HAL KIMBRA 91 



lost ground. By the time she came to the big 

 pasture where she had picked up the Hne at 

 dawn, the quarry was out of sight. She was 

 again running by scent. 



Though the hare had won and maintained 

 a lead of nearly a furlong, he was beginning 

 to feel the strain of the chase, and anxiously 

 consulted with himself about his safety. Two 

 voices made themselves heard : the homing in- 

 stinct kept urging him to return to the hills ; 

 the voice of self-preservation with even greater 

 insistence whispered, '' Seek the moor, there 

 alone safety lies " ; so towards Hal Kimbra 

 moor he held on and on, till at last, from a 

 bit of rising ground, he saw the bleak waste 

 stretching away before him. The fear of being 

 sighted and coursed on the level surface made 

 him shrink from crossing it : his indecision, 

 however, was only momentary ; on looking back 

 and seeing no sign of his enemy, he determined 

 to commit himself, though not before foiling his 

 trail. 



Between him and the lip of the moor lay 

 a tract of marshy ground dotted with rushes 

 and coarse grasses. Here, with a view to 

 checking his pursuer, he leapt from tuft to 

 hummock and from hummock to tuft until he 

 had confused his line. Then he continued on 



