CHAPTER XI 



r HOMME S' AMUSE 



As if to compensate the persecuted animal for 

 his recent trials, the hare now enjoyed what 

 was to him a long immunity from molestation, 

 for during January and part of February no 

 enemy waylaid or pursued him. 



At the end of that time the weather, which 

 had again become bleak and inclement, suddenly 

 softened with the return of the westerly wind, 

 becoming so mild as to savour of spring. The 

 change was felt and responded to by every 

 creature. On St Valentine's Day when Golden 

 Valley resounded with the love songs of birds, 

 the hare had already set out in search of a mate. 

 Whether influenced by reason or by instinct, he 

 did not seek her along his usual beats, on which 

 he had not once crossed the trail of his kind, but 

 set his face to the north, to the unexplored land 



