of such plagues."

"If you clear the forest of that pest, I feel sure you can have anything
you ask for," said Karr.

The snake did not respond to this until he had crawled under a tree
stump, where he was well protected. Then he said:

"Tell Grayskin that if he will leave Liberty Forest forever, and go far
north, where no oak tree grows, I will send sickness and death to all
the creeping things that gnaw the pines and spruces!"

"What's that you say?" asked Karr, bristling up. "What harm has Grayskin
ever done you?"

"He has slain the one whom I loved best," the snake declared, "and I
want to be avenged."

Before the snake had finished speaking, Karr made a dash for him; but
the reptile lay safely hidden under the tree stump.

"Stay where you are!" Karr concluded. "We'll manage to drive out the
caterpillars without your help."

THE BIG WAR OF THE MOTHS

The following spring, as Karr was dashing through the forest one
morning, he heard some one behind him calling: "Karr! Karr!"

He turned and saw an old fox standing outside his lair.

"You must tell me if the humans are doing anything for the forest," said
the fox.

"Yes, you may be sure they are!" said Karr. "They are working as hard as
they can."

"They have killed off all my kinsfolk, and they'll be killing me next,"
protested the fox. "But they shall be pardoned for that if only they
save the forest."

That year Karr never ran into the woods without some animal's asking if
the humans could save the forest. It was not easy for the dog to answer;
the people themselves were not certain that they could conquer the
moths. But considering how feared and hated old Kolmarden had always
been, it was remarkable that every day more than a hundred men went
there, to work. They cleared away the underbrush. They felled dead
trees, lopped off branches from the live ones so that the caterpillars
could not easily crawl from tree to tree; they also dug wide trenches
around the ravaged parts and put up lime-washed fences to keep them out
of new territory. Then they painted rings of lime around the trunks of
trees to prevent the caterpillars leaving those they had already
stripped. The idea was to force them to remain where they were until
they starved to death.

The people worked with the forest until far into the spring. They were
hopeful, and could hardly wait for the caterpillars to come out from
their eggs, feeling certain that they had shut them in so effectu