PINE-MARTEN PURSUES 105 



deepened. As soon as she dared, however, she 

 came down from the tree and took to the trail, 

 following it up the long slope and along the 

 heights past the Liddens to the chantry, where, 

 with her breath coming quickly, she stood 

 eagerly scrutinising the hillside and the flooded 

 lowland all agleam in the moonlight. Her coat 

 was wet from the heavy dew, but she was too 

 preoccupied to shake it ; all her senses were in 

 her eyes searching in vain for the quarry now 

 far away in the midst of that water-logged 

 moor. When she saw no sign, her heart sank ; 

 she was at a loss to know what to do. She was 

 very loath to abandon the quest, but the dread 

 of a blank night if she persisted weighed 

 with her, so she presently forsook the trail on 

 which she had stood and disappeared into the 

 night. 



Meanwhile the hare, who had reached the 

 moorland farmstead he had made for, passed 

 from one small enclosure to another, picking 

 what little herbage he could find. With the help 

 of the furze-shoots he managed to get his fill 

 before leaving to roam for hours over the snipe- 

 haunted waste. Hither and thither he journeyed, 

 seemingly without any other object than to 

 pass the hours away, going farther and farther 

 from his goal, to which, however, he turned at 



II 2 



