Just then a dense cloud came over the sun, and
sank swiftly toward the earth! The cloud moved all
together, and yet it was made up of thousands of
white flakes, each one moving by itself. These flakes
were the wings of pigeons!

Down swooped the birds upon the soldiers of
Borsa-grass! Right into the faces of man and horse
they flew with swift-beating wings, blinding their
eyes! Horses reared and plunged and wheeled! All
was at once in confusion! The men made frantic
efforts to catch the birds, but not one could they
touch! Between every wild clutch came a peck of a
beak and a slap of a wing in the face! Down and up
again the pigeons skimmed, and around and around!
It was like a storm at sea in which the wind was made
up of birds and the sea made up of men!

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