The female, however, was upon the alert; and seeing these draw near, she raised her head with a loud "tweet!" which attracted the attention of her companions.

In a moment their spread tails closed and came to the ground, their wings were shut up, and their long necks stretched into the air.

Their forms underwent a complete change, and they now stood erect upon the prairie, _Each of them full five feet in height_! "Beautiful creatures!" exclaimed Lucien.
"Yes," muttered Basil.

"They will not give us much longer time though.
We had best make a dash.

Take you the hen, Luce, your horse is the slowest.