louder and bigger. It seemed
to be coming nearer to them--a sound like the
Autumn wind blowing through the leaves of a
poplar-tree, or a great, great rain beating down
upon a roof.
And Jip, with his nose pointing and his tail
quite straight, said,
"Birds!--millions of them--flying fast--that's it!"
And then they all looked up. And there,
streaming across the face of the moon, like a
huge swarm of tiny ants, they could see thousands
and thousands of little birds. Soon the
whole sky seemed full of them, and still more
kept coming--more and more. There were so
many that for a little they covered the whole
moon so it could not shine, and the sea grew
dark and black--like when a storm-cloud passes
over the sun.
And presently all these birds came down close,
skimming over the water and the land; and the
night-sky was left clear above, and the moon
shone as before. Still never a call nor a cry
nor a song they made--no sound but this great
rustling of feathers which grew greater now
than ever. When they began to settle on the
sands, along the ropes of the ship--anywhere
and everywhere except the trees--the Doctor
could see that they had blue wings and white
breasts and very short, feathered legs. As soon
as they had all found a place to sit, suddenly,
there was no noise left anywhere--all was quiet;
all was still.
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