We went to the bank when the tide was
in again to watch Liebchen go out. Kreps was pretty tearful.
"Aber," he says, "she iss too much of her."
She came feeling her way through the channel with her snout under
water. Kamelillo's bamboo stuck out of her fat side six feet or more.
Veronica cackled at her, and her feathers stood up, so that you could
see she thought Liebchen was no lady. Liebchen passed close beneath
us. Seemed like she felt mortified. Kreps broke down, but Kamelillo
was gay.
"Dam hen!" he says, and grabbed Veronica with both hands. "Go too!"
and he flung her at Liebchen, and she went through the air squawking
and fluttering. She lit on Liebchen's slippery back, and she slid
till she struck the bamboo, and roosted. If she had had time to think
she might have flopped ashore, but she was flustered, and Liebchen
got out of the channel and steered into the Pacific. Veronica
squawked a few times, and no more. The sea was quiet. The two moved
off, going eastward very slow. Kamelillo went back to his camp fire
and made poi, but Kreps and I watched, expecting that Liebchen would
go under and Veronica be lost. But they kept on till there was only a
black spot near the edge of the sky.
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