50 JACK O' LANTERN 



there he overlooked a sheet of water, half-circled 

 with alders, a fowler's hut peeping from beneath 

 a cluster of them. No bird rested on the water, 

 which was marked only by the rings made by 

 trout rising at the white moths that came within 

 their reach. It was a very peaceful scene, with 

 no breath of wind to diffuse the scent given out 

 by meadow-sweet and camomile. 



The hungry fellow nibbled unceasingly at 

 the aromatic herb, avoiding the glow-worms 

 which dotted the mounds. On the furze they 

 were even more numerous, so that their golden- 

 green lamps lit up the beads of dew on the 

 spiders' webs. But the leveret rarely interrupted 

 his feast to look about him ; only once did he 

 scratch his ears, and whilst so engaged had his 

 attention attracted by a shrill whistle from the 

 stream below the pool. Turning his head, he 

 saw an otter and two cubs come over the bank 

 which dammed the pool, and enter the water 

 with so little disturbance as to make them seem 

 uncanny. When they dived, their progress 

 would have been most difficult to follow had 

 it not been for the leaping of the trout, for the 

 waves they raised were hardly noticeable even 

 where the water was shallowest. The otters 

 rose at different parts of the pool, each with a 

 trout in its mouth, swam to the bank, and there 



