Arabs about him listened, to the
babble coming up through the evening--a soft liquid talking like the
splashing of water, or the sound of wings, or the mingling of both,
some language more liquid than Italian. What language was being
spoken over yonder? One of the Arabs answered, "It is the voice of
the lake."

As the cavalcade rode out of the wood the lake lay a glittering
mirror before Owen, about a mile wide; he could not determine its
length, for the lake disappeared into a distant horizon, into a
semblance of low shores, still as stagnant water, reflecting the
golden purple of the sunset, and covered with millions of waterfowl.
The multitude swimming together formed an indecisive pattern, like a
vague, weedy scum collected on the surface of a marsh. Ducks, teal,
widgeon, coots, and divers were recognisable, despite the distance,
by their prow-like heads, their balance on the water, and their
motion through it, "like little galleys," Owen said. Nearer, in the
reeds agitated with millions of unseen inhabitants, snipe came and
went in wisps, uttering an abrupt cry, going away in a short,
crooked flight and falling abruptly. In the distance he saw grey
herons and ibises from Egypt. The sky darkened, and through the dusk,
from over the hills, thousands of birds continued to arrive,
creating a wind in the poplars. Like an army marching past,
battalion succeeded battalion at intervals of a few seconds; and the
mass, unwinding like a great ribbon, stretched across the lake. Then
the mist gathered, blotting out everything, all noise ceased, and
the lake itself disappeared in the mist.

Turning in the saddle, Owen saw a hillock and five olive-trees. A
fire was burning. This was the encampment.



VI

He had undertaken this long journey in the wilderness for the sake of
a few days' falconry, and dreaded a disappointment, for all his life
long, intermittently of course, he had been interested in hawks. As
a boy he had dreamed of training hawks, and remembered one taken by
him from

William Babington Maxwell (18661938) was a British novelist. He was a son of novelist Mary Elizabeth Braddon. Though nearly 50 years old at the outbreak of the First World War, he was accepted as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers and served in France until 1917.

Cyrus Townsend Brady (December 20, 1861 January 24, 1920) was a journalist, historian and adventure writer. His most well-known work is Indian Fights and Fighters. He was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1883. He was also a deacon in the Episcopal church. His first wife was Clarissa Guthrie, who died in 1890. His second wife was Mary Barrett.

Rebecca Sophia Clarke (1833-1906), also known as Sophie May, was an American author of childrens fiction. Using her nieces and nephews as inspiration, she wrote realistic stories about children. She wrote 45 books between 1860 and 1903. The most popular being the Little Prudy books. She lived most of her life in her native town of Norridgewock, Maine, where she lived out her life with her sister, who was also a successful author.