48 HIS WARINESS 



risks ; even the buck his father had not been so 

 wary as he. Whilst feeding he kept to the 

 middle of the field, where at frequent intervals 

 he sat up and looked about him, first to leeward, 

 then to windward, his nostrils working all the 

 time, to assure himself that no enemy was near. 

 Then he always slowed down when approaching 

 a gate or creep, in order to learn by sight or 

 smell whether a fox or one of the farm cats was 

 lying in wait for him ; once he winded a fox 

 and withdrew noiselessly as a shadow, leaving 

 the fox none the wiser. He was quick in 

 distinguishing marauders by their footfall and 

 by the rustling they made in threading the 

 ripe corn. 



With the arrival of harvest, however, he was 

 completely puzzled by the loud outcry that 

 arose on the farm-lands. It was always the 

 same, and caused by the reapers hailing the 

 cutting of the last sheaf.-^ Sometimes while he 

 was in the form, sometimes when he was afoot, 

 the silence would be broken by a voice pro- 

 claiming aloud, " I haben, I haben," followed 

 by many voices asking, *' What have 'ee ? 

 What have ee?" and the instant response, *'A 

 neck, a neck," welcomed by loud hurrahs. 

 Save for these acclamations of farmer and 



^ The old harvest custom of "crying the neck." 



