Diamond looked all about and then he saw the tiniest creature, sliding down the stem of the tulip.
"Are you the fairy that herds the bees?" he asked kneeling down beside the tulip bed.
"I am not a fairy," answered the little creature. "You stupid Diamond, have you never seen me before?"
As she spoke, a moan of wind bent the tulips almost to the ground and then he recognized North Wind.
"But there!" added the little creature, "I must not stay to chatter. I have to go and sink a ship to-night."
"Sink a ship!" cried Diamond. "And drown the men and women in it? How dreadful! Still I cannot believe you are cruel, North Wind!"
"No, I could not be cruel, and yet I must often do what looks cruel to those who do not know. But the people they say I drown, I only carry away to the back of the north wind—only I never saw the place."
"But how can you carry them there if you never saw the place? And how is it that you never saw it?"
"Because it is behind me. You cannot see your own back, you know. But run along now if you want to go with me to-night. I cannot take you till you have been to bed and gone to sleep. I'll look about and do something till you are ready. Do you see that man over there on the river in the boat who is just floating about? Now watch!"
She flashed like a dragon-fly across the water whose surface rippled and puckered as she passed. The next moment, the man in the boat glanced about him and bent to his oars. The boat flew over the rippling water. The same instant almost, North Wind perched again upon the river wall.