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 Characterizing Task-Related Temporal Dynamics of
Spatial Activation Distributions in fMRI BOLD Signals

Bernard Ng1, Rafeef Abugharbieh1, Samantha J. Palmer2,3,

and Martin J. McKeown3
1
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
2
Department of Neuroscience
3
Department of Medicine (Neurology), Pacific Parkinson’s Research Center,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
[email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. We present a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

analysis method that incorporates both spatial and temporal dynamics of blood-
oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signals within a region of interest (ROI). 3D
moment descriptors are used to characterize the spatial changes in BOLD
signals over time. The method is tested on fMRI data collected from eight
healthy subjects performing a bulb-squeezing motor task with their right-hand
at various frequencies. Multiple brain regions including the left cerebellum,
both primary motor cortices (M1), both supplementary motor areas (SMA), left
prefrontal cortex (PFC), and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) demonstrate
significant task-related changes. Furthermore, our method is able to
discriminate differences in activation patterns at the various task frequencies,
whereas using a traditional intensity based method, no significant activation
difference is detected. This suggests that temporal dynamics of the spatial
distribution of BOLD signal provide additional information regarding task-
related activation thus complementing conventional intensity-based approaches.

Keywords: functional imaging, spatio-temporal fMRI analysis, region of

interest (ROI), brain activation, 3D moments.

1 Introduction

The most common application of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is in

mapping neural region(s) to particular function(s) by examining which brain areas
activate when a certain task is performed. Most conventional analysis methods, such
as statistical parametric mapping (SPM) [1], analyze each voxel’s timecourse
independently and assign a statistics value to that voxel based on its probability of
being activated. To make group inferences under this approach, spatial warping of
each subject’s brain to a common exemplar shape is often performed to create a
correspondence between voxels across subjects [2]. However, spatial normalization,
which is typically followed by spatial smoothing, may inappropriately pool responses

N. Ayache, S. Ourselin, A. Maeder (Eds.): MICCAI 2007, Part I, LNCS 4791, pp. 767–774, 2007.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007
768 B. Ng et al.

from functionally dissimilar regions [3], thus degrading important spatial information.
An alternative approach that involves drawing regions of interest (ROIs) individually
for each subject, and examining the statistical properties of regional activation across
subjects, has been shown to offer finer localization and increased sensitivity to
task-related effects [3]. This subject-specific ROI-based approach is thus followed in
this study.
To determine whether an ROI is activated or not, a simple approach is to calculate
the average intensity over an ROI at every time point, and determine if the resulting
average time course significantly correlates with the stimulus [4]. This approach,
however, ignores any spatial information of activity within an ROI and assumes that
only signal amplitude is modulated by task. However, spatial information might be an
important attribute of brain activity. Preliminary evidence supporting this idea of
spatial characterization was first shown by Thickbroom et al. [5], where the spatial
extent of activation, as opposed to response magnitude, was found to be modulated by
different levels of force during a sustained finger flexion task. Their results were
based on visual inspection and counting the number of activated voxels within an
ROI. Recently, we presented a more elaborate study of the spatial patterns of activity
within an ROI where quantitative measures of invariant spatial properties were used
to discriminate task-related differences in brain activity [6]. Results demonstrated
that, by examining changes in different spatial aspects of an activation distribution,
sensitivity in detecting functional changes is enhanced as compared to using intensity
means only.
Previous analyses examining spatial patterns of activation, including that in [6],
were performed on T-maps where the spatial information is collapsed over time, thus
only considered the time-averaged spatial patterns of brain activity. In this paper, we
extend our previously proposed spatial characterization approach to the temporal
domain to explore whether the spatial distribution of the blood oxygenation level-
dependent (BOLD) signal itself is modulated in time by task performance. We note an
important difference between our current and previous work [6] is that the generated
spatial feature time courses can be used to infer ROI activation, as opposed to only
comparing 2 groups of time-averaged activation statistical maps. To characterize the
spatial changes, three dimensional (3D) moment descriptors were used as features and
were calculated at each time point. The magnitudes of these features, however, are
normally not comparable across subjects due to inter-subject variability in brain
shapes and sizes, but are comparable for the same subject over time. Thus, any
detected modulations of the spatial features over time for a given subject may in fact
represent meaningful spatial changes in activation.
In this study, eight healthy subjects were recruited to perform a bulb-squeezing
task at various frequencies. The cerebellum, primary motor cortex (M1),
supplementary motor area (SMA), prefrontal cortex (PFC), and anterior cingulate
cortex (ACC) were chosen as regions of interest. We demonstrate that our method can
both detect activation within an ROI, as well as discriminate differences in activation
patterns at the various task frequencies. This confirms previous findings of the value
in incorporating spatial information into traditional intensity-based fMRI analyses.
 Characterizing Task-Related Temporal Dynamics 769

2 Data Acquisition and Preprocessing

In this study, after informed consent was obtained, fMRI data were collected from 8
healthy subjects. Each subject was required to perform a right-handed motor task that
involved squeezing a bulb with sufficient pressure such that an ‘inflatable ring’,
shown as a black horizontal bar on a screen, was kept within an undulating pathway
(Fig. 1-a). The pathway remains straight during rest periods and becomes sinusoidal
at time of stimulus. Each run lasted 260 s, consisting of a 20 s rest period at the
beginning and end, 6 stimuli of 20 s duration, and 20 s rest periods between the
stimuli, as shown in Fig. 1-b. At time of stimulus, the subject was required to squeeze
the bulb at 0.25, 0.5 or 0.75 Hz, corresponding to ‘Slow’, ‘Med’, and ‘Fast’ in Fig 1-
b. The data were collected as part of a larger experiment exploring the rate of change
of force production in older subjects and subjects with Parkinson’s disease.

(a) (b)
Fig. 1. Experimental task and stimulus timing. (a) Subjects were required to keep the side of the
black ring on the gray path (see text). (b) R = rest, Slow, Med, and Fast = stimulus at 0.25, 0.5,
and 0.75 Hz, respectively. Each block is 20 s in duration.

2.1 fMRI Data Acquisition

Functional MRI was performed on a Philips Gyroscan Intera 3.0 T scanner (Philips,
Best, Netherlands) equipped with a head-coil. We collected echo-planar (EPI) T2*-
weighted images with BOLD contrast. Scanning parameters were: repetition time
1985 ms, echo time 3.7 ms, flip angle 90°, field of view (FOV) 216¥143¥240 mm, in
plane resolution 128¥128 pixels, pixel size 1.9¥1.9 mm. Each functional run lasted 4
minutes where 36 axial slices of 3 mm thickness were collected in each volume, with
a gap thickness of 1 mm. We selected slices to cover the dorsal surface of the brain
and included the cerebellum ventrally. A high resolution 3D T1-weighted image
consisting of 170 axial slices was acquired of the whole brain to facilitate anatomical
localization of activation for each subject.

2.2 fMRI PreProcessing

The fMRI data was preprocessed for each subject, using Brain Voyager’s (Brain
Innovation B.V.) trilinear interpolation for 3D motion correction and sinc interpolation
for slice time correction. Further motion correction was performed using motion
corrected independent component analysis (MCICA) [7]. To handle temporal
autocorrelations, a ‘coloring’ scheme was used [8], where the time series were high-pass
770 B. Ng et al.

filtered at 0.02 Hz (task-frequency being 0.025 Hz) to remove the majority of the low
frequency noise, and temporally smoothened with a Gaussian of width 2.8 s [8]. The
first and last 20 s of the time series were truncated to mitigate transient effects. No
spatial smoothing was performed.
The Brain Extraction Tool (BET) in MRIcro [9] was used to strip the skull off of the
anatomical and first functional image from each run to enable a more accurate
alignment of the functional and anatomical scans. Custom scripts to co-register the
anatomical and functional images were generated using the Amira software (Mercury
Computer Systems, San Diego, USA).
Ten specific ROIs were manually drawn on each unwarped structural scan using
Amira. The following ROIs were drawn separately in each hemisphere, based upon
anatomical landmarks and guided by a neurological atlas [10]: cerebellum, M1
(Brodman Area 4), SMA (Brodman Area 6), PFC (Brodman Area 9 and 10), and
ACC (Brodman Area 28 and 32). The labels on the segmented anatomical scans were
resliced at the fMRI resolution. The raw time courses of the voxels within each ROI
were then extracted for analysis as described in the next section.

3 Methods
The main goal of the proposed method is to demonstrate that temporal dynamics of
the spatial distribution in BOLD signals can be used to infer whether an ROI is
activated, as well as to discriminate differences in activation patterns at various task
frequencies. Details of feature time course extraction, activation detection, and
activation pattern discrimination are discussed below.

3.1 Feature Time Course Extraction

The spatial feature descriptors used in this paper are based on centralized 3D
moments, defined as:
∞ ∞ ∞
μ pqr (t ) = ∫ ∫ ∫ (x − x) ( y − y ) q ( z − z ) r ρ ( x, y, z , t )dxdydz ,
p
(1)
−∞ −∞ −∞

where n = p + q + r is the order of the moment, (x,y,z) are the coordinates of a voxel,
ρ(x,y,z,t) is the intensity of a voxel located at (x,y,z) inside a given ROI at time t, and
x , y , and z are the centroid coordinates of ρ(x,y,z,t). To untangle the effect of
amplitude changes, ρ(x,y,z,t) is normalized such that the intensity values of the voxels
within the ROI sums up to one at every time point t. This step ensures that the mean
ROI intensity does not change with time. Thus, any detected modulations in the
spatial feature will be purely due to spatial changes in the BOLD signal. To ease
interpretation of the results and since higher order moments are less robust to noise
[11], only 2nd and 3rd order 3D moment descriptors characterizing spatial variance
[12] and skewness, respectively, were used:

J1 (t ) = μ 200 (t ) + μ 020 (t ) + μ 002 (t ) , (2)

 Characterizing Task-Related Temporal Dynamics 771

S (t ) = μ 300 (t ) + μ 030 (t ) + μ 003 (t ) , (3)

To compare with the results obtained using the proposed spatial feature time courses,
the traditionally used mean intensity time course, I(t), for each ROI of a given subject
is calculated by averaging the intensity over the ROI at every time point.

3.2 Activation Detection

To make group inference as to whether a given ROI is activated, each subject’s ROI
feature time courses (spatial or mean intensity) are first correlated with a box-car that
is time-locked to stimulus with a delay of 4 s [13]. We did not convolve the box-car
with a haemodynamic response function since spatial changes, as governed by the
different onsets of the active voxels, may exhibit a different temporal profile than that
of the haemodynamic response. For each subject, this results in thirty correlation
values, one per combination of feature and ROI (e.g. J1(t), left M1). Each correlation
value is then converted into a T-value (4):

N −2
T=r , (4)
1 − r2
where r is the correlation value and N is the number of samples used in generating r.
The set of T-values of a particular combination of feature and ROI from all subjects is
then tested against 1.96 using a T-test to determine the probability (p-value) that the
T-values are lower than 1.96 (i.e. the probability that ROI is not activated). The
critical p-value was chosen at 0.05.

3.3 Activation Pattern Discrimination

To discriminate the differences in activation pattern at the various task frequencies,

each subject’s ROI feature time courses (spatial or mean intensity) are first segmented
according to Fig. 2. Except for the first and last segments, each segment consists of a

1.5

0.5

-0.5

-1

-1.5
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260
time (sec)

Fig. 2. Feature time course segmentation. The box-car curve corresponds to timing of the
stimulus delayed by 4 s. The solid line is a sample feature time course (spatial variance, J1(t), of
the left M1 averaged over subjects with its temporal mean removed and divided by its standard
deviation). The dotted lines show how the feature time courses are parsed into 6 segments.
Slow, Med, and Fast correspond to the task frequencies of 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 Hz, respectively.
772 B. Ng et al.

10 s rest before and after the 20 s stimulus. Segments of the same task frequency are
concatenated and correlated with the corresponding segments of the shifted reference
signal (see Fig. 2). This results in ninety correlation values per subject, one for each
combination of frequency, feature, and ROI (e.g. slow, J1(t), left M1). Each
correlation value is then converted into a T-value using (4).
For each combination of feature and ROI, the set of T-values of a particular
frequency from all subjects are tested pair-wise against the other two frequencies (i.e.
fast versus slow, fast versus medium, medium versus slow). This is performed using a
T-test to determine the probability (p-value) that the sets of T-values from the two
task frequencies are the same (i.e. the probability that activation patterns at the two
frequencies are the same). The critical p-value was chosen at 0.05.

4 Results and Discussion

Table 1 summarizes the activation detection results generated by extracting the spatial
and intensity features from real fMRI data as described in Section 3.2, and correlating
the resulting feature time courses with the reference signal.

Table 1. p-values of ROI activation. CER = cerebellum, J1(t) = spatial variance, S(t) =
skewness, I (t ) = mean intensity, L = left, R = right, * = statically significant at α = 0.05

Feature J1 (t ) S (t ) I (t )
LCER 0.002* 0.077 0.469
RCER 0.220 0.066 0.042*
LM1 0.002* 0.051 0.162
RM1 0.157 0.047* 0.164
LSMA 0.027* 0.034* 0.021*
RSMA 0.044* 0.035* 0.034*
LPFC 0.036* 0.020* 0.034*
RPFC 0.341 0.185 0.058
LACC 0.001* 0.301 0.023*
RACC 0.056 0.112 0.045*

Using spatial variance, J1(t), the left cerebellum, left M1, both SMAs, left PFC, and
left ACC were detected as active. We expected the left M1 to be activated, as
typically observed for right-handed motor tasks. It is worth noting that the left M1’s
BOLD signal distribution shown reduced spatial variance (i.e. focuses) during the
time of stimulus (see Fig. 2). Skewness, S(t), additionally detected activation in the
right M1. These results demonstrate that the spatial distribution of BOLD signals is,
in fact, modulated by stimulus, which supports our hypothesis that spatial changes in
BOLD signals are task-related and can be used to infer activation within an ROI.
Using the traditional mean intensity measure, the right cerebellum, both SMAs,
left PFC, and both ACCs were detected as active. Comparing to the results generated
with the proposed spatial features, some consistencies are shown. In fact, based on the
results in Table 1, activation within an ROI appears to modulate both in amplitude
and in space.
 Characterizing Task-Related Temporal Dynamics 773

Segmenting the feature time courses according to task frequencies and using the
proposed spatial features, significant frequency-related activation differences were
detected in the right cerebellum and right M1 when comparing fast versus slow
frequencies (Table 2). These results matched our expectations since the modulation of
movement speed is known to involve a complex network of brain areas, including the
right cerebellum and right M1 [14]. Also, significant activation differences were
found in the right PFC and right ACC using the proposed spatial features. In contrast,
no significant activation differences were found using mean intensity. Also, no
significant activation differences were detected when comparing fast versus medium
frequencies and medium versus slow frequencies for any of the features, thus these
results were excluded in Table 2.

Table 2. p-values of activation differences comparing fast versus slow frequencies. CER =
cerebellum, J1(t) = spatial variance, S(t) = skewness, I (t ) = mean intensity, L = left, R = right,
*statically significant at α = 0.05.

Feature J 1 (t ) S (t ) I (t )
LCER 0.1834 0.1931 0.1528
RCER 0.9993 0.0096* 0.2757
LM1 0.2932 0.4017 0.4190
RM1 0.0442* 0.3223 0.1524
LSMA 0.6872 0.2499 0.1836
RSMA 0.7887 0.9066 0.0579
LPFC 0.5981 0.3059 0.2760
RPFC 0.0398* 0.3668 0.7416
LACC 0.2551 0.4029 0.2126
RACC 0.0311* 0.1028 0.3248

Examining the results in Table 2, spatial changes appear to provide greater

sensitivity in detecting subtle activation differences as compared to intensity.

5 Conclusions
In this paper, we proposed using 3D moment-based spatial descriptors to characterize
the temporal dynamics of spatial activation distribution within an ROI for fMRI
analysis. We demonstrated with real fMRI data that certain spatial aspects of
activation, as opposed to just amplitude, are modulated by stimulus - a result that
appeared consistent across subjects. Furthermore, we showed that our method was
able to better discriminate frequency-related differences in activation patterns during
motor task performance when compared to using mean intensity only. These results
suggest that spatial characterization of BOLD signal can complement traditional
intensity-based fMRI analysis. A direct extension of the proposed method would be to
examine functional connectivity and phase relations between ROIs using spatial
feature time courses, an approach currently being pursued.
774 B. Ng et al.

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Other documents randomly have
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us spend a lot of time doing when it's too late. And it very often isn't till you
stand outside and wish you hadn't, that you know how jolly it was inside,
before you had.

Then Tiny turned away down the steps no more joggle now; and he was
so sorry he blew his nose.

And Baby heard his nose go from her room above, and she knew, and
thought,

"You dear old goose, you!" which was a very favourite thought of Baby's,
and like Baby to think it just then.

And she tipped on her toes in the middle of the room, and saw Tiny going
through the gate blowing his nose to take the water out of his eyes. And
when she saw that, she waved to him, only he couldn't see her, and she didn't
want him to, for after all she was teaching Tiny, and he had been about as
bad as a man can be, which is pretty bad.

Then Baby picked up her skirts, and did some steps before the looking-
glass.

And she looked pretty tip-top; only there was nobody to see her only
herself.

So she swung round, and stopped before the glass, and bobbed to herself,
and said,

"You're pretty jolly, Miss."

Then she remembered Tiny and the tea-thing, and she roared, and said,

"You're far worse than Tiny, my dear girl!" And she gave a twirl and a
skip and kicked her hand with her foot; and was as free and happy as a lark
because she knew she had won.

And Baby always won over Tiny, because she always won over herself.
And if you can't win over yourself, you can't expect to win over other
people.
 And a woman can always win over a man, so long as the man is decently
good, and so long as she goes by the Big Rule. For the Big Rule is the same
in That Country as in all others.

And the Big Rule is,

Love is Power.

27

Then Tiny walked across the Common.

And the road gleamed before him in the sun, so that it was like walking
on a silver river; for the frost was oozing out of the ground, though all under
the gorse-bushes was white still. And the ivy on the beeches in the Wood at
the foot of the Fort-hill shone till it dazzled, while the beeches themselves
were a cloud of purple.

And when Tiny got into the shadow of the Wood the road was hard again,
and rang to his feet; and all the little pools were feathered over with ice; and
a chaffinch sat on a bare bough, and pinked.

And all that was lovely. Only Tiny didn't see any of it: for he was so sad
inside that everything was dark to him.

But when he had gone by, the Commander-in-Chief, who had been hiding
behind a beech-trunk, came out, and stood in the road, with his hands on his
knees, and laughed most horridly.
 Book VI headpiece

BOOK VI.—THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF PAYS

FOR GOLIATH

28

Then Tiny climbed up the Hill to the Fort.

And there the Fellows were taking down the wire netting, which they
always put round the wall at dark, in case They should come on by night: for
They were like a lot more, They were always supposed to be going to do a
heap of things They never did.

Then Tiny shook hands with the brown Captain, and kicked the yellow
one, and crawled through the wall by the cannon-hole, and out on to the
barrack-square.
 And the barrack-square was a sort of blank desert with cubicles all round;
and the Junior Subaltern was making up the beds inside, which was always
his little job: for the Junior Subaltern has to do all the things that nobody else
will do in that Regiment.

But directly he saw Tiny, he shut up work, and came across the square,
very silly and sheepish.

And the Junior Subaltern walked with his toes rather turned in. And his
knickers were patched, and his stockings darned: for his mother was a very
careful woman. And his collar had slipped up the back of his neck, so that
there was a great gap: for his back-button was off, as usual, although they
always put him under arrest for it whenever they remembered. But what the
Junior Subaltern always said was,

"It's mother—not me."

Then when he got quite close to Tiny, he looked at his toes, and said in a
very little whisper,

"Truly sorry, Tiny."

Then Tiny frowned and answered,

"I should just think you were. Certainly you ought to be. And now tell
me, what is it you are sorry for?"

So the Junior Subaltern twiddled his toes over each other, and answered
very low,

"For you know."

Then Tiny said very sternly,

"Yes, I know—only I've forgotten."

So the Junior Subaltern whispered,

 "At your wedding."

Then Tiny remembered about the drop of lime-juice off a feather in the
porch. And he wagged his head very sorrowfully and said,

"O dear! O dear! O dear!" And he walked up and down for a long long
time, with his hands behind him, and his chin on his chest, groaning, and so
on etc.

Then at last he stopped, and rolled one eye at the Junior Subaltern, and
said,

"I forgive you on condition I may lecture you for as long as I like. D'you
agree?"

So the Junior Subaltern answered,

"I should like to think it over first, please," for he knew what a lecture
from Tiny meant.

So he turned his back, and dug at a weed with his toe, while he thought it
over.

Then after about a bit he muttered pretty tearfully,

"Well, I agree, because there's no other way. Only goodness sake get it
over quick."

Then Tiny took him tight by the arm, and walked him up and down, and
up and down, and gave him the longest lecture that ever was all about
nothing, and simplee loved it.

And the Junior Subaltern blew his nose upside down without a
handkerchief, which you do when you want the tears to go inside and not
out, and said every quarter of an hour,

"I say! isn't that bout enough?"

But Tiny only answered,

 "No, thank-you," and went on.

So the Junior Subaltern said rather sulkily,

"Well, it's a good long go anyway."

Then when Tiny really could not think of any more, he made the Junior
Subaltern learn by heart the Sorry Song he and Baby had written in
Moonland; and after that he made him stand on the Fort-wall and sing it;
which he did—not very nicely.

And when that was finished, Tiny said,

"That'll do for the present, thank-you."

So the Junior Subaltern scrambled off the wall, saying to himself out
loud,

"Jolly good job too," and ran off to find the Boy.

29

So Tiny came to the whitewash shed, where the Fellows were now, eating
more and complaining louder than ever.

Then when Tiny had counted them, he said,

"But where's the Colonel?"

So the brown Captain answered,

"In bed—bad with shock."

And all the Fellows said in a sort of a chorus,

"Bed—bad with shock."

 And some said it was one thing; and some said it was another; and a good
lot said it was neither. But they all agreed that Cooey had come from the
Castle in the dawn with a writing, and had fluttered up to the Colonel, who
was helping the Boy soap Goliath; and that after reading the writing the
Colonel had taken to his bed without a word.

Then Tiny, who loved the Colonel, because he was so red and round and
thought nice of everybody, ran up the ladder to the loft: for the Colonel
always lives above the shed in that Army to be handy.

And when Tiny had undone the trap-door, and peeped through, there lay
the dear old Colonel in bed in the dark corner under the cobweb, quite quite
bald.

And his knees were cocked up, and his arms round them, and his little
nose laid on his knees skew-wise.

And he was saying to himself in a weak voice,

"I am the Colonel. I love evewybody, and evewybody loves me. And
evewything's always as nice as nice can be in our dear Countwy. Only I've
had a bit of a shock—that's all."

Then Tiny climbed out on to the floor, and came towards the corner on
his toes.

And when the Colonel saw him coming, he let his knees down, and went
back on the pillow, and said rather faintly,

"Ah, my dear dear boy!—how are you?—how's Baby?" for next to

animals, the Colonel loved Baby best in all the world.

Then Tiny shook hands and said,

"I'm awfully sorry to hear of this, Sir." And he pulled a truss of straw up
to the bed and sat on it, and said very gently,

"Would you care for me to tell you about me and Baby and Moonland,
Sir?—and the landlady, and the lake, and the fish there was supposed to be
there, and that?"

For Tiny began to understand a little about illness now: for Baby taught
him. Only he thought he understood a lot more than he did, which was rather
a favourite thing of Tiny's.

But the Colonel shut his eyes, and said, "Thank-you, my dear boy, thank-
you. Some day I want to hear all about it—not just now though. Twuth is
I've had wather a shock. So've you, my poor boy. So've we all. Only p'w'aps
it's worse for you and my little Marwy than for the others."

And he opened his eyes a bit, and said, "Have you got into Cosy Cottage
yet, you and Baby?"

So Tiny cheered up and answered, "Yes, Sir. We settled in last night, as

jolly as can be. Baby sings all the time she's so happy."

Then the Colonel nodded to and fro, murmuring,

"Ah, my poor boy! my poor Baby!—bad, bad, bad."

Then he wiped his eyes, and picked up a blue writing that was lying on
the bed, and handed it Tiny, saying,

"It's all in there, my poor boy—all in there. Wead it yourself. I wouldn't

have it otherwise for the world. Still it's wather a shock—that's all:
especially for you and my little Marwy."

Then Tiny took the writing to the dusty sunbeam that lit the loft through a
crack in the thatch.

And the writing was in a great blob hand that Tiny knew well; and it
went,

Move to-day, u and the Redgement, and any more u like, to another Fort
if u can find one. Why? Because I order you—I am
The Right Honorary St Jack-Assquire,
Own blud brudder to George,
Commander-in-Chief at the Castle now,
And hope to be Royal King one day.

P.S.—I send u a midjut of me in my khaki with what Willie give me on my

right turn. I send it u free, because to show I've got no grudge against u....
Shew it round. It shud encurudge recruutin. Send me some reports on this
soon as u know.

Then as Tiny read it through for the second time, the Colonel said from
the bed,

"Wather wude—ain't it'?" And he sniffed a bit. "But there! dear old St
Jacky! I can't help loving the chap—he is so very stwaight."

All the same his mouth began to go, and he went on rather gaspy,

"I don't mind for myself. It's my little Marwy. Her mother's buried here. I
think it will bweak her h-h-heart." And one tear went. "And it means a move
for you too, poor fellow. Cosy Cottage goes with the Fort, you know."

And he dabbed and went on,

"I wonder what it all means."

Then Tiny, who was rather white, answered,

"It means spite, Sir," and he told the Colonel about the Commander-in-
Chief's great ambition, and his attempt on Goliath by night, and his toe, and
so on etc.: for they had not told the Colonel before, because they always kept
from him anything that would give him pain.

And when he heard that, he said,

"I'm disappointed in St Jack—vewy disappointed. I thought he was a

gweat man," for he always took everybody at their own opinion of
themselves, which was very sweet and simple of him.

But Tiny tore the writing into little bits, and put them on the fire; so that it
was like hell for the bits.

And he said to himself out loud,

"Debbel-debbel-damb-damb," which he knew quite well he shouldn't.

Then he ran across the floor pitter-pat; and down the ladder to the bottom,
bump; and across the square patter-pit; screaming,

"I don't care! I will say!—Debbel-debbel-damb-damb."

30

So Tiny ran out of the Fort to tell Baby they must move out of Cosy
Cottage at once, quickly this minute.

And a little woolly white dog came out after him in a great state, and
stood on four legs, and barked till it shook.

But Tiny only ran on like lead.

So the little woolly white dog pretended he'd driven him off, and walked
across the road and back very stiff on his toes, to try to take the cat in. But
the cat just sat on the wall, and blinked instead.

Then Tiny pounded down the hill with his heart in his heels.

And the hedges on either side looked like crawly purple caterpillars with
grey-green leper splotches where the privet grew; and a plump little wren
flitted in and out before him as he ran, mocking; while the Pond on the
Common beneath winked each time the wind blew, like a leering great eye.

And Tiny loathed them all.

 So he ran across the little Bridge, and round the Wood, where the beeches
flushed among the grey of the ashes, and across the Common among the
gorse, till he came to Cosy Cottage.

And the sun shone on it; and the sparrows chirped in the creepers; and
mannikin sang in the boot-hole at the back; and Phyllis was at the door
polishing the knocker; and even the Others were leaning out of upstairs,
pretending with dusters, while they tried to carry on with the King, who was
cleaning the Castle-window round the corner; while the Queen scowled from
the wash-tub.

And when Tiny saw all that, and remembered Baby singing so happy that
morning, his heart stopped dead. And he stood with his hand on the gate, and
just looked.

Then the door burst open, and out rushed Baby in an apron, with a scream
and a scurry, yelling,

"O, Tiny! what do you think?"

But Tiny only answered quite dull and dead,

"What?"

So Baby cried,

"The Commander-in-Chief's been to call!—And hee came disguised as a

parson—only he forgot about his cocked hat, which he was wearing. So of
course I found him out, and roared. And when he saw he was discovered, he
looked rather silly at first. Then he cheered up, and said it was all a joke
done to amuse me. And really he was so sweet and smiling—you can't think.
He bowed up and down in the door, and said he'd come to ask if I was happy
in my little home, for that was all he cared about; and there were quite tears
in his eyes. And when I said I should just think I was, he seemed delighted—
honestly. Wasn't that nice of him?"
 DISGUISED AS A PARSON

And she hopped on the path, her hand upon Tiny's arm, and her hair all
splendid and babbled on,

"So of course I asked him in, and showed him over, and all my
improvements and that. And he rubbed his hands and chuckled, and said how
cosy and comfie, and hoped I should live to enjoy it as long as I liked. And
after that he asked how mannikin was getting on, and if he might see him,
and said that was really why he came, and the reason of his disguise. So I
took him myself. And he gave him quite a nice little talking to on being good
and not spiteful and that; and said if he didn't try to escape perhaps the King
would let him out some day. But mannikin behaved shockingly and cuddled
away in the corner, nibbling his nut, and giggled till I was really quite
ashamed."

And when Baby remembered that, and the Commander-in-Chief standing

in the door of the boot-hole in his parson's clothes and cocked hat talking pi,
she laughed like anything.

But Tiny just said nothing.

So Baby babbled on,

"And after that he shook hands, and said he could feel happy about me
now—Wasn't it nice of him? And he took off his cocked hat, and went down
the road, whistling. So you see he's quite a reformed character." And she laid
her hand on Tiny's arm, and twinkled up at him, and said slowly,

"I—almost—wish——"

Then she looked in her pocket, and cried,

"But O! I forgot. I was to give this writing to Captain Tiny with his dear
love. So you see, Tiny, he can forgive."

But Tiny said nothing, and took the writing.

 And it was in pencil on some greasy paper that had folded a dead fish: for
St Jack was good at insults if he was good at nothing else.

And the writing ran,

I paid u one for your snuk. This pays u for your share in Goliuf. And I will
pay u one more yet because I love u so.

How?

Ha!

SAINT JACK.

P.S.—I have got orders from the King to burn down Cosy Cottage before
night, because I told him it had been lived in by swines, who had had swine-
fever. So clear out at once or sooner.

31

Then Tiny wound round Baby, and walked her up and down in the road
under the yew-hedge, where nobody could see, only Methuselah, who didn't
matter, and told her all about it very tenderly.

And when Baby heard that, she went quite pale, and leaned on Tiny, so
that he wound round very tight indeed.

But all she said was,

"Pooh! move to another Fort!—what's it matter?—means a change of

house—that's all."

Only when she got back to the garden, and saw her little home so cosy
under creepers, and the two windows in front so neat and nice, with tiny
white curtains with waists that she'd put up herself that morning, and the one
behind, with nothing yet, but soon would have, and everybody so busy and
happy and good, she did blink a bit.

And when Tiny saw that, he said in her ear,

"You poor old duck, you!"

But Baby just hopped and cried,

"Pah!—I hate this little dog-hole. Not enough room to swing a cat in.
Thankful to be shut of it."

All the same she let go Tiny's arm and ran quickly. And when she got into
her dear little parlour that she'd arranged so cosy and stuffy and huggy-warm
and tight up to the top with things, and Tiny's big chair one side the hearth
where he was to have learned up E in the evenings, and her little one on the
other side where she was to have heard him say it, she locked the door and
sat down and began.

Then Tiny came up outside.

And when he heard what was going on inside, he tried hard to get in.

But Baby wouldn't let him.

So Tiny whispered with his mouth, close to the crack,

"O, Baby, d'you forgive for this morning?"

Then Baby came to the door, and undid a bit, and shoved her little finger
through.

So Tiny took it, and said, all sobby,

"Best and booflest!—Gobbless. Gobbless. Gobbless. Amen. Amen.

Amen. No more now. See you again some day. Bye. Goobye."

And he ran out.

 32

Then as the clock struck twelve the Colonel marched out of the Fort, with
little Marwy, the regimental baa-lamb, on a string, and his sword drawn,
saying,

"Left-right! left-right!"

And behind him came the Fellows saying in a sort of chorus,

"Left-right! left-right!"

And behind the Fellows came old Goly and the Boy, drawing the great
cannon: which was really what Goly was for, only they used him for rides
instead.

And as they passed the Wood, the Commander-in-Chief sat on a gate,

with his cocked hat on the back of his head and said to himself out loud,

"And if they don't find a Fort then that proves they're no soldiers. So out
of the Country they go for shams. And if they do, then I come and plough the
lot in E. So guess I've got um either way."

And he threw his legs about and laughed.

But the Colonel walked on without a word: for he was grieved about the
Commander-in-Chief.

Then Tiny came by.

And when the Commander-in-Chief saw him, he pointed his finger, and
laughed till he had to wipe his eyes, rocking to and fro, and crying,
 "O dear! O dear! O dear!—Souse me, won't you?—It does make me laff
so—you and Baby all settled in so cosy and comfie in your little home, and
now turned out, and got to find a new house before night or leave the
Country. E! E! E! Master Tiny! E! E! E!"

But Tiny marched on quite brave and steady: for he was true to Baby, and
what she had taught him; which was Love.

Then St Jack laughed so that at last he toppled off the gate backwards on
to his cocked hat, and bashed it.

But he pulled himself together, and scrambled on his knees, and pelted
stones at Goliath's back-view, which he couldn't help hitting, and yelled,

"Fat beast! I'll have my ride yet, you'll see."

But Goly did nothing, only went with a whisky tail: for old Goly knew
about discipline. Only he stored it up in his memory for the future all the
same.

Then the Regiment marched on across the Common, only stopping to pat
Methuselah under the thorn for the last time.
THEN THE REGIMENT MARCHED ON
 But as they were passing by the old yew, little Marwy baaed, and tugged
away towards her mother's grave; where the clover grew.

Then the Colonel stooped, swallowing his throat. And he picked her up in
his arms, and marched on without a word.

And they went down a rutty lane that seemed to have no turning, until by
good luck they came to a Fort in a Hole at the bottom.

And when the Colonel saw that, he said,

"What about in here?" for he knew it didn't matter where they went, so
long as they went somewhere. For the Commander-in-Chief was like a lot
more, he had only one idea, which was to give trouble.

So the Colonel walked across the drawbridge with little Marwy in his
arms, and banged with his sword-hilt.

And when nobody came, he peeped in.

And it was all empty inside, only for a lot of weeds, and an old speckled
seagull with a dagger-beak, limping up and down the barrack-square.

And when the Colonel saw the gull, his eyes shone, and he said,

"This'll do. Come on," and he put down little Marwy, and trotted in; and
the Fellows followed with Goliath and the great cannon rumbling over the
draw-bridge behind.

Then the Fellows set the cannon up with its nose over the wall; for it was
a low wall; and the Fort was in a Hole. So when they fired the cannon off to
see if it was all all right, the ball only hit the mud-bank that ran round, and
bounded back and took the yellow one's wind rather; which cheered Tiny up
a bit.

But, as the big brown captain said, when he saw the cannon wouldn't
shoot over the bank, it didn't really matter much: for it was the noise that
kept Them down, supposing They were there.

And while the Fellows rubbed the yellow one, the Colonel ran and made
friends with the gull.

But Tiny went apart, and wrote a writing on his cuff, and sent it by Cooey
to Baby.

And the writing ran,

Found a Fort in a Hole come quicks-you-can by Puck and get a house

near by to put things in.—TINY.

33

And when Baby got the writing, she led out Puck from the shed, and put
him in the little cart, while Phyllis held the shafts, and mannikin screamed a
lot of orders through the crack of the boot-hole: for mannikin was like Tiny,
and wanted everybody to think he was horsey.

But Baby and Phyllis paid no heed, and just did up the band instead,
while Puck tried to bite them, which was a very favourite thing of Puck's.

Then they put the things under the seat, and Baby got in, with mannikin
and the Junior Subaltern on the back-seat: for the Colonel had left the Junior
Subaltern behind to sweep up; which was always his little job.

Then Baby took the reins, and tugged, and Puck went off at a run-away
patter; while Phyllis walked, and the Others trailed behind on high heels.

And it was Winter by now. And Baby always said she liked Winter best,
for the same reason as Autumn.
 And the roads were good with frost; and Puck's feet rang as he pattered;
and the robins sat about and sang; and there were red berries on the holly,
and apples to chew, so Baby chewed them as she drove.

Only there were no houses near the Hole to be found, which made it
rather difficult for Baby to find one. But Baby wouldn't be beat, because she
didn't believe in it.

So she drove round and round the rim of the Hole all day looking.

And when ever they came to the corner of the road there was the
Commander-in-Chief sitting on a mud-heap, reading up out of a great book.

And each time they came round he jumped up, and took off his cocked
hat very courteously, saying,

"And have you found a house yet, Mrs. Tiny?"

And each time Baby smiled back and answered,

"Almost nearly quite, thank-you."

Then the Commander-in-Chief cooed,

"So glad," and went back to his book with a little snigger.

But Baby flicked up Puck and drove on.

Then towards evening she came to a white house with windows under an
elm with rooks.

And when Baby heard the rooks, one tear went, for it made her think of
her home in the Hall several miles off.

And when the Junior Subaltern saw Baby's tear go, his tear went too: for
his heart was pretty juicy still.
 So Baby pulled up Puck, while mannikin ran to his head to show he knew
all about it.

Then Baby looked over the gate, and said, rather trembly,

"Why not this?"

So the Junior Subaltern glanced over his shoulder, and whispered,

"Cause you can't," and pointed to a great notice-board in the garden that
said in huge letters,

GO AWAY.

But Baby cheered up and cocked her nose, and said to show him,

"Can't I, Boy? Can," and she whipped up Puck, and nearly ran over
mannikin, and went up the drive under the elms in the dusk.

But the Junior Subaltern did what the notice-board told him, and jumped
off, and ran away down to the Fort in the Hole, as hard as his little legs
would carry him.

And there they spanked him for being out after dark.

But Baby drew up at the white house, and ran up the steps, and peeped
into the drawing-room, where tea was, and smiled in, and said,

"May we have your house, please, Tiny and me?"

Then the old lady put down the teapot, and said very graciously,

"Why should you, my dear?"

So Baby thought for a long time with her nose in the door, and said at
last,
 "Only because I like its looks."

Then the old lady, who was a very beautiful character, and great on giving
up things, said very smilingly,

"Then there's no more to be said."

And she got up and said to her daughter,

"Come, my dear."

So they went out, while Baby held the door for them.

And when they got outside they remembered they were relations of the
King's. So they tramped across to the Castle, and stayed there.

34

And when they were quite gone, Baby went in, and bagged a postage-
stamp out of their box, and wrote on the back of it in large great letters,

LET
by
BABY,

and stuck it in the window to show everybody: for when Baby had done a
thing, she liked everybody to know about it.

Then she tore out to Phyllis and the Others who were coming up the
drive, crying,

"O don't I manage well!" for Baby really thought there was nobody in the
whole world managed like she did.

Only when she got outside she saw the Commander-in-Chief sitting on
the lawn in the moon, reading up out of the great book.
 So she steadied herself and walked across to him.

But the Commander-in-Chief stayed deep in his book, and waved away
with his hand, saying in a squeaky voice,

"'Scuse me, won't you!—Truth is I have to examine pore Captain Tiny

and the others in E about to-morrow. Only hope they'll pass—that's all;
because if they don't they'll have to leave the country."

But Baby stood before him in the moon and said, very grave and sad,

"You haven't been very loving, have you, Jacky?"

Then the Commander-in-Chief read on all the harder.

But Baby said, very low and quiet,

"Have you, Jacky?"

Then the Commander-in-Chief shut the book snap, and got up quick, and
walked away with his shoulders rather high.
 Book VII headpiece

BOOK VII.—GOLIATH PAYS THE COMMANDER-

IN-CHIEF

35

So they moved into the white house.

And it was in a garden with a grass-walk.

And there was a lawn under an elm with rooks, and a drive.

And at the bottom of the drive was a cottage among currant-bushes. And
there a little old woman lived behind a lattice and crooned all day,

"Little Old
Lollypop
 Lived in a
Stuffy Shop,
Watching the
Crickets Hop-pop,
Hop-pop."

So Baby loved it all better even than Cosy Cottage.

And when, she and Phyllis had arranged the things round the wall, she sat
down and wrote to the Commander-in-Chief,

DEAR JACKY,—Will you come and have tea with me? Your loving,—
BABY,

to show she forgave him quite and quite.

But St Jack wrote back, very short and simple,

No. I wun't,

to show he wouldn't be forgiven: for he was a very straight little fellow when
it suited him.

And St Jack wouldn't go, for he knew very well that if he did he would
repent, because of Baby; and he preferred bad.

And besides he was kept on duty all day at the Castle just now, handing
tea-cakes to the visitors, which he was rather good at; for St Jack's manners,
when he liked, were very remarkable.

So That Country had peace and quiet for some time: for the visitors
settled to stay at the Castle perhaps for ever, because of the tea-cakes.
 36

Then St Valentine's Day came with the crocuses.

And on that day all the birds are married in That Country.

And after that the blackbirds join with the thrushes, and sing in the bare
trees very rich and jolly: for the blackbirds mayn't sing till they're married,
because that is one of the rules; but when they do begin they sing more
songs and sing them better than the thrushes, which shout and whistle more.

And when the blackbirds begin the robins rather leave off: for the robins
are like a lot more, they want to have it all to themselves all the time; only
they just can't.

So they sulk instead.

Then Spring came, and jolly began. And Baby always said she liked
Spring best, because of as before.

And the sky became a song, and the earth a garden. And the robins went
into the woods; and the swallows came out of the ponds; and the larks ran up
the sky; and everybody was glad.

And the sap rose everywhere, and rather got into mannikin's head; and he
became so dreadfully excited that at last Baby took Tiny down to see him,
because she was afraid his poor little brain was going.

So they came to the hole, and looked in.

And there was mannikin standing on the knife-board, and plugging the
blacking-bottles on to the bricks.

And when Tiny said

"Why?"
 Mannikin sucked his thumb and answered,

"Becob I like to see the ink splosh so."

Then Tiny, who loved lecturing better than anything else in the world,
took the blacking-bottles away from him, and told him he was only making
it worse for himself, and the badder he behaved the longer he'd be there, and
how the King was very strict, although he was so good and kind.

But Mannikin didn't seem to mind, and strutted up and down the boot-
hole, with his hands in his pockets, singing,

"I'm the cock of the boot-hole!

I'm the cock of the boot-hole!
See me!
See me!
I'm the cock of the boot-hole!"

37

And after that May and June came.

And there were tad-poles in the ponds, and lilacs with purple plumes, and
chestnuts with white ones, and cuckoos calling and little flop-birds that tried
to fly, and tumbled on the lawn instead. And everything was jolly all around.

And Tiny played cricket in the Fort in the Hole, while Baby sat on the
wall with the Fellows, and watched him, and afterwards wrote round,

Tiny played four balls, and hit one. The next bowled him, and the Junior
Subaltern umpired him out. So that wasn't so bad—for us, was it!
 And every day when the Regiment went out to War, after the first pellet,
the Colonel fell out, because he said he'd be a casualty now, and let the other
Fellows have a go, which Tiny always took to mean him.

And the Colonel ran away bent up double behind the wild cherry-hedge
till he came where Baby was waiting him under the laburnum at the little
gate into her garden.

And when she had let him in, they ran hand in hand to the elm, where
there was a great bowl of milk and a cabbage-leaf of strawberries ready.

Then the dear old Colonel took off his shako, and was quite quite bald.
And he sat on a little stool among the elm-roots, and drank the milk, and ate
the strawberries, while Baby leaned up against the elm with her feet straight
before her, and read him a story of a naughty pussy-kitten out of a great
picture-book.

And that pleased the Colonel so that he lifted himself on his hands and
swung to and fro, chuckling.

And after that Baby had a grey kitten of her own, which the Colonel gave
her; and she played with it all the time.

And every day she took the kitten on her shoulder, and went down the
drive under the trees in the dappled sunshine to meet Tiny when he came
home from the Fort, which he usually did about an hour after he'd started for
it. For work tired Tiny very easily so that he had to be careful not to overdo
it.

And Baby and Tiny walked home arm in arm, when they thought nobody
was looking, though everybody was, especially mannikin behind the bars of
the boot-hole at one end of the drive, and little old Lollypop through the
lattice at the other end.

And Baby hugged Tiny's arm, and Tiny hugged Baby's. And Tiny looked
down, and Baby looked up.
 And Baby said,

"Now me!" and hopped.

And Tiny said,

"Now me!" and skipped.

Then both said,

"Now bofe!" and jumped.

And Baby smiled, and Tiny grinned, and neither spoke. And sometimes
tears came because of nobody knew why, and sometimes roars because of so
jolly. And half the time they were so wise you wouldn't believe, and half the
time so silly you can't think, and whole the time so happy I couldn't tell you.

38

But with Summer coming, the Commander-in-Chief began to stir again.

For the Queen at the Castle came with her hands on her hips and said she
could do no more tea-cakes just now, and they must ave mustard and cress
instead.
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