A HURRICANE 87 



their places on the hill ; and for three days they 

 kept company there, or rather till the afternoon 

 of the third day, when the wind veered back 

 to the old quarter, beating with such violence 

 on the face of Carn Brea that the hare could 

 not endure it, and stole to sheltered quarters on 

 the southern flank of the hill. There, with his 

 back to a furze - bush, he sat watching the 

 withered grasses of the foothills swept by the 

 hurricane and the low wrack driven past close 

 overhead. The wind fell at sundown, but 

 rose again later and blew with such vehemence 

 that the hare, who was foraging at Boscawen-Un, 

 could scarcely make headway against it. Once 

 he was actually brought to a standstill, and 

 when crossing Brahan Moor on his way back 

 it was all he could do to keep his feet. By 

 the time he got to the form he was so wearied 

 out by the incessant buffeting that whilst 

 listening to the shriek and sob of the wind 

 he fell asleep, and — a thing he rarely did — 

 dreamt. 



In his dream he saw as if with his eyes, so 

 vivid was the presentment, a wood devastated by 

 storm ; at its foot — for the trees covered a 

 long declivity — a curving strand and a raging 

 sea in which living things struggled to reach 

 the shore. Night changed suddenly to day : as 



