They had good appetites, but they
never seemed to do the trees any serious harm, because they were hotly
pursued by birds. It was seldom that more than a few hundred
caterpillars escaped the pursuers.
The poor things that lived to be full grown crawled up on the branches,
spun white webs around themselves, and sat for a couple of weeks as
motionless pupae. During this period, as a rule, more than half of them
were abducted. If a hundred nun moths came forth in August, winged and
perfect, it was reckoned a good year for them.
This sort of uncertain and obscure existence did the moths lead for many
years in Liberty Forest. There were no insect folk in the whole country
that were so scarce, and they would have remained quite harmless and
powerless had they not, most unexpectedly, received a helper.
This fact has some connection with Grayskin's flight from the
game-keeper's paddock. Grayskin roamed the forest that he might become
more familiar with the place. Late in the afternoon he happened to
squeeze through some thickets behind a clearing where the soil was muddy
and slimy, and in the centre of it was a murky pool. This open space was
encircled by tall pines almost bare from age and miasmic air. Grayskin
was displeased with the place and would have left it at once had he not
caught sight of some bright green calla leaves which grew near the pool.
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