AUTUMN, 1912 283 



among the long grey marram grass, with the dark 

 red pillars of the pines standing all about me. It was 

 marvellously still in that hidden place in the wood; 

 after sitting there for half an hour, listening and 

 watching, the thought came to me that I might stay 

 there half a day without seeing any living creature 

 or hearing any faintest sound of life. Yet before 

 another minute had passed something living flashed 

 into sight, the woodland creature that is most alive 

 — a beautiful red squirrel with an exceptionally big 

 bushy tail. He slided swiftly down a bole, and 

 straightway began leaping, pirouetting, and dashing 

 hither and thither about the floor of the basin, not 

 twenty yards from my feet. As I sat motionless he 

 did not see or did not heed me: he was alone in the 

 wood, and was like the solitary nightingale that asks 

 for no witness to his song, and played his glad, mad 

 game with his whole soul. Now with feet together 

 he arched his body like a stoat, then flung himself 

 out full length and dashed round in a circle, and as 

 he moved there was an undulating motion, as of 

 wave following wave along his back and tail, which 

 gave him a serpentine appearance. On coming to 

 a thick bed of pine needles, he all at once became 

 motionless and spread himself out on the ground and 

 looked like the flattened skin of a squirrel, with the 

 four paws visible at the corners. When he had 

 sufficiently enjoyed the sensation of pressing on the 

 pine needles with the under surface of his body, he 

 started up to continue his game, until he suddenly 

 caught sight of a large, yellowish-white agaric growing 



