98 IN THE WOOD 



his view, nothing save the stems and a tree 

 or two blown down by the gale. 



He soon felt at home, for the spirit of the 

 place soothed him and banished the sense of 

 strangeness. At first the fall of a pine-cone would 

 startle him ; by and by he took no more notice 

 of it than he had of the popping of the furze- 

 pods in the heat of August. He loved to listen 

 to the soughing of the wind in the lofty tops, 

 where the goldcrests were to be seen flitting 

 to and fro. He believed them to be his only 

 neighbours, till one night, just as he had risen, 

 an owl came to the mouth of the hole in the next 

 tree and called. The cry caused him to start, 

 but at sight of the bird he regained his com- 

 posure and finished stretching himself ; in future 

 if he happened to be by when the owl hooted, 

 he did not even trouble to look up. One 

 day was monotonously like another, so much so 

 that the visit of a woodpecker, or the arrival 

 of a wood-pigeon, was quite an event. Small 

 wonder then that the hare, with his hermit-like 

 tastes, felt happy in this peaceful solitude, and 

 soon abandoned all thought of the intruders 

 his imagination had conjured up. 



Yet, before many more dawns had broken, the 

 wood was visited by a pine-marten, a dangerous 

 marauder, who resembled the hare in this respect 



