166 NIGHT OF TRAGEDY 



below which presently the blood-red sun went 

 down. 



And thus was ushered in a night of tragedy 

 with hare and stoats for actors, moor and cliff 

 for setting. 



At dusk the hare left his couch and descended 

 the hill to his pasture on Brea Farm. There he 

 wandered from enclosure to enclosure picking up 

 what little herbage he could find. It took him 

 hours to get his fill. 



Meanwhile the stoats who had quitted their 

 fastness were heading for the moor, tempted by 

 the presence of some wading birds which they 

 had disturbed the previous night on their return 

 journey. On the way they turned aside here 

 and there in the hope of securing other prey, 

 so that it was within an hour of midnight 

 when they reached the purlieus of the waste, 

 that looked pitch-black beneath the stormy 

 sky. 



At the spot where they struck the heath 

 they were two miles from the linhay field which 

 the hare presently left for his usual gallop. So 

 wide however was its surface that nine times out 

 of ten the pack might have hunted and the 

 hare enjoyed his spin without either being 

 aware of the other's presence ; twice it had so 

 happened during the month now within an 



