At the Back of the North Wind | Page 8

After that, he
did not see little Nanny for a long time.
He played often now on the lawn of the house next door--Mr.
Coleman's lawn--as the summer drew near, warm and splendid. One
evening, he was sitting in a little summer-house at the foot of the lawn,
before which was a bed of tulips. They were closed for the night but the
wind was waving them slightly. All at once, out of one of them, there
flew a big buzzing bumblebee.
"There! That's something done!" said a voice--a gentle, merry, childish
voice but so tiny! "I was afraid he would have to stay there all night."
Diamond looked all about and then he saw the tiniest creature, sliding

down the stem of the tulip.
"Are you the fairy that herds the bees?" he asked kneeling down beside
the tulip bed.
"I am not a fairy," answered the little creature. "You stupid Diamond,
have you never seen me before?"
As she spoke, a moan of wind bent the tulips almost to the ground and
then he recognized North Wind.
"But there!" added the little creature, "I must not stay to chatter. I have
to go and sink a ship to-night."
"Sink a ship!" cried Diamond. "And drown the men and women in it?
How dreadful! Still I cannot believe you are cruel, North Wind!"
"No, I could not be cruel, and yet I must often do what looks cruel to
those who do not know. But the people they say I drown, I only carry
away to the back of the north wind--only I never saw the place."
"But how can you carry them there if you never saw the place? And
how is it that you never saw it?"
"Because it is behind me. You cannot see your own back, you know.
But run along now if you want to go with me to-night. I cannot take
you till you have been to bed and gone to sleep. I'll look about and do
something till you are ready. Do you see that man over there on the
river in the boat who is just floating about? Now watch!"
She flashed like a dragon-fly across the water whose surface rippled
and puckered as she passed. The next moment, the man in the boat
glanced about him and bent to his oars. The boat flew over the rippling
water. The same instant almost, North Wind perched again upon the
river wall.
"How did you do that?" asked Diamond.
"I just blew in his face and blew the mist out of him."

"But what for? I don't understand!" said Diamond. Hearing no answer,
he looked down at the wall. North Wind was gone. Away across the
river went a long ripple--what sailors call a cat's paw. The man in the
boat at once put up his sail. The moon was coming to herself on the
edge of a great cloud and the sail began to shine white. Diamond
rubbed his eyes and wondered what it was all about. But he felt that he
could not know more till he had gone to bed, so he turned away and
started for home. He stopped to look out of a window before going to
bed. Above the moon, the clouds were streaming different ways, and
the wind was rising as he fell asleep.
He woke in the middle of the night and the darkness. A terrible noise
was rumbling overhead like the rolling beat of great drums. For a while,
he could not come quite awake. But a second peal of thunder broke
over his head and a great blast of wind followed which tore some tiles
off the roof and, through the hole this made, sent a spout of wind down
into his face. At the same moment, he heard a mighty, yet musical
voice say, "Come up, Diamond! It's all ready. I am waiting for you."
Then a gigantic arm was reached down which drew him up and clasped
him against North Wind's breast.
"Oh, North Wind!" he murmured. But the words vanished from his lips
as he had seen the soap bubbles, that burst too soon, vanish from the
mouth of his pipe. The wind caught them and they were no-where.
At the same moment, a peal of thunder which shook Diamond's heart
against his side boomed out of the heavens; I cannot say, out of the sky,
for there was no sky. Diamond had not seen the lightning for he had
been busy trying to find the face of North Wind. Every moment, the
folds of her garment would sweep across his eyes and blind him. But
between them, he could just catch glimpses of the great glories of her
eyes looking down at him through the rifts of the huge clouds