A PERSISTENT PURSUER 89 



filled him with consternation. At once he 

 became concerned for his safety, but not an 

 instant was he at a loss where to go. 



A naked lane ran down the long slope to 

 Boswarthen Farm, and the hare struck into it 

 in the hope that the gravelly track, holding 

 little or no scent, would render further pursuit 

 difficult if not impossible. The lane, which 

 winds considerably, ends at a gate ; under this 

 he passed to the fields, skirted the homestead, 

 and finally reached Johanna's Garden, where, 

 after confusing the trail, he lay down in a 

 furrow between two ridges of the upturned 

 ground. 



He had hopes of having defeated or dis- 

 heartened his pursuer, yet it was in a fever of 

 anxiety that he watched the gate under which 

 he himself had crept. 



His suspense was short, for soon to his 

 horror a fox-like snout and long red tongue 

 showed beneath the lowest bar. The next 

 instant the lissom beast forced her way beneath 

 it to the field. She at once picked up the line 

 and followed it to the far corner near the old 

 seat where the hare had leapt on the wall 

 and walked along the rude coping-stones before 

 leaping back and squatting near the medlar. 

 Carefully and not without difficulty the lurcher 



G 2 



