The Hunting Wasps 



he has come to look upon you with dark sus- 

 picion. You are nothing to him but a gipsy, 

 a tramp, a poultry-thief, a shady person or, at 

 the best, a madman. Should you be carrying 

 your botanizing-case, it will represent to him 

 the poacher's ferret-cage; and you would 

 never get it out of his head that, regardless 

 of the game-laws and the rights of landlords, 

 you are clearing all the neighbouring warrens 

 of their rabbits. Take care. However 

 thirsty you may be, do not lay a finger on 

 the nearest bunch of grapes: the man with 

 the municipal badge will be there, delighted 

 to have a case at last and so to receive an ex- 

 planation of your highly perplexing beha- 

 viour. 



I have never, I can safely say, committed any 

 such misdemeanour; and yet, one day, lying 

 on the sand, absorbed in the details of a Bem- 

 bex' household, I suddenly heard beside me : 



" In the name of the law, I arrest you ! 

 You come along with me ! " 



It was the keeper of Les Angles, who, after 

 vainly waiting for an opportunity to catch me 

 at fault and being daily more anxious for an 

 answer to the riddle that was worrying him, 

 at last resolved upon the brutal expedient of 

 a summons. I had to explain things. The 

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