120 " TRESPASSERS" 



yokels whom, in its rigourously protected state, it 

 has come to fear almost as little as the clods 

 and cattle that are their analogues. It heads 

 toward one side, but the whinny appals it ; toward 

 another, but the whinny still. Then it turns and 

 makes its way back from this new terror to the old 

 one that it has served for the time being to 

 obliterate. So our noble platoon-firers have another 

 chance of sending lead to market. Whether this first 

 hare again successfully runs the gauntlet or not we 

 never know ; for all hares enclosed are now wild with 

 fright, now one, now another appearing at different 

 points beneath the hedgerow, at which the human 

 whinny becomes more bestial and loud. Some turn 

 back before the closing arc of men ; but at last one fine 

 old fellow charges straight ahead, eyes set and ears 

 laid back, body and legs for the most of the time 

 parallel to the ground as it shoots forward through, 

 rather than over, the turf. ' Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha ! ' 

 drones the derisive neigh of the flat-browed clowns 

 as it approaches ; coarse jests and shows of violence 

 greet the frenzied creature in its wild dash for life. 

 But never an inch does it alter its course. Beyond 

 these howling devils and the strangely immobile dogs 

 is a gap in the hedge. It sees nothing else ; unless, 

 indeed, some image fills the little throbbing brain to 

 the exclusion of all else, as familiar scenes are said 

 to rise in the minds of drowning men some 

 quiet refuge to be gained by a rush and a leap 

 through the gaping hedge. Crouching almost into 

 the soil as it cuts the cordon of men and dogs, it 

 springs at the hedge, furs its flank on the thorn 

 stump, but freeing itself, clears the lane, and so 



