As soon as he
has cleaned out the caterpillars, I know some one who is going to bite
his head off!"
It was true that an illness had made its appearance among the
caterpillars. The first summer it did not spread much. It had only just
broken out when it was time for the larvae to turn into pupae. From the
latter came millions of moths. They flew around in the trees like a
blinding snowstorm, and laid countless numbers of eggs. An even greater
destruction was prophesied for the following year.
The destruction came not only to the forest, but also to the
caterpillars. The sickness spread quickly from forest to forest. The
sick caterpillars stopped eating, crawled up to the branches of the
trees, and died there.
There was great rejoicing among the people when they saw them die, but
there was even greater rejoicing among the forest animals.
From day to day the dog Karr went about with savage glee, thinking of
the hour when he might venture to kill Helpless.
But the caterpillars, meanwhile, had spread over miles of pine woods.
Not in one summer did the disease reach them all. Many lived to become
pupas and moths.
Grayskin sent messages to his friend Karr by the birds of passage, to
say that he was alive and faring well. But the birds told Karr
confidentially that on several occasions Grayskin had been pursued by
poachers, and that only with the greatest difficulty had he escaped.
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