WINTER FERRETING 321 



lights on the landscape begin to fade as the sun sinks 

 down in the cloud-bank to the westward ; when the 

 ferrets, gorging themselves on the game they have 

 grappled, begin to hang in the holes in spite of powder- 

 flashes, till the keepers have to exercise their shoulders 

 in digging among the stones and roots you have only 

 to lay down the gun and walk briskly home to the 

 library. If we desire to enjoy luxurious converse with 

 a favourite author, who will bear dozing over, since we 

 half know him by heart, we find nothing more delight- 

 ful than that time before dinner, when, after some 

 hours of moderate exertion and exposure, we mingle 

 listless reading with languid reverie, and intersperse 

 both with an occasional nap. 



22 



