70 GETS RECKLESS 



equally harmless the seagulls which came almost 

 daily to drink and bathe and preen their plumage. 

 At times the islet was ringed with their elegant 

 forms : they might have been taken for the body- 

 guard of the hare, if there had been anything 

 to suggest danger. 



Dawn after dawn the hare stole back to 

 his island retreat, where after awhile he began 

 to throw aside his ordinary precautions and to 

 relax his vigilance, passing the day in careless 

 content. One noon he even grew so reckless 

 as to abandon his usual wakeful position and 

 rest on his side, with head and ears erect, his 

 hind legs stretched out to their full length, and 

 the white underfur exposed in a way that would 

 have betrayed him to any prying eyes. The 

 following day, soothed by the hot sun and 

 the ripple against the bank, he actually fell so 

 soundly asleep as to be insensible to his sur- 

 roundings. 



Alas, he was soon to be rudely apprised of 

 the insecurity of his refuge, which was in fact 

 an ancient holt of the otters that visited the 

 pool. The awakening came on the nineteenth 

 day in this wise. He was just back in the form 

 casting his restless eyes about him as usual, 

 when he saw something rise to the surface of 

 the mere and almost instantly sink from view. 



