Summary

In section ten of Ducks, Newburyport, the lioness grows so desperate for her cubs that she calls to them without fear of rousing human anger. When she receives no reply, the lioness circles a lake and peers into every home she passes in case her kittens have been held captive there. Angry that human noise prevents her from hearing her cubs, the lioness and Jim venture to less populated terrain.

Later, Jim and the lioness find themselves caught in a storm. She imagines that her cries cause the rain to cascade around them like waterfalls and dreams repeatedly of capsizing the men who glide on water in their floating nests from her home in the lake beneath them. Knowing that she is both nearing her cubs and being pursued by men, the lioness longs for thick foliage to conceal her. Without such protection, a...