42 MEMORIES OF THE SHIRES 



may saw a pack of hounds with hunt servants ad- 

 vancing along the water's edge. Their first idea 

 was to rush to their clothes for protection, but they 

 had misjudged distance, and found they would have 

 to pass in full view of the cavalcade. The three 

 nude figures then dropped on to the sand, and 

 squatting down, turned their backs on the hunt. 

 All would have been well had not the curiosity of 

 an old hound been aroused by these strange objects, 

 and wishing to find out what they were, he left the 

 pack and advanced silently with cautious steps 

 across the sands. " Solomon " had never before 

 seen the human form divine unclothed, and knowing 

 his eyesight occasionally deceived him, he meant to 

 ascertain by sense of touch or smell what the pink 

 statues were made of. " Solomon " crept nearer 

 and nearer, but the ladies heard nothing, and no 

 doubt thought their ordeal was nearly over, when 

 one of them suddenly felt the hound's cold nose in 

 the middle of her back. There was a yell of terror, 

 and, oblivious of the men in scarlet, the frightened 

 women rushed screaming to their clothes. 



