of the trees remained above that sea of
water, and these were fast disappearing. They must run fast indeed if
they were to escape. So on they flew, scarcely feeling the ground as
they went, till they flung themselves on the ground before the holes
scooped out of the earth where they had all been born. The old men were
sitting in front, the children were playing, and the women chattering
together, when the little Bunyip fell into their midst, and there was
scarcely a child among them who did not know that something terrible
was upon them. 'The water! the water!' gasped one of the young men; and
there it was, slowly but steadily mounting the ridge itself. Parents and
children clung together, as if by that means they could drive back
the advancing flood; and the youth who had caused all this terrible
catastrophe, seized his sweetheart, and cried: 'I will climb with you
to the top of that tree, and there no waters can reach us.' But, as he
spoke, something cold touched him, and quickly he glanced down at his
feet. Then with a shudder he saw that they were feet no longer, but
bird's claws. He looked at the girl he was clasping, and beheld a great
black bird standing at his side; he turned to his friends, but a flock
of great awkward flapping creatures stood in their place He put up his
hands to cover his face, but they were no more hands, only the ends of
wings; and when he tried to speak, a noise such as he had never heard
before seemed to come from his throat, which had suddenly become narrow
and slender. Already the water had risen to his waist, and he found
himself sitting easily upon it, while its surface reflected back the
image of a black swan, one of many.

Never again did the swans become men; but they are still different from
other swans, for in the night-time those who listen can hear them talk
in a language that is certainly not swan's language; and there are even
sounds of laughing and talking, unlike any noise made by the swans whom
we know.

The little Bunyip was carried home by its mother, and after that the
waters sank back to their own channels. The side of the pool where
she lives is always shunned by everyone, as nobody knows when she may
suddenly put out her head and draw him into her mighty jaws. But people
say that underneath the black waters of the pool she has a house filled
with beautiful things, such as mortals who dwell on the earth have no
idea of. Though how they know I cannot tell you, as nobo