."

It seemed to drop to the ground but when he looked Diamond could see
nothing but a little spider with long legs which made its way over the
ice toward the south. It grew and grew till Diamond discovered that it
was not a spider but a weasel. Away glided the weasel and away went
Diamond after it. The weasel grew and grew and grew till he saw it was
not a weasel but a cat. Away went the cat and away went Diamond after
it. When he came up with it, it was not a cat but a leopard. The leopard
grew to a jaguar and the jaguar to a Bengal tiger.

Of none of them was Diamond afraid for he had been at North Wind's back
and he could be afraid of her no longer whatever she did or grew to be.
The tiger flew over the snow in a straight line for the south, growing
less and less to Diamond's eyes till it was only a black speck upon the
whiteness. Then it vanished altogether.

And now Diamond felt that he would rather not run any further and that
the ice had got very rough. Besides he was near the precipices that
bounded the sea. So he slowed up his pace to a walk and said to himself,
"North Wind will come back for me, I know. She is just teasing me a
little. Then, too, she _must_ get started some way to grow bigger and
bigger all the time!"

"Here I am, dear boy," said North Wind's voice behind him.

Diamond turned and saw her as he liked best to see her, standing beside
him a tall, beautiful woman.

"Where is the tiger?" he said. "But of course, you were the tiger. It
puzzles me a little. I saw it such a long way off before me, and there
you are behind me. It is odd, you know."

"None of these things is odder to me than to see you eat bread and
butter," said North Wind.

"I should just like to see a slice of bread and butter!" cried Diamond.
"I am afraid to say how long it is since I had anything to eat!"

"You shall have some soon. I am glad to find you want some!"

She swept him up in her arms and bounded into the air. Her tresses began
to lift and rise and spread and stream and flow and flutter. And North
Wind and Diamond went flying southward. The sea slid away from under
them like a great web of shot silk, blue shot with gray, and green shot
with purple. The stars appeared to sail away past them, like golden
boats on a blue sea turned upside down. Diamond himself went fast, fast,
fast--he went fast asleep in North Wind's arms.

CHAPTER V

DIAMOND'S FATHER LOSES HIS EMPLOYMENT

When he woke once more, a